Please, I'd rather not watch

This point has no doubt been made ad nauseum, but I'm always a bit behind pop-culture-wise (he said, pretentiously.)

Anyhow, the other night while flipping channels I had the misfortune of landing on a NBC Dateline "predator" segment. This is where Dateline staffers pose as early teens in internet chat rooms. As sure as night follows day, stupid (very stupid) old dudes initiate contact and make arrangements to meet the kids for sexual encounters.

You are treated, courtesy of NBC, to the pathetic sight of these (typically married) men, some of them already in a state of undress, being ambushed by the Dateline reporter and a cameraman. What follows is hard to watch: the men either deny the obvious, break down and cry, or try to flee. Regardless, the outcome is the same: they are immediately arrested.

I have no sympathy for these men. But the show is so repulsive, so wrong, that I almost felt sorry for some of them. That, in and of itself, ensures that they next time I channel surf to one of these segments, I'll avert my eyes from this train wreck. Although I have no problem with the police arranging stings to catch pedophiles, I have a yecch attitude toward people who consider the process a form of entertainment.