America is an Episode of Court TV

[gurdonark]

When I was a very young lawyer, Catherine Crier was a very young judge in Dallas County. She was a very good judge, who was intellectual and yet had a good, if firm, judicial temperament. She seemed to choose to frost her hair out of a curious desire to look *older* than she was (my memory is she was 29 or so, but I am not sure on that), which struck me as understandable and yet odd. Trial judges serve an important function, but they are not media darlings. Yet Judge Crier seemed to end up in fashion shots in magazines and the like. It was little surprise when she was snapped up by a cable network as a news commentator. Last time I saw her, she was passing her judgments on talk shows on Court TV.

Today the authorities seem to believe, without quite saying so, that they have caught a sniper who shot several people seemingly at random in VA and MD. My local AOL news service screens have due coverage of this momentous event.

Yet, already, the news articles seem to be shifting their focus. You see, the actress Wynonna Ryder is being placed on trial in a five thousand dollar shoplifting case in Los Angeles. The nation turns its lonely eyes to Wynonna, because our attention span for snipers is momentarily sated, and we have celebrities to try.

I do not have an opinion as to Ms. Ryder's guilt or innocence, as my opinions about Ms. Ryder pretty much stop with how cool her makeup was as a young teen in Beetlejuice. But I do have an opinion about our crime-as-entertainment culture, and what it feeds and what it means.

Comments

[nacowafer.livejournal.com]

Give me Ms. Ryder, any day. She's pretty. The other is ugly and strange, a real mess, like Eraserhead. Yet, I watch and am mesmerized...

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

She is pretty, and an interesting actress. I'd certainly rather watch the Little Women remake than any 3 hours of ex-FBI experts on CNN. But I do hate that we take such interest in petty crimes by famous people.

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

there is a fascination with the trauma and pain and especially the downfall of others that escapes me

perhaps i haven't the gene thank the gods

never been a watcher of such events and recall the Rodney King episodes and seeing an xlover so mesmerized and glued to the couch for hours of repetitious broadcast of virtually nothing new...i was dumbfounded by the interest

or perhaps it started with the gulf war...there CNN got its claim to fame right? with the endless loops of the same images and nothing new let alone important to cover

now it's not one event but channels full of "look how they failed!" or "watch the violence, the massacre, the dying" so the sensation junkies can get their fix

we've become a nation of drivers slowing down at an accident only now there's carts of food and beverages so you can stay and wait to see if something happens

give me b&w white movies of a bygone era anyday

i do however harbor a fascination for Law & Order but liken that more to an adoration of Perry Mason than fascination with crime and punishment

[mesawyou.livejournal.com]

I think the fascination with celebrity crimes has been around ever since gossip columnists. It's just until recently that the information has been switched over into the crime and punishment section of the paper.

[coollibrarian.livejournal.com]

we just got Crier's book in the library today. She does have nice highlights :)