Lowest common denominator
Judging by all the commercials I’m seeing, Dateline’s To Catch a Predator series was popular enough to warrant it’s own TeeVee show. The premise of this show is that:
1) Some reporter type hops online and poses as an underaged girl in chat room;
2) Said reporter convinces some sick pervert to have a meetup;
3) When sick pervert shows up, the cameras are rolling.
Now, these perverts get no sympathy from me but shame on Dateline for really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I suppose Americans really are obsessed with sexual perversion, even the most disgusting kind that victimized children. It’s like the fall of the Roman Empire or something. I mean, I’m all for people tracking down sexual predators but making it entertainment gives me the willies.
Of course, one day, the reporter is going to confront the wrong pervert, who also happens to be a psychopath and some bad ju-ju will go down. It’s bound to happen.
I think I’ll start me own show called To Catch To Catch A Predator. I’ll pose as a pervert and wait until someone agrees to meet me. Then, when they show up, I’ll have my cameras rolling on their cameras and say Haha, gotcha performing a valuable service. I’m just disappointed that you air this as entertainment.
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:46 am
I thought it would be clever for someone to do that and then show up in suit and tie, with camera crew, carrying a copy of “how not to get kidnapped and killed” or summat…
… but that reversed scenario actually involves trolling for kiddies, which is in itself repugnant. Ah well.
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:56 am
Eh, FOX will come up with their own version where they have a real teenaged girl on webcam wearing a short skirt and a bikini top. Then they show the entire sexual conversation on screen followed by a Fox ‘reporter’ asking the girl “so honey, have you ever really DONE anything like that in real life? Tell us all about it . . .”
LOL!
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:38 pm
You said it. Either the show’s producers are going to humiliate an innocent man on national TV and get sued into oblivion (admittedly unlikely, since the show isn’t live) or someone is going to pull a gun and blow what’s-his-name (Stone Phillips?) away when he saunters into the living room with the TV camera in tow.
Of course, the cops in the next room with disclaim any responsibility when it does happen…
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Will the offing of Stone Phillips for being an narcisistic media whore be televised on pay per view? Will the offing of any of these other narcisistic media whores who masquerade as journalists be televised on pay per view? I might get cable then.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:13 pm
No offense, guys, but I kind of like the outing of perverts on national TV.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:27 pm
If anything, they know that doing this crap might land them on National TV and in jail. Might serve a little as a deterrent.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Umm…isn’t Dateline acting as vigilantes? Something the mainstream media is always quick to accuse gun owners of doing…
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I’m not defending the suspects in these cases; indeed, I enjoy watching the show, if only for the I can’t believe this guy is so stupid reaction you get when they’re interviewing some of those guys on TV just before the cops move in.
But then there are perverts, and there are simply horny teenage kids. And a couple of the “perverts” that I’ve seen “taken down” by the show were 18 or 19 year-olds who were looking for sex with a 15 year-old. While there are obvious problems with that — for starters, it’s not very wise — it’s not like they’re pedophiles, especially since they could legally date a girl that age just a few months earlier when they were in high school. You can’t expect them to suddenly change their perspective just because they had a birthday.
So yes, other than the smug schaudenfreude that is exuded by the show I have no problem with humiliating 50 year-old men who bring alcohol to a thirteen year-old girl for the express purpose of getting her drunk and having sex with her. But I agree with Uncle: One of these days, something bad is going to happen. While every now and then they catch the wayward Christain pastor, most of the people who do this stuff are not Society’s Finest Citizens. If I were Mr. Phillips I’d be wearing a Kevlar vest when I walked into the room.
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:42 pm
The most annoying thing about the show, is that the Dateline reporter is sitting their unarmed and talking to the guy…as soon as he leaves, he is swarmed with Cops yelling at him with Guns drawn. Isn’t it just as easy to walk up behind the guy and tell him to put his hands behind his head while he is talking to the reporter?
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Sean, That could put the reporter/TV star in danger, and while some may not mind, the reporter/TV star isn’t going to relish the thought.
While I’m not against the show, I’m withholding my TV viewing loyalty, waiting for the show that exposes left-wing media whores in the act of fabricating news, saying on-camera that the facts need to be ignored in favor of “truth”, or colluding with people willing to make false statements to the press, etc. Some investigative journalsim looking into anti-freedom politicians’ corruption would be nice too. THAT would be entertaining. It might also be far more dangerous than catching perverts.