Schadenfreude

I just saw a preview for "To Catch a Predator" the sensational crap show on NBC where men caught on camera trying to meet under-aged women for sex. This show is horrifically tragic - like watching a car wreck, but where we're supposed to cheer because a bad-guy gets caught. Never mind that these guys (even though they are caught in the act) should be assumed innocent until proven guilty. I picture the crew of these shows gathering around the make-shift bars where they guys usually sit and cry when they get caught with fiery torches in hand a la Frankenstein.

I've never seen the show, but they show segments on the Today Show every once in a while and I've seen enough to know I don't want to see more.

As if it could get any worse....I just saw an ad for this show where they hint that the guy they catch takes his own life -- or attempts to -- when confronted by the host. They have gone ahead and made a show out of it. Fucking disgusting. This is an atrocity. I don't care if he was going to meet a 14 year old girl for sex -- that he brought beer -- yes, there should be police catching these guys, but who is watching this crap? He doesn't deserve to be humiliated on camera, pushed to the brink (or over the edge) of suicide. This man has a family. This man is a human.

There are all sorts of complaints about this show. Entrapment (sometimes the "victims" bring up sex first), a public punishment without a trial that the media has no right to inflict on a person, and now a suicide used for ratings. I know I sound like Andy Rooney, but this has gone too far.