Judge Judy and COPS/”There but by the grace of God, go I”

“There but by the grace of God, go I”

- John Bradford

I do not typically share the same interests in television (or for that matter, in almost anything) that my family does, particularly when it concerns Judge Judy and Cops.

Judge Judy is certainly often accurate in her constant assessment of everyone’s stupidity, but I cringe every time she waves that sharply pointed finger and hisses loudly, “SHHH! SHHH! SHHH!” Her direct stare, caustic tone and confrontational attitude are more than abrasive to me. I think she sees a pretty sad and pathetic sub-set of people in her courtroom, but I am broad-minded enough to realize that many of these people are just that, people. They may often be lazy, shiftless liars looking to get something for nothing but sometimes they are just simple minded creatures who are bumbling through life the only way they know how.

I can get riled up just like the next person, but I most often try to exhaust all my conversational options first, before resorting to insults, impatience and rudeness. And that is just it in a nutshell. Judge Judy is so RUDE! You know, if you have all the power sitting high up in a podium, with muscle and jail behind you, and you possess a biting tongue, you can make anyone look like a horse’s ass. It is simple. Her loud, holier-than-thou attitude reminds me of people I know that always grate on my nerves. And no wonder… it is their favorite show.

Let me say this. It is one of the easiest things in the world to judge another person. I do it every single day, despite my own natural inclination toward empathy. It is much harder to genuinely put yourself in their position, especially when they are so clearly in the wrong. Judge Judy has no sympathy for a woman who stays with an abusive mate too long, or a teenager who fell in with the wrong crowd and helped spray paint a car, or a man who did not pay rent to a landlord due to recent unemployment. I do. I know how easily it can happen.

The slippery slope is a deceptively enticing place. I believe people make mistakes and I also believe there is an ever present, fine line separating the righteous and the unrighteous.

As my father often said, “Now that we’ve established who you are, it is time to establish price.” In other words, what you think is unconceivable do to for $100 may just be much easier for a million. Can your conscience be eased by $500,000? Would you commit murder if it meant saving your daughter from going to jail for the rest of her life? Would you rob a bank if your mother was dying of a cancer only because she didn’t have the money for an operation? We all have a price. Just a couple bad decisions, just a few compromises and you are the person being hissed at and called stupid by a tiny woman enveloped in billowing black robes.

Don’t get me wrong. I do strongly believe that we must hold ourselves and others accountable for our actions and the subsequent consequences. WE don’t do that enough today. We are a blaming society. It is our parent’s fault for not paying enough attention, our employer’s fault for not paying us enough, and the world’s fault for being so uncaring… Well, you know what? Suck it up. The world isn’t fair, it never will be and as our population continues to grow, our economy suffers and education suffers, it will get much worse. As long as we continue to encourage superficiality in our children and nurture the Gimme Gimme culture started in the 90’s and continued into the new millennium, we will continue to see the gradual decline of standards and goodness in our fellow man. It is up to you to make something of yourself and, ultimately, there is only yourself to blame when you fail.

As for COPS, I just hate to expose myself willingly to watching a person who has reached rock bottom. The show is filled with drug pushers and dealers, prostitutes and pimps, murderers and thieves. It breaks my heart to see these people. They are wrong and deserve their comeuppance. However, they were once babies in this world. They had a mother and a father, whether absent or not, and they were born red, screaming, helpless and innocent, just like me. They did not come out of the womb ready to stick up a gas station and kill a hardworking cashier. They were tiny children once, just aching to be loved and coddled. Maybe they weren’t hugged enough and maybe they were. But the journey from birth to being chased down by large dogs on COPS must be a harrowing one, filled with pitfalls and unfathomable disappointments. I, unlike many others, do not find myself laughing at these criminals. I am very aware of just what evils the human heart can harbor. I am more than capable of distrust and selfishness, but my heart has always been able to open for those dwelling in the dark, dank and lonely bottom of the pond. I would prefer not to watch the car crash of their lives culminating in a humiliating and yet familiar capture.

So, this is what I am thinking as I watch my family members staring raptly at the screen while cops pat down an addict prostitute covered in lesions and her “boyfriend” with buck teeth, crossed eyes and a severe attitude problem. Ugh.

(As an added note, I think that the corrupt judges and cops ever present in our increasingly ineffective justice system do more harm than these petty criminals they are always arresting and bringing in on a new charge every night. You know, is anyone else getting it that this is not working? Hello?! We have these people in and out of jail their entire lives, each subsequent visit making them more and more harden and unprepared for civilian life, but we continue to force them out on the streets and act surprised when they commit another crime. Of course they do!)