Crime Shows

I rarely watch TV, as ridiculous as it sounds. The influence came from my grade school teacher, who didn't allow her 2 daughters to watch tv on weekdays. She told my mom during one of our parent teacher interviews, and from that point on, my mom decided to put that rule on me as well. That was about 20 years ago.

I probably watched more tv when I was at the babysitter's place than when I was at home. Growing up it was about those extracurricular activities: piano lessons, skating lessons, swimming lessons. Eventually I got used to it. I think I remember way more tv shows when I was a kid versus when I hit high school. Lamb Chops, Barney, Power Rangers, Rugrats, Reboot, Simpson's...there were probably a few others but those are the ones I can recall very quick.

That's why when friends come up to me and ask me about the latest ad they saw on tv, or about the latest shows, I look at them with a deer in the headlights look. Because I really have no idea what they're talking about.

Now with constant access to the internet at your fingertips, it is way more easier than cable tv. It's insane how technology and internet have really took off since the late 90's and early millennium. I still remember the elementary school days where I had to use dial up internet in order to go on the internet. The connection got lost immediately when someone picked up the phone. It was always a pain when I was playing Flight Simulator 98, and flying with people online. Ahhh, good times.

I was surprised how much Youtube has on their search engines. Before it was all about short clips back in 2005. Nowadays, there are movies, shows...it's crazy. Which brings me to shows on Youtube.

I've always been into crime drama or crime shows. There's just something fascinating about it. But I think what really intrigues me is the mind of a killer. How did they end up getting to that point, what was their family history like, what was their upbringing like, their childhood etc. I never thought about going into criminology or forensic analyst, but it would be an interesting field to go into, although a very stressful and emotionally draining one.

This brings me to a few shows that I have been addicted to lately: Scorned, Love Kills, The First 28 Hours, Deadly Women, Deadly Affairs, Happily Never After and Behind Mansion Walls. These shows all are inspired by real life crime, bringing them to life. The first time I saw one of those episodes, I thought they were made up stories, but when I did more research on some of the most interesting crimes, they were actual crimes.

All the crimes have people from different backgrounds, and what I mean is upbringings. But it's very similar in terms of theme. A lot of the crimes I've noticed involved a third party, or money. It doesn't matter whether they come from a very wealthy background or not. We may think the super rich family life is perfect because they can buy whatever they want, but it is far from that. Money can make a person evil, from both the inside and outside.

I wrote a post last year about money and cheating. It's pretty much a common theme. Someone may have a lot of money, to the point they don't even know what to do with it. But then there are some who do have money, who will pay for a good time, regardless if they have a spouse and kids. It's about the selfishness and wanting to make themselves happy. Or getting a high so to speak. And when you have all the money in the world to buy whatever you want, it's tempting. Then you lose control. Once you've done a crime, it's impossible to just pay your way out of it, especially when it comes to murdering a spouse or family member. At that point, it doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank account because you'll be in jail until you die.

So from what I've seen and read, spousal abuse and murders don't just happen in the lower or middle class, but it can happen to the rich as well. I find it much more deadly when it involves a super rich powerful person because they can lie their way out of things or pay for people to be quiet, because they have the resources for it. Doesn't make it right, but you can see how evil the human heart really is.

Behind Mansion Walls was pretty intriguing because it focuses on crimes relating to the super rich. Not just millionaires, but billionaires. They owned many properties, cars, yachts...things that working class people only dream of owning. Yet we see even as millionaires or billionaires, they still want more. A common theme is that one spouse is a self made millionaire, while the other spouse is a regular working class person. Maybe they got bored of each other, or a third party was involved, but when it comes to divorce, the millionaire does not want to split their income with their spouse (especially if there's no pre-nup agreement). Instead of splitting 50/50, they rather kill their spouse and keep their earnings. Through investigations, the truth is revealed. Bottom line is, it's all about money.

I can see why (I mean anyone can see why) while battling a divorce, they wouldn't want to split 50/50, especially if you are super wealthy. You made or inherited all your income. Why should you pay half of that to your spouse who is leaving you? It's yours after all. But I would rather do that than kill them and then go to jail for life for murdering them. Who wants a life in jail until they die?

Besides, I'm not a person who supports divorce. Mark 10:9-12 states:

Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 

10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 

11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 

12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

There is a reason why God does not allow divorce (unless the spouse commits adultery); we can see how much heartache and issues divorce can cause to many people. We can see how much money couples have to input into divorce proceedings, lawyer fees, miss work because of court dates, and it's even harder when it involves children, because now there is also child support involved, along with who gets custody of the children. It becomes even harder when it's a messy divorce. Did God intend for all this to happen? No. Because we ourselves stray our hearts away from God. We chose to "follow our hearts" and not with our minds. We shouldn't be blaming God for our problems, because we are the ones who created the problem. We are the ones who strayed away from His warnings and commandments. God wouldn't want us to go through that, so that's why He created this commandment, because He loves us and cares.

Once again, it really depends how you see money. Money can be seen as two ways: temporary materialistic thing or a bad addiction. For some people (or a lot; I don't have stats on it), money is an addiction. There's a difference between being addicted to money, and being frugal with your money. There are times I am frugal with money, but then there are times that I need to buy something on the spot (say for example, like sanitary pads or food) and I don't really think about trying to compare 10 stores to see which has the better deal. I'll just buy it because I need it now. With money addiction, it's all about getting as much money as you can, whether it's through legal or illegal means. As soon as a portion of money is gone or missing, you try to do whatever you can to get it back, legally or not. Money ends up driving your life. And that's the life that becomes dangerous.

My initial theme of the post took a turn, but in a way it was suppose to branch out a bit. I used to watch CSI, along with Law & Order: SVU, but they are only entertainment shows, not real life crime drama investigations. I find the real life crime dramas much more fascinating because it involves real crimes. They analyze the crime from different angles and really go in depth into the history of how it led to the crime. For those interested in the field of criminology, it's a good start to learning and also helps with basic assessments of a crime.