To Catch a Predator: what's wrong with it?

To Catch a Predator, one of the highest rated shows on television. You got a clear cut good guy, a clear cut bad guy, a confrontation, and somebody goes to jail. In other words there is no thinking required, which makes it perfect for most American households. Here's what I got a problem with in terms of this program, and no I'm not for pedophiles.

• Journalists working with the police How could this be wrong? Doesn't Cops work the same way? One big difference; in Cops, the journalists that are riding along don't take an active role. They are merely along for the ride. Dateline sets up the people, and then the police swoop on in. It's the difference between passive observer and active decoy. To put it in terms that are less sickening than pederasts, imagine this: let us suppose NBC decided to do a special called "To Catch a John", wherein they lure men to a hotel room, Chris Hansen interviews them and then the cops swoop in for the kill. Would any of you want to see that? But old Chris seems to enjoy being the investigator and getting a confession out of these people. I suppose next we'll see Deputy Chris Hansen with a badge and a gun swooping in with the rest of them.


• Two: the cops drawing guns on the pedophile. Maybe this isn't abuse of power, but it seems a little overblown. Some of you may say it's a felony, requires a felony take down. There are a lot of felony cases where cops do not go into a neighborhood with guns drawn. Did US Marshals rush the White House with guns drawn to arrest Lewis Libby? Did they slam Martha Stewart to the ground with more firepower drawn than the entire Canadian army?


• The lack of context. I've been searching the archives for where they actually solicit these people. While I have heard some are on kid-friendly chats like Myspace and Yahoo, I have heard that others are actually solicited on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). If they do solicit off IRC it's kinda like trolling in the red light district with a Catholic school girl. IRC has a much smaller base than the rest of the Web, and a lot of people that are slimy in the first place. Not all IRC chatters are like this, but you get a much more specialized audience. Yet the general population thinks that the entire web is no more safe than IRC. And when the common man gets bad ideas, politicians often push them into law.
  


• Dateline. And lest we not forget, Dateline has not had quite a stellar record in regards to ethical journalism. Before "To Catch a Predator", their infamous GM truck piece and "Cataract Cowboys" both skirted ethics.


• It gives excuses for idiots like McCain and that one senator from Illinois excuses for regulating the internet. Since we are not afforded any context as described above, McCain and others can seek to put onerous requirements on all web sites, not just the chat rooms where they pick these people up. They can treat sites that are perfectly legitimate just the same as the "Lolita" room on EFnet.


• The potential tainting of a jury pool. Yeah, yeah, you may say; and that person COPS just taped breaking into that house is "innocent until proven guilty". But not everything is so clear cut. Chris Hansen has admitted that some of the men who show up are talking about things that are improper but not legal. Yet he only leaves us the assurance that "probably" those people are not shown? Probably? How about until you find out what the district attorney has filed or will file, you probably don't show them.

• Dateline paying anti-pedophile watchdog group Perverted Justice a consulting fee. Does anybody here know the phrase "checkbook journalism"? A quick web search and you'll find out why it is so reviled in the world of reporting.
• We get the point already. I think the first fifty times you showed it drove home the point that the internet is not a safe place. Turn the page already. Or is that one too many tricks for you to learn, Chris?
  

And last but not least, if you think that I'm alone in these concerns and a nut for them, google "Chris Hansen" and "ethics" and see what you are finding.

For instance
http://www.digitalduke.duq.edu/article.asp?id=1253
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15592444/ (note the comments at the end. The mayor doesn't seem like the type to embrace pedophiles, but I guess he's not so down with the idea of his town being used as the honeypot for sexual predators).
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_diane_ma_070220_no_more_tabloid_jour.htm
http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/dateline.html

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Just goes to show what a Gimp and some patience can accomplish

So I'm out using my new "digital camera" (and here's a tip for all of you: any time you see a digital camera doing a tie in with the IDG Dummies guys, run.), and experimenting with my new camera. It's not all that bad for what I paid for it, which was zero. I won the thing as part of a Convergys perfect attendance contest, and am slowly starting my way up to being a digital shutterbug.
Okay, so I get the pictures home, and most of them, they're okay I guess. So, I bring them into Gimp and start trying to do some things with them and lo and behold, I come up with what is in the corner. By the way, if any of you want to try for that, you use the sorbel function when you attempt to enhance the edges. Wow! Gets me psychadelic just looking at the thing. I'll be posting up occasional photos here just so you can get some views of Pueblo.

