Operation TIPS calls routed to "America's Most Wanted"
August 6, 2002 1:52 PM   Subscribe

Operation TIPS calls routed to "America's Most Wanted" (Salon premium, sorry) What hack wrote this script we Americans now find ourselves playing out, and why does he have such an on-the-nose sense of humor? Is this funny, depressing, painful or outrageous? Or all four?
posted by busbyism (10 comments total)
 
As to not derail the thread, pay site links are being discussed here.
posted by geoff. at 2:25 PM on August 6, 2002


all four, and throw in disgusting too (asscroft is SO much more than outrageous, and hardly funny at all).
posted by quonsar at 2:35 PM on August 6, 2002


The sad thing is, I might trust America's Most Wanted more than I trust the FBI.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:39 PM on August 6, 2002


I guess if I had to choose between Rupert Murdoch and John Ashcroft, I'd take the crazy aussie, but man is that a bad decision to make.
posted by mathowie at 2:58 PM on August 6, 2002


Geoff., point taken. But what can you do? The alternative was to link to this over-the-top ACLU press release. I'd rather link to an article than a press release any day, even if it is premium. Anyway, since I don't subscribe, maybe somebody who does will go read the article and report back to the rest of us.
posted by busbyism at 3:14 PM on August 6, 2002


Outsourcing! Everyone's doing it!
posted by mrbill at 3:21 PM on August 6, 2002


All four.
posted by holycola at 3:39 PM on August 6, 2002


I've got premium.... there's nothing in the article you need to know beyond the fact that TIPS calls are routed to the America's Most Wanted switchboard. Which is pretty ridiculous.

Oh, and Dick Armey wants to kill TIPS, but Lieberman wants to save it, as more of a neighborhood watch thing.
posted by mogwai at 4:01 PM on August 6, 2002


Outsourcing! Everyone's doing it!.
Yes, you sleep with one eye open, I know where you live.

Seriously, if this scares you(which it does for me) get to know your neighbors thus knowing when to keep your personal business private. That's what the front door is for, well, you do have a lock on it. And you can still have a tight knit community and privacy.

I can see it now the John Ashcroft hour, and co-host Jerry Springer. Yes, todays show we have neighbor A who claims the party in question was really a group of neighbors plotting terroristic booby-traps. We have also the accused neighbors B, C, and Z who say, "no, they are innocent, and he was only not included in the party as he is too nosy. Then Ashcroft say's to the crowd, yes, witness A's wife went to the party as a spy and she will tell all. At the end of the show, witness A's wife says yes, that to infiltrate the party, "I stripped and showed my boobies." Then Ashcroft says to the crowd should we hang'em. (break for the commercial break and left to ponder the accuses fate) Jerry Springer comes on with the accused and says what can you say for yourselves. The accuse say, well Jerry we did plot a party to see our neighbor's wife's boobs but the rest sounds like a trap.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:08 PM on August 6, 2002


It's also not new; shows like Dragnet and others were produced in similar ways. (Check out this letter from the 50's, in which the LAPD authorizes use of police radio calls to make TV shows. I think we're sliding back into the power relationships we had during the 50's, complete with the corruption.
posted by lisatmh at 3:23 PM on August 7, 2002


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