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2009,
17:11 GMT
Shoplifters Confess on Dr. Phil and Get Arrested :comments
Posted by Hal
How far will you go to peep yourself? To tell a good story? To get attention?
Here’s breaking news in Peepville: A couple, the Eatons of San Diego, ages 34 and 26, approach Dr. Phil to tell their story. Their story – they are addicted to shop-lifting. They use their toddlers as decoys. They’ve made hundreds of thousands of dollars stealing stuff and re-selling it on Ebay.
According to them, they came to Dr. Phil for help. Instead, the show, which aired last November and included a home video they made showing one of their interstate shopping sprees, has now gotten them arrested.
What were they thinking?
In the age of Peep, even criminals seek the limelight. Maybe the Eatons even considered what they were doing a way to legitimize their actions. We didn’t do it for the cash, we did it to get noticed. They could profit from their past by peeping it. Seeking help in a non-public setting would be pointless if the whole reason you were doing it in the first place was to get noticed: What’s the point of doing it if no one no one’s about it?
It’s happened plenty of times before.
We know, of course, what the show’s producers were thinking when the couple contacted them: This is great stuff! How soon can we get them on tv? I hope they don’t change their minds! These people are crazy!
The show makes halfhearted attempts to shield their identities by only referring to the couple’s last name and not saying where they live. That’s really bizarre, since their faces are not blurred and they provide all kinds of other information about their identities.
Anyway, here’s an interesting tidbit to chew on in, as reported by the LA Times: “When the fraud task force cranked up its investigation in recent months, an attorney representing the couple complained a Dr. Phil producer had tricked the couple by promising psychological help and, if they were indicted, bail money and a legal defense fund – assertions the show denies.”
The show doesn’t care what happens to these people. The people themselves don’t seem to care what happens to them. It’s all about the peep. Now go watch the video.
That’s low if they weren’t offered any real help. That’s perverse!
I’m fine with them being arrested. I also don’t think that the show should help pay for court costs as they are alleged to have said. I do think, however, that these people should be offered real help and that Dr. Phil shouldn’t have brought them on if he knew that he wouldn’t be helping them at all.
I don’t know if I have pity for them as people, but I have pity for their situation of being called out on a public stage under the guise of help. I don’t think they would have gone on there if there wasn’t an offer of help. I don’t think many people would in a situation such as this.
By Emmalene Pruden on 2009 09 23
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
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