It's kind of sick, isn't it?

[penner01]

I had a rare quiet evening. I sat and watched TV and it struck me.

There are three different CSI programs. All of them generally have two murders per episode.

Castle - usually about murder

The Mentalist - usually about murder

Cold Case - about murder

Numbers - usually about murder but at the very least, somebody gets killed

Law and Order - usually about murder

I'm sure there are more, but that's 8 programs a week about murder. Isn't that just a little bit sick?

[StoneScratcher]

Yes, and I don't watch them all.

Why the fascination with murder? Interesting thread!

[penner01]

Yes, and I don't watch them all.

Why the fascination with murder? Interesting thread!lol...no fascination at all. I watch only one of the CSI's but my interests are on the investigative side. I don't do Numbers, Castle I do because of the characters. But, it's pretty tough to get through a week without knowing what the programs are. I'm thinking it's a pretty sad statement that so much of our "entertainment" involves violence.

[StoneScratcher]

lol...no fascination at all. I watch only one of the CSI's but my interests are on the investigative side. I don't do Numbers, Castle I do because of the characters. But, it's pretty tough to get through a week without knowing what the programs are. I'm thinking it's a pretty sad statement that so much of our "entertainment" involves violence.

Oh, I'm sorry! I meant why are the television stations so fascinated with broadcasting murders (their fascination, not yours).

I agree, why is MURDER thought to be entertainment...:think:

Maybe if we see enough of it, we'll be numb to the actual events happening in real life?

[XB70]

It's not about the murder, it's about solving the murder and how
the perpetrators always get caught.

[BrokenEntity]

Law & Order focuses on different crimes, depending on which variant you watch (SVU deals with "sexually based offenses"). Not so sure about CSI, though I know CSI: Miami has dealt with terrorism. It's never about the crimes, always about the process of solving them.

[gdoane]

I think there's a case to be made that there's good violence and bad violence. Shows like CSI come down on the side of law and order and justice, and the guys committing the violence are generally goin' down.

I remember when I saw "Schindler's List" and wondered why it was rated "R" because kids SHOULD see the fight against a great evil. Good guys against bad guys isn't the same kind of violence as the bad guys winning but the rating system treats it that way.

I play violent video games. When Joe Lieberman went after violent video games, he singled out two games by title, Mortal Kombat and Night Trap.

Mortal Kombat is just slapstick comedy. Probably the only idiot on the planet who ever took Mortal Kombat seriously is Senator Joe Lieberman. The game is funny as all heck, like a Three Stooges episode with bleeding but even that premise is about good vs. evil. Outworld vs. our world, and the "warriors" are defenders.

Night Trap is a bit less known so I'll give a rundown: You are in charge of a security system (traps) to defeat vampires (known in the game as "Augers") who want to extract blood from nubile girls during a sleepover in a large mansion that makes the Addams Family look perfectly normal. Failing to save the girls is how you lose the game.

There's good violence and bad violence. Cop shooting bad guy = good violence. Bad guy shooting cop = bad violence. This is not a difficult concept but it seems to be out of the ken of all rating systems.

My mantra is this: Intent matters, and it matters a lot.

An interview with Dave Theurer (main programmer for Missile Command) drove this home. He made a game "Missile Command" about saving the Earth with missiles that cannot be won. He claimed to have nightmares for years after making that game and it's because the good guys lose.

I'd call the game "Missile Command" the most violent game ever created because the bad guys always win and they always blow up the world. The good guys don't stand a chance.

There are different kinds of violence. Violence done for the right reason is nothing short of heroism. Violence done for the wrong reason deserves the death penalty. Ratings amazingly make no acknowledgement of this. It's like Batman and the Joker are both violent guys, so the ratings system treats them exactly the same. Heros and Villains get thrown into the same mindless rating.

There is such a thing as good violence. We wouldn't have a nation if good violence wasn't committed by heros and patriots.

[penner01]

Law & Order focuses on different crimes, depending on which variant you watch (SVU deals with "sexually based offenses"). Not so sure about CSI, though I know CSI: Miami has dealt with terrorism. It's never about the crimes, always about the process of solving them.Yeah, in 30 or 60 minutes minus commercials. Kind of like being able to win wars in a couple of day. But I guess I understand......graphically taking views inside the wounds, vivid images of destroyed people....it's all about solving the crime. Oh, and let's don't forget how all those labs have tools and abilities that portray an unvelievable ability discover just about anything. It's sensationalism focused on murder.

