
At first glance this show seems entertaining enough. I happen to catch an episode this weekend and after about the first 5 minutes my laughter turned to sorrow, my sorrow into concern, and finally my concern into these words. All in all this show targets and marginalizes a very focused demographic, African-American* Males. Watch the show for long enough and you see the trend without even looking into Cable Television Advertising Bureau statistics that the “criminals” are all young African-American males. As the camera pans from scene to scene it capture street names that make it very obvious what areas of town they are setting this operation up in. Sadly ironic any street that bears the great name of Martin Luther King Jr. is synonymous with crime and poverty. Seeing that sign alone tells the viewer something, or else why would it be a detail offered at all? Now a vehicle unoccupied and running is set in a high crime area as police officers with cameras and fancy electronics lie in wait for what they call perps, but let’s be honest are more like prey or victims. Is stealing a car ever ok? The answer is simply no, however, nothing exists within a vacuum and several variables must be considered when viewing this show or even considering following me down this cognitive path.
- Median age: 43 (CableNation)
- Median income: $43,000 (CableNation)
- 67% of cable network viewers are male (Media Matters for America)
- 84% of that viewership is Caucasian (Media Matters for America)
Great, a bunch of numbers and
some obvious observations, so what? What
kind of message is this show sending?
What does this program teach the viewers about the perps and how does
this mold their perception of the general population outside of
television? The majority of folks who
view this program are middle class Caucasian men.
Middle class Caucasian men laughing at the dumb decisions of criminals. Criminals who are all African-American. What kind of depths do these seemingly simple
observations by a viewer reach when it comes to how they live their everyday
lives? What happens when they go into a predominantly
African-American area of town, do their assumptions change, do those doors get
locked at stop lights, and do they treat others well? Do those others deserve to be treated well if
those others are just what they are taught to be by the shiny tv screen?
I have a great idea for TruTV,
set up hidden cameras in AA
meeting. Introduce an onslaught of tasty
alcoholic beverages and see what happens.
Eventually when the participants of this sick social experiment succumb to
the pressure of that weakness or cultural bent they have let’s chastise them,
all on national television. Is this sick?
Isn’t it just offering an opportunity to someone and recording the
results? Of course not! The same is true of Bait Car. Placing an unoccupied vehicle in a high crime area of
town is the same thing. Unpacking the
variables behind what causes the high crime is where people get lazy and just
start buying into stereotypes though.
High crime areas are typically products of their past, simple
predictable outcomes of a cyclical socio-economic environment.
*You won’t see me often use the terms Black or White as I’ve never met someone actually the color Black, I find it more appropriate to reference heritage over colors that actually aren’t accurate.
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