Television promotes sociopathic behavior

Each year, cable and the networks bring us new programs that try to make us think sociopaths are just lovable losers.  Take the new NBC sitcom, “Community.”  Joel McHale plays Jeff Winger,  a pompous liar and a cheat who winds up in a community college after it’s discovered that his law degree was a fake.  Where he should be is in jail. He’s only interested in manipulating people and exhibits several of the traits of a sociopath (psychopath).

Some other shows in which deceit and manipulation are passed off as ok?

• Psych (main character lies about his psychic abilities)
• Brothers and Sisters (brother steals, lies and cheats and the whole family turns out to enable him)

I’ll work more on this list, but just wanted to get it out there to spark some discussion.

Lying glamorized

I was watching TV a couple of nights ago.  I don’t remember what channel it was or what the ad was for, except that it was trying to sell some kind of alcoholic drink.  What stuck in my mind was that the ad revolved around a sociopathic attempt to get into a club.  The man in the ad lied, saying he was Burt Reynolds.  While the guy at the door scrutinized the fake card the liar gave him, the liar sneaked into the club. The ad tries to make us think lying and cheating is fun, exciting and traits we want to see in men.  It made me feel ill.  If anyone knows what company is using this ad, let me know.  I’ll write/call them to complain and encourage others to do the same.

I found out that the ad is for Jose Cuervo. There’s a lot of press about this ad, but nothing really helps us to understand why glorifying a liar should be part of an ad campaign.
http://www.prnewsonline.com/prnewswire/3431.html

Steve Wilkos producer called me

Late last night I got a call from a Steve Wilkos producer. I didn’t answer the phone because it said “Unknown Caller.”  I tend to not answer late night calls from unknown callers because of the experience I had when X’s drunken girlfriend called at 1:45 AM to harass me.

I returned the call today and will await her call.

I’m not sure what they can do.  How can they convince someone to appear on television to be publicly chastised and humiliated?

Whats my reason for even wanting this to happen?  I have a need for closure. There’s been no amount of talking that has or will get through to either X or our mother. Maybe some big former marine and ex-cop can make some sense of this. Maybe before I die I can bring this event to an end.  Even if it means we’ll never speak again, that’s what I expected anyway. Unless they’re willing to accept some responsibility instead of blaming others and apologize for what they’ve done, I don’t want them in my life.

Like my sister said, “It’s just easier to pretend their dead.”

Documentaries on television

HBO has some interesting films coming up. I tried to paste the code for their widget here, but it just doesn’t work!

http://www.hbo.com/docs/

If you have TiVo, you can browse by category. I like to look through the list to see what’s on.

I wonder why there’s no Documentary Channel yet? Coming up:

• Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)
  Filmmaker Chris Paine examines the development and eventual destruction of General Motors’ EV-1, an automobile that required no gas, oil, muffler or brake changes.
  Tue 7/29 6:30 PM  543 STRZ5
• An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
  Former presidential candidate Al Gore campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb the problem.
  Mon 7/21 1:05 PM  402 SHOCSE