Railroading

I've noticed something lately on a couple of talk shows that disturbs me. Take for instance this morning's episode of Larry Elder. There was a guy and his family on there, the guy a crack addict and the family classic enablers. Normally I wouldn't sympathize with the addict EVER, but I almost felt sorry for this man. Almost. He was pleasant and cooperative, not a touch of defensiveness or sarcasm, and had an appropriate level of remorse. His sisters told stories of how they slept with their money and car keys on themselves every night (boy, do I remember those days!) and how drug dealers would bang on their doors in the middle of the night when they were sound alseep (I remember that too, except I was never sound asleep, more like wide awake and PISSED!). But why did Larry have to keep hammering at this guy, machine gun attack style, saying things like "Look what you're doing to your family! Do you enjoy making your sister cry? How could you steal from your own mother?" And the guy kept saying "Yeah I know, and that's why I'm here, because I know I need help." Maybe he's a total dirtbag and his claim was completely insincere. After all, this has been going on for thirteen years. He did make the statement that when he was out getting high he didn't think about anybody but himself and that when he got home and sobered up, he felt so awful about what he had done that he needed to get drunk or high to ease that pain. Doesn't Larry realize that shouting out accusations like that to a hard core addict is pointless? They've been screaming this shit at him for thirteen years, and does Larry think he can change him in twenty minutes? Stupid stupid stupid television! Dr. Phil would have handled it better, but I've seen him railroad some of his guests unfairly too.

There's a right and a wrong way to deal with sensitive issues. People in positions of authority need to realize this so they can get more desirable results and better solutions to the problems without mowing a person down emotionally.