Dear Entertainment Tonight:
Late Monday night, the news broke that the Australian Crocodile Hunter had died. I didn't believe it at first, because it all reminded me of when I read that Bill Nye the Science Guy died in The Onion, which is a satirical newspaper.
When I went to the gym yesterday, Entertainment Tonight (E.T.) was on one of the TVs near the eliptical machine I used, and they had a photo of the Crocodile Hunter, with closed captioning something like:
...PAY ATTENTION, YOU'RE ACTUALLY WATCHING A PERSON DIE HERE.
I was disgusted. Yes, of course it was tempting to watch, but I couldn't - it reminded me so much of the colliseum, where prisoners and people who disagreed with emporer-worship were thrown to lions to be torn apart, with the crowds cheering because they were actually watching people die - for entertainment. This of course, helped encourage the worst of people, and was a significtant factor in the degradation of the people of Rome.
I understand you only do this for ratings - and that's not so bad, right?
I mean, what if they could get several people on film getting killed. What if they could have a daily special on E.T. or the evening news of someone being shot to death, or being torn to pieces by an animal? That would be great for ratings.
It's sick because it is the presentation of someone else's death as a form of entertainment. We get a thrill out of watching people die. On film in violent movies, at least it is pretend. At least you know they're actors, with fake blood packets, and special effects.
Watching footage of trageties like the world trade center or earthquakes or the tsunamis are difficult to watch because of the magnitude, and the loss, death, and tragedy that is ensured by these unfortunate events - but that would be different from the camera zooming in on a person being killed, and that marketed as entertainment, or being featured as exclusive footage to where you can acutally watch someone being killed right before your eyes.
But what E.T. did was different and worse. Enjoying watching someone else be killed - is definately part of the dark and twisted side of our humanity, and it is shameful for E.T. and the other programs showing the footage to be attempting to cash-in off the depavity of people, and encouraging people to be entertained tonight by watching someone be killed before their eyes on your show.
I will not be tuning in to E.T. in the future; I'm not interested in being a member of the crowd, being entertained by watching the death of others.
I heard them discussing this very topic on the radio this morning. Would you like to see the video of his death? Most people said no, but quite a few said yes.
Good letter.
Good letter. In situations like this, I always wonder who to blame, the media, or the public who - by watching - are essentially condoning it.