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I was wondering what you all people here think of shows like Cops and worlds scariest police chases. I think it comes off like there's some real crazy people in the US. I haven't really heard much about people stealing tanks in other countries and driving them through a city, like what happened in san diego. I'm sure there's crimes that happen in other countries and such, but there is some crazy people in the US. Just wondering how other people perceive shows like cops and such in other countries like Canada or whatever.....

   

I don't mind Cops but the rest of those reality shows are trashy and seek to shock by blowing things out of proportion. Don't get me wrong, the U.S. does have a lot of violence and craziness but I wouldn't take the U.S. media too literally on that account.

If the Canadian media were as hell bent on painting the same kind of picture then many foreigners would think of Canada in similar terms. Just imagine for instance if the Pickton case had occured in the U.S., it'd be a total worldwide media frenzy instead of the less than consuming issue it is to us right now.

On another note, I swear watching American T.V. makes you dumber!

   

Yeah, I lived in Texas though and there is alot of crime around Dallas. Everyday that I turned into the news there was usually a good number of murders, and every now and then you had a police chase on tv, alot of stuff robberies. I also remember driving around there and there's ALOT of places you really wouldn't want to go into at night. I remember one police chase when a guy stole an 18 wheeler that was carrying logs and drove around waving to people while the police chased him. After about 3 hours he was shot. Let me tell you Canadians, you all are lucky. It's the most wierdest feeling when you turn on the Tv and someone has blown something up, like when the Oklahoma City bombing happened. I understand that it might sicken you to see it, but it's just something else when it's your country....

   

Cops is the loweset point to date in western culture.

   

The reality shows that are permiating American television sickens me. I can't stand it and don't watch any of them. My wife watches Survivor, but I leave the room and would rather bang my head against the wall for an hour. I don't watch TV much, if I do it's Fox News, Discovery Channel, Comedy Central, or maybe History TV. Rather than any of those I perfer to play an online game I play called Delta Force.

   

It is called World's Scariest Police chases. From what I've seen of them, at least half of the clips are from the UK and even some other European countries. I've even seen some on there from Canada.




No, Jerry Springer wins that hands down.

   

Yeah, I was talking about the more violent reality ones. I think shows like Survivor and Joe Millionaire are kind of stupid, but so is fox news, cause it's more like "let's tell a news story, get mostly republicans on, and analyze the story with our opinions for 15 mins and call ourselves experts." Every now and the Fox News has some good news stories, like when geraldo rivera went to Iraq. I myself also watch the History Channel, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel. I like the special they had on the History Channel the other day about how they prepare a ski slop. I also plays games (Battlefield 1942, Medal of honor, Splinter cell)on my computer and some online. I was just wondering what people think about how those shows pertray Americans. I've read alot of stories of people in other countries who see those shows and think Americans are crazy. I might agree with them, that there's alot of crazy people in the US(not that there aren't in other countries, but I think the US does have a largy number for a industrialized country).

   

Sounds like the CBC here with the Liberals.

   

Hmm, I don't think I got your post when I first read it, but I get it now, that the Liberal media is very biased, and Fox News is very biased, which I completely agree upon.

   

I'm not a liberal, I just want to hear both sides of the stories and not liberal bashing. Everyone knows that Fox news is pretty republican right wing, although I still like watching it. I mean come on, are you telling me Bill Orielly doesn't lean towards the right-wing? I remember they even used to somewhat cut down the people who were protesting the war, saying they don't understand the fact that Iraq has WMD, and then the next thing you know, NO WEAPONS. Fox News is owned by Fox, which is a big corporation, and I haven't seen very many companies who are very liberal....

Bill Orielly even cuts down rap, Sean Hannity cuts down liberals, and they have numerous guest that talk crap about democrates and even blame John Kerry for the somewhat sluggish stock market numbers....

I've also noticed lately that they always seem to be defending Bush more than John Kerry, and always seem to be trying to come up with some dirt on John Kerry, or cut down his economic plans. How fair and balanced...

   

I still say a lot of it is in the way these things are presented, Americans are very good at hyping and selling a product and that includes violent imagery.

Some interesting parallels can be drawn between the city of Vancouver {where I live} and the nearby city of Seattle {where I've lived}, these cities are nearly the same population wise and are easily the most similar Canadian and American cities in most respects.

The thing is though is that Seattle has roughly half the number of murders and only a fraction of the overall crime level that Vancouver has but if you look at the Seattle local news {which we get here in Vancouver} you'd get the impression that Seattle was an absolute warzone. OTOH the Vancouver media seems to downplay local violent events if anything.

   

Ah yes.



I wouldn't call it downplaying its more like they chose to cover other things, and try not to put all the enery into violent storys. Same thing with all American TV, i watch CNN and NBC news for the big storys, but when i watch cbc news (supper tme) it a totaly diffrent type of news. the cbx doesnty go out of its way to find violent storys, the cbc also does many more storys on polictcs. For some reason the US news doesnt.

   

I used to see 'COPS' and think, "Look at those crazy bastards down there. That must be the minority.", or "That must only happen in Arkansas" . Then after living in North Carolina, I've changed my mind and think "I don't want to watch this crap. I saw it everyday in NC."

   

How about you compare a city like Dallas with Vancouver. I used to live in Dallas, and as you might know, Dallas is one of the main shipment areas of illegal drugs because of Texas border with Mexico. I've never thought of Seattle as being that much of a high crime area except for drugs. Washington really isn't an example of a bad state in the US. The Top 10 most violent states are: FLORIDA, NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, ILLINOIS, SOUTH CAROLINA, MARYLAND, LOUISIANA, ALABAMA, TEXAS, and NEW MEXICO. Don't get me wrong, Canada has had their wackos, but you have to admit that the US has them beat as far as having crazy people go. Look at what happened in Waco, or the Heavens Gate cult, Columbine and the numerous other school shootings, and I could go on and on. I lived in Texas which has the 2nd highest crime rate, and let me tell you, there was usually alot to report on in the news about crimes. I know that they report alot of bad news, but it's hard to just ignore when some crazy people take the police for a high speed chase, which usually happens a few times a year, at least the good police chases happen that many times. Let's face it, the US is a great place, but there is ALOT of crazy people and alot of crime, and I think shows like cops and worlds scariest police chases reflect that aspect of American life. It's hard to ignore the fact of how many murders and robberies and assults there are in the US.

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I lived in North Carolina also. I lived nere the border with South Caroline and in the city limits of Charlotte, somewhat close to two lakes called Lake Wylie and Lake Norman. I agree with you, there was alot of crime in North Carolina, and North Carolina doesn't even make the top of the list for places with the most crime. I rememer there was some places that looked like places you would get killed at if you went at night, and since I grew up in the US, I went to school in North Carolina, and let me tell you, when they bus kids in from the inner city to your school, it's hard to learn, because they always disrupt class, and saddly they were usually black, which gave me a sour outlook on black people. I don't hate black people, it's just I grew up in a school were they were the minority and they were some ruthless people who were talking about doing drugs and gangs and stuff when they were only in the 6,7,8 grades...

I don't know how much you people watch COPS, but if you notice they seem to always have this city called Fort Worth on there, which is in Texas, and is nere were I used to live. I used to do drugs, and let me tell you, that place is filled with drug dealers, and is not a good place to go at night, and neither is dallas, Irving, or arlington, which all make up a metroplex.

   

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