Crime culture and media- An unholy alliance

Crime is a global plague, worse than any real plague caused by a disease. Mass media represents it as a sort of beauty pageant. It trashes lives every day, and is still trotted out by the music industry and others as a fashion statement. Crime is an abuse of human rights on a colossal scale, and you can see its PR machine on TV and in Hollywood anytime.

Crime is so prevalent that it’s now a way of life for tens of millions of people, turning over billions of dollars a year. If you make the equation between “tens of millions” and “billions”, you’ll see another, truer side of crime- There aren’t too many millionaire criminals. On a rough average, you’d have more chance of winning a lottery than becoming rich as a criminal.

Crime is basically a shortcut to guaranteed poverty. A person who takes $50,000 in a robbery and does five years for it “makes” $10,000 a year- less than a fast food job. When you’re a kid, it looks like big money, particularly to people who were poor in the first place, but as a way of life, it’s a big negative.

Crime is also a high turnover employment market. A few wrong moves are enough to get you out of the business, or occupying a grave, in some cases. Most criminals are drama queens, but the actual risks are real enough. Serious injury, dangers from other criminals, and severe stress are the basic health hazards. Even the most fanatical adrenalin junkie can have enough of this kind of “excitement”.

The psychological risks are arguably equally bad. High stress over long periods of time, particularly in a dangerous environment, gives people some pretty strange views of the world. They become a risk, even to their friends.

Al Capone era gangs recognized this problem, and had a unique diagnosis and solution. They sent a prostitute to the person they thought was going nuts. If the person responded to the prostitute, they were OK. If not, they were shot. This type of psychological state actually induced sexual dysfunction, and was a sure sign of a gang member who was no longer mentally reliable.

The high poverty type of crime zone is also a health hazard. TB, AIDS, hepatitis and a lot of STDs are very common in the truly poor ganglands. This truly murderous environment is a triple whammy. If you’re sick, you’re vulnerable, because you can’t make money and you can’t protect yourself.

Contrast these scenarios with media crime:

• Nobody does crack or ice.
• Nobody is sick.
• Nobody is really nuts, just cosmetic nuts.
• Everybody dresses either “supermarket/Sopranos” or Fifth Avenue.
• Sleaze is sanitized.
• The chronic child abuse in poor criminal zones is never mentioned.
• Everyone makes money.
• The domestic physical violence, rapes and other sports aren’t an issue.

So kids watch this unbelievable crap, and it’s “Just like home, only with guns”.

The message they get is:

• Being poor is cool.
• Being a criminal is smart.
• Being a loudmouth jerk with a gun is cool.
• Jail is a holiday resort full of very nice people.
• All criminals get rich.
• You can trust criminals.
• Ripping people off and robbing stores is perfectly safe.
• Violence happens to other people.

Helluva education, isn’t it?

Nobody expects much from the media. After all, what else would a pack of overpaid, talentless alcoholic coke users do with their time? These are the same morons who can’t come up with anything but remakes, prequels, and game shows. Relevance, like sentience, isn’t really their strong suit.

That said, how many free lunches do these garbage recyclers deserve? How many more billions should they get for misrepresenting life on Earth?

I’m glad I asked.

The short answer is that media is also a crime zone. If you’ve ever wondered why a show with a $200 million budget uses about $5 worth of props and was apparently always set in an old warehouse, it’s called “money laundering”. Media and crime are old friends. That’s where the real money goes to be neatly folded, and comes out nice and clean.

It doesn’t actually cost $5 million to make a few tracks of music, or to produce a TV show with only one set and a few chairs. Never has, and you can be sure, never will. And what are the shows and songs about? Crime.

The global misery caused by crime goes on. So do the terrible, boring hip hop regurgitations, the cookie cutter homeboys and the staggeringly dull suburbanite reality shows and the herds of bovine nonentities called celebrities. Crime, producing crimes. Literally insult to the intelligence, added to injury to the world.

Sooner or later someone will wake up, but don’t hold your breath.