I can’t take law enforcement seriously if they don’t
So, with great joy, I report the death of the TeeVee show Armed and Famous. Ok, Tam reported it and I linked. But still, it’s a good thing. For those not in the know, they give washed-up famous people a gun and some police training and make them cops. They then film it. It really rather minimizes the importance of the police function. And, of course, creates a potentially dangerous situation where someone who is likely unqualified to enforce the law now does so. Let’s all be thankful it ended before someone got killed.
In other news, I caught on The Daily Show that another show in the vein of To Catch A Predator was on. Only this show could have been called To Catch The Apathetic. Seems they’d get a couple of actors to go out and engage in some abuse, such as a conflict between two lovers. Said conflict would get physical while the cameras rolled. Then, the host would confront the people who just stood by and watched it happen. That’s fucking retarded. And whoever the brainchild of this show was should get a swift kick in the nads.
Sure, most people didn’t respond at all. It’s what people do sometimes (remember Kitty Genovese?). But, let’s say said smacking around and roughing up occurred around some group of guys who had a little too much to drink while leaving the local bar and have something to prove. And then those guys proceeded to beat the shit out of the actor. I, for one, would applaud that group of guys.
Or, worse, someone goes to confront the actor, who is told to be belligerent to any who intervene, and that someone draws down on the guy?
It’s a recipe for disaster. I guess there’s a reason they don’t film this crap in red states.
January 30th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
What’s more the show trivialized the training and effort it takes to become a cop. Imagine the guys that are turned away or wash up, only to see LaToya be handed the job because her last name is Jackson.
Then again, the show was funny as hell and a part of me will miss it. It was a guilty pleasure. Yeah it’s wrong, but I couldn’t stop watching.