Well, most of your wealthier/more educated criminals have the sense to not sign the release. Personally, I find it amazing that anyone signs the release to appear on COPS. I haven’t been arrested for anything screen worthy, but I wouldn’t sign it.
If the show demonizes anyone, it’s the people who are foolish enough to think being on cops is the same as being on any other T.V. show.
It isn’t, but golly wouldn’t nightsticks and tasers improve, say, American Idol or The View, if freely applied…
Like Earl and Joy on My Name is Earl? “Hey, our Cops is on!”
And that’s Vice President and Mrs. Cletus Spuckler to you, pal.
Correct me if I’m wrong but if they are convicted then it’s public record. No release required.
I’d tend to agree, really.
I’ve probably seen the show a dozen or so times over the years. And if you had asked me to describe the typical idiot I would have described him as being some strain of white trash. Probably drunk. And possibly shirtless.
I never felt that COPS targeted black people. The police and the criminals are both shown as a mixture of races.
Now Survivor - that show I have suspicions about.
Well, you’d have to ask yourself whether COPS would have ever gotten as popular as it has if there weren’t so many black folks being profiled on the show, since its success seems to be largely(but not solely) built on the publics manafactured “fear” of minorities, blacks in particular. Shows like these have the tendency to de-sensitize people to the point where one might automatically and reflexively assume that a legitimate case of [race based] police brutality was justified, without feeling the need to give the situation an honest looking over.
Overall, I dont think shows like COPS are good for society, whether they can be said to be “racist” or not.
Are you being serious? Because while Survivor has long had a reputation as a show where minorities can’t win, that’s never been true of the actual competition.
That is total and complete bullshit. Cops success comes completely from it being one of the only things on Fox in the early days and the humor found in half naked very drunk men stumbling away from the police thinking they’ll get away. And then screaming “I didn’t do it!” when it’s very clear they did do it.
How fucking bizarre! You sir, definitely came to the right board. You can learn here.
If anything, as I have noted previously, the portrayal of officers willingness to use force has markedly decreased since the show premiered. Because the “bust heads” cowboys come off looking extremely bad and people DO NOT want that in their communities. I don’t know how you get that whacked out belief that the show somehow justifies brutality. Clearly not from having watched it!
I’d also like to hear/read a clear and concise explanation of why you don’t think these shows are good for society. I believe they are, because they show officers in action and the kind of bullshit that they have to put up with day in and day out. The kind of shit most of us wouldn’t tolerate for five minutes let alone as a career option. The kind of shit that many intelligent people would blow off and dismiss as “that didn’t happen” or even “the cops are lying!”, but as is clearly shown time and again, is standard operating procedure for dumbasses.
On the other side of the equation, as per my first paragraph there, as the show has continued, the acceptable display of policing has changed for the better. This creates a positive example in the law enforcement community and can be used as a training tool for the creation of better standards of behavior in all departments. The “bust heads!” cops get a good outside view of how badly they come off in their communities and why people might not like them, and are shown clear examples of how polite and calm policing produces better results.
Word. I’ve been drunk and rousted by the law more times than I care to remember. Never once did I argue with them.
Dumbasses.
I think the show COPS is racist. I never see any drunk, half-dressed Hispanic men stumbling around. It’s always either white or black, never Hispanic. Where are all my fellow Hispanic rabble rousers? On the cutting room floor, that’s where.
Does COPS inspire fear to any degree? I’ve never known anyone to complain the show made them afraid, rather they generally considered watching it a guilty pleasure.
Your conclusions don’t match the evidence. COPS shows criminals as bumbling idiots. Who would be afraid of them? (People are more likely to learn to be afraid of black men from watching rap videos, which show “gangstas” as being dangerous.) And COPS doesn’t show police brutality, which has the effect on showing the audience that criminals can be dealt with without brutality.
Yeah, if anything I’d say *COPS *demystifies routine law enforcement and everyday criminals; makes both cops and crooks seem *less *scary.
I like watching it occasionally and am not embarrassed to say so. I get the same kind of pleasure watching *Emergency Vet *(or whatever the actual title is) on Animal Planet, or This Old House. Other people’s jobs are fascinating.
In response to you and the poster above you:
You can choose to look at it that way, thats fine, and I wouldn’t deny you your own reasons for enjoying the program. As I said, I don’t believe the show is built entirely on a premise of racism, but one can’t deny that it can potentially contribute to the fostering of racism on the part of simple minded individuals, and bolster the animosity of people already harboring deep racist sentiments to begin with - that, in a nutshell, is the reason why I dont feel programs like COPS are particularly “good” for society, overall. I’m not calling for the destruction of this kind of programming as a whole, but I wouldn’t mourn the loss of COPS is all I’m saying.
I’m not insinuating that people tune in to cops with the intention of seeing “n!ggers get cuffed,” but nevertheless, to a significant amount of people, that IS the bulk of what they see on the show, and to them, it fits snugly with the image of black people that they might have already fashioned for themselves. Yeah, they might see a few white people get cuffed too, but lets be honest, is that the image that’s going to be retained in their minds after, say, a COPS marathon?
As far as the COPS = good guys mentality, that idea might have flown in our youth, but I’ve seen and heard enough to where I don’t think that conflation can be touted so unequivocally. I’m not black (not white either), but I grew up in the NY inner-city and have had my own experiences with police officers that weren’t so pleasant, and I know of people who have officers in their family who can vouch for the fact that the police department is not without its faults(not by a long-shot), and that a great number of police officers hold morals no more noble than your average “perp” on the street. Tis’ reality. There are good cops(and I know quite a few of those as well), and there are bad cops - I simply choose not to take part in the absolute deification of police officers in general. I’d much rather deify those police officers who actually conduct their line of work with honor and dignity, and dont need bottom-of-the-barrel aiming shows like COPS to that for them.
Well yeah, I can’t lie, I used to watch COPS quite often back in the day too, BUT I can see how SOME might consider it to be a racist show, although I wouldn’t wholly agree with that notion.
Just as an aside, when I went to India back in 1998, I actually had people asking me if “negroes” were as violent and decadent as they are portrayed on American programs. Now, COPS might not have anything specifically to do with those assumptions, but you can kinda get where I’m coming from.
Except that dozens of people in this thread have pointed out that the criminals on Cops are a very racially diverse lot. You can’t just handwave that away and say “The majority of criminals on Cops are black” and expect us to just take you at your word.
What’s the point of that exclamation mark? Have we really gotten to the point where we believe that a mere word, not even spoken but typed on a message board no less, is capable of carrying so much intellectual poison that we can’t even spell it out fully?
If you’re going to say nigger, say nigger. Nigger nigger nigger. Nigger nigger nigger. It’s just a word. Let’s not turn our brains off and act like there’s no such thing as context. Nobody’s going to think you’re a racist just because you use the word nigger to describe what other people might be thinking in a discussion about racism.
If you can’t stand the sight of the word, then don’t use it at all. If you’re going to use the word, don’t half ass it, just use the word.
And there are lots of *other *American shows better suited to taking this particular rap, don’t you think? Especially in 1998?