Law and Order: SVU

[Fenster]

I've been a fan of SVU for a few years now, but watching this week's episode almost made me stop. Not because it was bad, but because its subject matter was disturbing. The plot revolved around a teenage boy who operated a website where pedophiles could pay to see him do things to himself, and sometimes he would get his younger brother in on it (who I think was like 8). No doubt the story was a "ripped from the headlines" entry based on the young man who testified that he did similar things before Congress a couple months ago.

Now I'm the last person in the world to try to restrict what people watch, but with this episode I just had this feeling that this was too strong for broadcast TV. (Usually if anything the amount of violence on standard TV is what bothers me - what's up with all the commercials showing people getting shot in the head?)

On the other hand, I guess it might be good to have this stuff on if there's a chance it will make people aware of what is going on out there; maybe there's even some parents out there who might see the episode and talk with their child to make sure they aren't being abused.

Does anybody understand what I'm trying to say? I'm just wondering if this week's episode went too far.

 

[Miss Shelf]

I agree. I used to like SVU but it got too icky for me. I don't care for all the commercials for shows like CSI: Miami/NY/LV, either, we don't need to see all the fake bullet holes and ketchup blood-we see enough every night when we turn on the news. I've been watching lots of Discovery Channel these days. I watch TV to be entertained, not to be given nightmares.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I can see your point, but I still enjoy watching it greatly. SVU actually inspired me to write my research paper in Abnormal Psychology on the etiology of pedophilia when I was glancing over the disorders in my book while I had the TV on. It was an interesting project to say the least.

If this week's episode disturbed you than I'm not sure whether you'd ever wish to see The Woodsman starring Kevin Bacon. He plays a paroled child molester who still wrestles with his demons that placed him behind bars in the first place. I thought it was a good movie that explored whether or not redemption truly exists for sex offenders.

 

[Fenster]

Actually, I have The Woodsman on my Netflix queue. Course, I have well over 400 other movies in my queue as well, so it's not like it will be the next one I get either.

But yes, from what I understand of pedophiles is that they can't be "cured", though some learn to control the urges better than others. Telling them not to be attracted to children would be like telling me not to be attracted to women, which is what scares me about them.

And I probably won't quit watching anyway - I have too much of a crush on Mariska Hargitay (but don't tell my wife!)

 

[Fantasy Moon]

She does make the show interesting. Isn't she like 40 now? Looks good for her age, that's for sure!

Stabler keeps getting more opportunities to beat up the pedophiles!

 

[Fenster]

On a related note, did you see this week's Saturday Night Live? They had a sketch where a guy is teaching a public learning class about using MySpace.com... so you figure that the desks will be full of teenagers, but then they show the "students" and all but one of them are men in their 30s and 40s! (You can probably figure out where the rest of the sketch went.)

Some might say you shouldn't make humor about stuff like that, but I thought it was funny as heck. Not to mention that, like SVU, it points out the reality of what's going on out there.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I don't watch Saturday Night Live anymore unless it has a celebrity host that I like going to be on there. Might have been interesting to watch that one.

I watched SVU tonight on USA and seen the episode where skinny kids beat up a fat boy, fat boy's siblings assault and sodomize skinny girl who used to be fat, and fat boy shoots skinny boy in the police station. I was amused that now obesity was being used as a reason to kill in the defense attorney's strategy. Criminals will find any reason to validate their actions.