Crit for crit: do we need a set ratio?

I am writing this in response to a e-mail I received about "crit for crit", where I suggested that while points were nice, people need to return the favor and critique the other person's e-mail. The editor pointed out a couple of things, I feel the need to respond in a forum a little bit larger than 1,000 characters.
Besides being writers, we are also humans that have bills to pay and lives to be actively involved with. And sometimes, yes, sometimes, you even have to put aside writing to finish them. That may mean that even though you receive critiques of a piece that you put out there, you may not have time to return the favor.
And there are places out there, such as critters, which have a strict ratio to encourage critiques. I am not suggesting writing.com use that. Just because you have gotten bogged down is no reason to clip somebody's privileges.
I would rather it be an unwritten rule that if somebody critiques your work, you at least return the favor somewhat, even if your critique is incomplete. Nothing that penalizes people, just a quick reminder that if you are not getting criticisms, maybe it's because you are not out there that much. How long does it take to say, "I don't think this story is going in the right direction,"? You do not need to take the piece apart, just give your overall impressions of the work.
The "point system" that writing.com uses is nice, but sometimes people use that and forget why it is in there in the first place: to encourage critiques. We're not here to rack up points like a game of pinball; we're here to improve our writing. And the only way you can improve is if you see what is wrong with your own work.
Besides, what is criticism anyway but another form of writing, and practice makes perfect.

Talk about ensuring you still have a job.

Massively Addictive - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games




Are you freaking kidding me?  Now you're saying that the looser who spends more hours playing with a control than he does...playing with himself...is not just a loser, he's "constitutionally incapable of honesty".  Good lord!




At this point, I have an admission: I've had addictions, and I've struggled with them.  Lots of them.  And at one time (around 12), I had a problem with obsessing over video games.  But you know what happened?  I grew up.  I went from trying to sneak marathon sessions of video games to staying away for days, even weeks.  Even my mother remarked about it.




Why?  Because I grew out of them.  I found other hobbies, other things to do.   In short, I expanded my horizons.




But now this group of idiots is trying to blame their obsession with getting to level 70 on some sort of reward malfunction?  Please.    Go outside, or even go inside.  Write a book, jog, do something.  Too much of anything is a problem.  Don't make it into some sort of 12-step mess that makes us all puke.  I really do not have to hear about a "spiritual solution" to overcoming old Super Mariocorn (a takeoff on John Barlycorn, the mythical demon that XA relies upon). 





 

Computer Tips: Firefox extensions

I don't know about you, but I spend a good amount of time behind my browser reading, writing, and discussing. My browser of choice is Firefox, fast and free, both in cost and of Microsoft. Firefox by itself is a pretty good browser, but if you want to really ramp things up, you probably want some other specialized tools. Maybe you have a weather site that you check again and again. Or, you're like me and want to blog without having to close down a window. Well, here I will list some of my favorite extensions, as well as showing you where to get them.



Fasterfox

As the lovelorn bachelor said to the hot blond nymph, "Where have you been my entire life?". This is simply a must for anybody who has seen a decrease in the speed of browsing. It allows you to tweak settings and maximize the power of your browser. In addition, it also contains a pop up blocker that stops pop ups generated by flash embeds. A must have, in my view.

Performancing

Many of my blog entries read, "Powered by Performancing" Performancing is an add on blog editor for your browser. Normally, it sits as an icon on your status bar. But if you stumble upon something that you really want to blog about, you can pull it up and start typing away.

Diigo Toolbar

Diigo is an online community, much like del.icio.us, that lets you tag pages with particular keywords. These keywords then can be searched by you or anybody else you let to find relevant content. In addition to being able to tag pages with notes, there's a blog this function, similar to Performancing, that lets you immediately link to a page on your own blog.

These are just a few of the extensions out there, and sometime next week, I'll be back with a few more of these great little helpers.

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