TV Justice Thrives on Fear

[Commentary] "True crime" television programs may serve as a window on crime, but the fundamental appeal is more primal. Crime shows are the adult version of the scary stories we were told as children, the ones about the unseen Gollum who sweeps out of nowhere and devours the lives of unsuspecting people.

I have no issue with true crime, as long as it is true. But as the cancellation of “America’s Most Wanted” suggests, the interest in the scary unknown isn't as high as the interest in what is actually scary and known. It’s worth remembering that in the past two elections, there was no fear-mongering Willie Horton moment, no effort to suggest that the big threat to citizens’ well-being was some unknown guy with a knife. Other real calamities — economic, domestic terrorism, natural disasters — seem to have taken over that part of the cultural subcortex where fear is stored.