Who has seen Dateline: To Catch a Predator?

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Who has seen NBC's Dateline: To Catch a Predator?
What does everyone think about it?

 

[buckytom]

umm, don't go in the house, sush?

 

[-DEADLY SUSHI-]

Uggg.

 

[jabbur]

First time interesting. Second time less so. Now it's like move on already. So we know there are pervs out there. Son't know why they have to do so many episodes. If something was different but they are all pretty much the same.

 

[buckytom]

a strange combo of prurience and justice is what makes it popular.

 

[jennyema]

Who hasn't seen it?

It's been on WAY TOO MUCH! Like twice a week for 3 years (or so it seems like).

Now they are catching people who actually admit to watching the show -- they know who the Dateline guy is right away.

 

[suzyQ3]

First time interesting. Second time less so. Now it's like move on already. So we know there are pervs out there. Son't know why they have to do so many episodes. If something was different but they are all pretty much the same.

Why do they make so many episodes? I hope that was a rhetorical question? Obviously, they're making money here.

The good -- they're catching sexual predators and maybe, maybe scaring some away.

The bad -- it's more media hysteria that increases our fear and can result in appealing-sounding but poorly conceived legislation and ugly vigilantism.

In today's Los Angeles Times, freelance writer and father L.J. Williamson posits, in a commentary well worth reading, that "Our hyper-anxiety the safety of children is creating a society in which any outdoor activity that doesn't take place under the supervision of a coach or a "psychomotor activities" mandate from the state is too risky to attempt."

As for the statistics, he notes:

"Although statistics show that rates of child abduction and sexual abuse have marched steadily downward since the early 1990s, fear of these crimes is at an all-time high. Even the panic-inducing Megan's Law website says stranger abduction is rare and that 90% of child sexual-abuse cases are committed by someone known to the child. Yet we still suffer a crucial disconnect between perception of crime and its statistical reality. A child is almost as likely to be struck by lightning as kidnapped by a stranger, but it's not fear of lightning strikes that parents cite as the reason for keeping children indoors watching television instead of out on the sidewalk skipping rope.

And when a child is parked on the living room floor, he or she may be safe, but is safety the sole objective of parenting? The ultimate goal is independence, and independence is best fostered by handing it out a little at a time, not by withholding it in a trembling fist that remains clenched until it's time to move into the dorms."

Contrary to popular belief exacerbated by media hype and and those politicians who exploit the issue, there is not a sexual predator under every bed (pun intended).

 

[shpj4]

I saw it on the news and I am deeply upset about what our country is coming to. There are so many killings and all you see of TV is about that very subject.