OK, this is an issue I've been kicking around in my head for a while, but it just snapped into focus tonight as I was watching an episode of CSI with my girlfriend who is a smart woman with a graduate degree, CCW permit holder and someone whom I've discussed my concerns about police power/abuse of power with

I enjoy the CSI and Law & Order franchises as some people enjoy soap operas... They're thin on plot and quite predictable, so they're easy entertainment you don't have to pay too much attention to.

The episode tonight featured one of the cops busting into a suspect's place of business with his gun in hand and aimed at the suspect (as opposed to "low ready") whom he had already made some threats to ("you'll regret messing with me" sort of stuff).

Seeing this cop bust in and aim a gun at him, the guy runs for it, goes out the window, and takes off. Upon seeing this my girlfriend says "that was stupid, it just makes him look guilty."

I responded with something along the lines of "if some cop who had threatened me showed up in my house or place of business without a warrant and pointed a gun at me, the very least thing I'd do would be run for my life."


On these shows they regularly show officers searching people without probable cause/warrants, interrogating suspects after they've asked for lawyers, using physical coercion to gain confessions and generally doing all the things we'd expect from the agents of a police state. These shows are pretty popular, and I'm concerned that just as many people get their idea of what medical care should be from ER and House, M.D. that Americans are going to expect this sort of behavior from police, and view it as normal.

These shows are already having an impact on juries, who now expect forensic evidence in every case, and families who expect autopsies to show exactly what the cause of death if their loved one was (ie "my husband was exposed to asbestos once, 15 years ago, can you tell if that caused his death?").

Does anyone else have similar concerns?

Ever notice all theses antis are doing TV and movies with lots of gun violence? Then the next time you see them, they are protesting guns!??
It seems some of theses shows are promoting everything I hate, and maligning everything I like. No wonder I don't watch much TV, and don't promote it by paying for cable or dishes.
I was thinking about the "conditioning the masses" theory when another show about someone who can tell if someone is lying came along.
I am waiting for an expert witness to walk into a courtroom to tell the jury that the witness was lying because of a raised eyebrow or something.

The "CSI Effect" has already been documented as influencing jurors, they expect dazzling 3-D effects and DNA evidence from everything. Given television has already impacted the judicial process, your hypothesis seems quite probable.

They are accomplishing two goals with all these shows.
1) Preparing the people for a police state.
2) Preparing the next generation of Police(-army?) as a career.

If the economy keeps on this path, the biggest employer will be a police force. Already I've heard people say "that won't happen, look at the budgets getting cut for police." When unemployment raises more, then everything else will suffer because the governments will put everything into police budgets. Right now they are making even cuts trying to keep the status-quo. Crime will make a dramatic incline if the economy doesn't sharply turn around in the next year. There are enough people on unemployment to keep people pacified. That won't last much longer though.

Regarding the 'anti's' making gun shows- They are shooting themselves in the foot. They wanted to sensationalize gun violence and show it's bad. But when half of the shows on TV now involve good-guys with guns, they are helping our side.

Wrong. How many "good guys with guns" on TV are not police/federal agents/military officers or some other agent of the state?

The people are being trained that the folks from the gov't are the only ones responsible enough to <strike>carry this glock fo'tah</strike> defend themselves with firearms.

And the difference in the TV series and the nightly new is what?

Every time I see something wrong in one of these "shows" and point it out, my 18 year old son just pipes up and says" it is a TV show", don't worry about it.
Don't know if that is the right or wrong attitude.

You are right. Although it still sends the message that good guys with guns are good. Any way you say "good" and "gun" in the same sentence, it contradicts anti-gunners and that is GREAT! Should there be more normal people with guns in shows, absolutely.

It's the truth, that's for sure. Believe me, news shows have very active (and vocal) producers and directors controlling the content.

-Mark