Why is MSNBC so obsessed with jails?

[Archae]

Starting on Friday night, they have program after program, devoted to locking up criminals, (those "To Catch A Predator" ones creep me out,) and showing what it's like in jails. Especially maximum security jails.

[Duer 157099]

1. To get us used to our future homes

It's all about conditioning. To make the fact of prison life very normal and acceptable to the population.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

2. Well at least they ARE having somewhat of a "weekend" lineup this week

Ed Schultz & Keith Olbermann will both be doing their shows on Sunday, presumably at the usual times. Not sure if that's also true of Rachel or Tweety.

[RZM]

3. Probably a combination of factors

Cheap to produce is probably the biggest one. They mix and match clips so they end up recycling the same footage into multiple shows. And people like them I guess. We are captivated by sociopaths, apparently.

[Orsino]

4. They're determined to profit from America's culture of imprisonment, too. n/t

[AngryOldDem]

5. It's cheap programming that people will watch.

They can run these episodes until Christ comes again, it fills airtime so they're not having to pay for the on-air talent, and they know that some people are just fascinated with true crime stories so there will always be an audience.

In other words, the lazy way to run a network.

[datasuspect]

6. it's what they do . . .

they chip, chip, chip away at ideas.

the fundamental machine of marketing is repetition.

it's how they inure us to ideas.

[RZM]

7. And what is that idea?

That we will all wind up in prison one day?

[datasuspect]

8. many of us already are.

it's silly to propose that everyone, meaning ALL people, will be in jail. so your question doesn't really add anything to the conversation, but i will indulge you. i know what you are doing. you're employing sophistry to throw a rhetorical hand grenade into the shithouse. believe me, i've been doing this for lots of years, so pay attention.

the endgame is to imprison lots of folks. there's plenty of money in it and the prison industry (including the highly profitable private prison companies) have some super cheap labor they can bring to the table.

and prison wages are competitive with chinese or south asian wage structures.

[RZM]

9. Attention paid . . .

Though I'm not a child, so there's no need to address me as one. All of this reminds me of a saying in a now-defunct state. 'We have three types of people: Those who were in prison, those who are in prison, and those who will be in prison.' Now where did that saying arise . . . for the life of me I can't think of it ;)

I like how you claim there's money in prison and tell us that the 'endgame is to imprison lots of folks' -- but oddly, there's nothing in the middle of your argument there. Strange. And your argument that MSNBC's programming is intended to 'inure us' is made even more ridiculous give the content of these programs. Much of the footage is spent showcasing violent (racial) gangs and how horrible life is in prison. That doesn't make me want to go. In fact, it would make me want to RESIST attempts to get me to go.

But go ahead, have fun in cospiracyville, where the almighty PIC is just dying to put you and me in prison and working their slow but sure plot through MSNBC's weekend lineup.

[datasuspect]

10. that was easy

you guys never change. if you want an exegesis, do your own legwork. do your own research. and don't rely solely on online resources. you have to read actual books. i can't connect the dots for you.

back before the internetz was filled with n00bs and lamers, i would have carried on and on with you for WEEKS. seriously. now, i'm just too tired and bored. but if you like, i'll just say that your incisive, well-reasoned, and articulate comments cut me to the CORE. for realz. i am experiencing tremendous butthurt because thou hast slain me on the field of discussion board battle.

yawn.

now run along and play. i hear newspaper discussion boards are hotbeds of activity lately.

EXTRA ADDLED BONUS:

OBAMAPELOSIREED!!!!!11111

[RZM]

12. You're showing your lack of maturity here

I'm asking you to back up your arguments, but you've already lost interest in putting forth any effort. And you're using juvenile sarcasm and terms like 'butthurt.' Yet you still have the gall to tell me to 'run along and play?' Isn't part of making an argument 'connecting the dots' so that other people will believe what you're saying? Oh wait, I forgot, you're too 'tired and bored' for this.

[datasuspect]

13. there isn't anything to argue

i come here for entertainment, not edification, not education, not enlightenment. i read books and have IRL conversations with people whose opinions matter to me for that.

if you're spoiling to display your rhetorical skills, you're barking up the wrong tree. like i said, hit some newspaper comments sections. it's like the wild west (some of them are anyway).

butthurt hurts.

[RZM]

14. Not interested in displaying anything

Just wondering why you said what you did. But I can see you're intent on hiding it. Lots of people on the internet read books and have actual conversations but come here for more cause they just can't get enough . . . And condescension is only sometimes entertaining.

[datasuspect]

15. i have no investment in this

but if you want to keep going back and forth, i am game.

here's something i find entertaining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB31uisENjY

[alphafemale]

11. "To Catch a Predator" is creepy. But stll...that time the guy actually walked in Naked?

:rofl: