In an entertaining prime-time show about kids, instant messages, older men and sex (subtly named "To Catch a Predator"), MSNBC (pretending to be young girls) talks to older men online, invites these older men to a house rented by the network, the subjects are harangued by Chris Hansen (an MSNBC host) as they are videotaped (by hidden cameras), and then are promptly arrested by authorities after being sufficiently humiliated (here's the To Catch a Predator Website. . .many episodes are available for free here)
Hansen (white guy) with a disappointed 'predator'
The show does some good things. One, it highlights how many weird men there are out there who completely lack a conscience. The men are only invited to the home if the initiated online contact with what they think is an underage girl (in reality, a decoy from a not-for-profit organization hired by MSNBC that specializes in online sex. . .cough cough catching predators). A decoy then talks to the older men, and after sex comes up the decoy eventually invites the predator (victim?) over to for a rowdy and wild time. Of course the sex never happens. A hired actress calls the man into the rented home when he arrives, but she never reappears - the next thing the men see is Chris Hansen and his sometimes witty but redundant commentary on how perverted they are. Indeed, the only wild time being had is by the viewer sitting on his couch at home, grimacing and howling with laughter simultaneously as would-be sex perverts offer up lame excuses rapid-fire.
The show might also stop some would-be perverts from acting, considering how stupid they look on TV, $15,000 bail, jail-time, a fine and a ruined life. However, this also may not be as obvious as it seems; recently, MSNBC had a repeat 'pervert,' and many of the grown men caught on camera admit to having watched MSNBC's "To Catch a Predator," only later to become stars on the same show.
The New York Times ran an article on it (found here), an article that seemed more an advertisement for MSNBC and their partner "Perverted Justice" (the group that lures the men in with their online sex skills) than it does reporting on such an interesting story. The Times article glorified the positives of the MSNBC show, but overlooked some serious questions that should've been posed about the show in the first place (no matter how absolutely captivating it is, and trust me, it is). For starters, how many real 13 year old girls are actually inviting men over to their house? Aka, is the crime that the grown men commit (traveling to an underage girl's house to engage in sex with a minor) actually committed outside of the show's confines? Also, how aggressive are the decoys pursuing their male predator-victims? Are these acts comitted primarily with the encouragement of volunteers eager for more air-time? Hopefully the courts will clear some of this up when the men have proper hearings, but they are valid questions.
One thing remains clear about the show: it's morbidly funny, creepy and captivating all at the same time.
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