I’ve never seen the hit UK TV show Midsomer Murders, but a recent NHS study has found that it portrays homicide unrealistically — which concerns the psychologists leading the study, because it could be affecting public health messages:
“The typical fictional homicide is part of a planned series committed by a middle-aged white man or woman who is not intoxicated, sometimes using a bizarre weapon. In contrast, real homicides were almost all single, and were usually carried out by often intoxicated younger men from a more diverse ethnic origin, in an unplanned attack using a kitchen knife. They were also more likely to have a diagnosed mental disorder.”
Steve Sailer has made the same point about American crime dramas.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the first comment on the Independent‘s site:
To be honest, I would rather they had focussed their attention on our right wing politics and their hate campaigns against the poor and disabled…now that is an area where we see a lot harm being caused, not only by the measures they introduce, but also the likes of Benefit Sttreet and the Daily Mail who just love to hate. They need their fix of hatred every day…influencing society at large to hate.
Even commercials are warped in the US, where it’s always whitey breaking in somewhere, and the nice couple is of course interracial.
Ah, but
“In March 2011 the producer of the series, Brian True-May, was suspended by All3Media after telling the TV listings magazine the Radio Times that racial diversity in the programme was non-existent because the series was a “bastion of Englishness”. When challenged about the term “Englishness” and whether that would exclude different ethnic minorities, True-May said “Well, it should do, and maybe I’m not politically correct.” He later went on to say that he wanted to make a programme “that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed”. True-May’s comments were investigated by the production company.[7]”
Midsomer Murders is set in a fictional English county where everyone lives in lovely houses, many with thatched roofs. It’s partly property porn. There are village fayres and bell-ringing societies. It’s where viewers want to live (despite the murder rate).
“The county of Midsomer is notable for its particularly high crime rate, causing the Midsomer Constabulary to be inundated with the number of murder cases that come their way – estimated at 32 per million, around double that of London.[4] This has even become a running joke among the British public. When Mrs Barnaby proposed they move out of Causton and suggested various villages, her husband countered with recollections of particularly grisly murders that occurred in each community. Humour is a main feature of the series, with many of the actors playing up their high-camp characters. This causes some black comedy, such as a woman being murdered by a wheel of cheese…”
If lefties couldn’t use the word “hate” could they even speak or write a single sentence? I doubt it.
I like Sherlock Holmes, but face it, you’re not talking about realism.