[penner01]

I think there's a case to be made that there's good violence and bad violence. Shows like CSI come down on the side of law and order and justice, and the guys committing the violence are generally goin' down.

I remember when I saw "Schindler's List" and wondered why it was rated "R" because kids SHOULD see the fight against a great evil. Good guys against bad guys isn't the same kind of violence as the bad guys winning but the rating system treats it that way.

I play violent video games. When Joe Lieberman went after violent video games, he singled out two games by title, Mortal Kombat and Night Trap.

Mortal Kombat is just slapstick comedy. Probably the only idiot on the planet who ever took Mortal Kombat seriously is Senator Joe Lieberman. The game is funny as all heck, like a Three Stooges episode with bleeding but even that premise is about good vs. evil. Outworld vs. our world, and the "warriors" are defenders.

Night Trap is a bit less known so I'll give a rundown: You are in charge of a security system (traps) to defeat vampires (known in the game as "Augers") who want to extract blood from nubile girls during a sleepover in a large mansion that makes the Addams Family look perfectly normal. Failing to save the girls is how you lose the game.

There's good violence and bad violence. Cop shooting bad guy = good violence. Bad guy shooting cop = bad violence. This is not a difficult concept but it seems to be out of the ken of all rating systems.

My mantra is this: Intent matters, and it matters a lot.

An interview with Dave Theurer (main programmer for Missile Command) drove this home. He made a game "Missile Command" about saving the Earth with missiles that cannot be won. He claimed to have nightmares for years after making that game and it's because the good guys lose.

I'd call the game "Missile Command" the most violent game ever created because the bad guys always win and they always blow up the world. The good guys don't stand a chance.

There are different kinds of violence. Violence done for the right reason is nothing short of heroism. Violence done for the wrong reason deserves the death penalty. Ratings amazingly make no acknowledgement of this. It's like Batman and the Joker are both violent guys, so the ratings system treats them exactly the same. Heros and Villains get thrown into the same mindless rating.

There is such a thing as good violence. We wouldn't have a nation if good violence wasn't committed by heros and patriots.Thoughtful response. I think what bothers me the most is that violence seems to be like drugs. Someone brought up the word jaded and that's true. It has to keep escalating. There was a time when movies couldn't really show somebody getting killed -- couldn't show injuries. They could only imply them. Now if it isn't graphic and realistic enough it doesn't draw an audience. Movies, TV, or video games - it's the same with all of them. Once they perfect a way to make it more graphic somebody is at work making it better.

Parenting has almost turned into being sure somehow your kid understands that Mario and Luigi really can't come back to life 5 times.

[khigh]

I watch:

All three CSIs
All three Law and Orders
Bones
and NCIS (both of them now)

Along with House.

It's not about murder, it's about Forensics. Solving a crime. Think Sherlock Holmes for the modern man.

[Vaard]

i will warn you now to not pick up an agatha christie novel........

[Army Wife]

i will warn you now to not pick up an agatha christie novel........

I agree....she says as she looks at her Ipod which has 10+ Christies currently on it.

[gdoane]

I don't think TV has really gotten any more violent than it used to be. There was plenty of violence on the old TV shows like The Rockford Files, The A Team, The Six Million Dollar Man, somebody was always getting a beatdown in those shows weren't they?

Heck, I remember calling my brothers over to the TV whenever the Lone Ranger sent Tonto into town because there was always a big fight scene where Tonto gets beat up. The the Lone Ranger would be getting into a fight with the guys who beat up Tonto. You'd think after two or three episodes Tonto would get the hint and not go to towns full of armed rednecks.

TV has always had cowboys and indians, space travellers and violent aliens (Captain Kirk got into more fights than anybody in space) and cops and robbers. It's not any worse today than it ever was.

[penner01]

I watch:

All three CSIs
All three Law and Orders
Bones
and NCIS (both of them now)

Along with House.

It's not about murder, it's about Forensics. Solving a crime. Think Sherlock Holmes for the modern man. Yes, I know you're right. It is about that, but so many themes are murder.....it's in front of our face continuously. You know in most cities murder is 2 or their page news any more unless it's spectacular.

[EnchantedFrog]

If you are outside of the urban concentrations, which are liberal strongholds, you are in lower-crime areas. Unfortunately, liberal strongholds are where media is produced.

They are broadcasting/brainwashing/desensitizing the rest of America to the realities of crime. If you see it on the TV every night, then you should expect to see it on the streets every day.