enthalpy

Saturday, December 13, 2008


Premature adjudication. That's funny. I'm certainly not going to claim that "Justice Porn" isn't quality television, but there's something about Judge Judy that is oddly compelling.
Like a Romper Room for adults, like Oprah with a whip, justice porn constantly preaches doctrines of prudence, responsibility, and self-empowerment: The ultimate goal is to avoid putting oneself in the position of requiring the court's assistance. As Laurie Ouellette, a professor of communications studies at the University of Minnesota, has written, "The imagined viewer at home is encouraged to self-govern her daily affairs without the direct involvement of the court, the welfare office, or any public institution for that matter." To reinforce this notion, Judge Judy is forever yipping at litigants for wasting her time, as if there is something she'd rather be doing than getting paid $38 million a year just to insult losers arguing over unpaid telephone bills.
Anyone that's seen the show and would want Judy to publicly humiliate them on TV is clearly unstable.



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