ALT.SF4M

  Sleazy Anti-Crime "Infomercial"

   • *...@k*******.*****t.org
     07/09/1993 08:40:10 UTC

     I have seen the future of TV, I fear.

     Saturday night, while cruising around the TV dial while on-line, I came

     across the most sleazy, scary, irritating piece of crap I've ever seen.

     It was an "infomercial" called "Crime in America", supposedly a "news
     report"

     but actually an ad for a sort of taser-gun thing.

     That's not the problem. The problem is that this show has to be the most

     exploitative drek I've ever seen. It has everything from interviews with

     crime victims to scary statistics to "re-enactments" that make
     "America's Most

     Wanted" look like "Barney and Freinds".

     Worse, it was directed at single women, implying that there are literal
     hordes

     of rapists, murderers, muggers and sickos patrolling the streets,
     willing to

     use any trick they can to kill and mutilate.

     Why the hell is this sort of thing allowed to go on? Freedom of speech,

     maybe... but it seems to me there's a certain problem of _ethics_ here

     concerning the "anything for a buck" mentality. Yes, there is crime in
     our

     country... but scare them bad enough and they'll shell out $149.99 for
     our

     product.

     How do these people _sleep_ nights?

     --

     *...@s******.*****t.org Hail Eris -- All Hail Discordia!

     Christianity is a computer virus for the human brain

     "I'd rather have a paper doll that I could call my own,

     than a fickle-minded real live girl"