Making Heroes out of Criminals

Tim DeKay (on the left) and Matt Bomer (right)

One of the TV shows that my wife and I watch is called White Collar. Since we don't have cable we watch it via Netflix. We don't watch the normal "cops and robbers" shows like CSI; CSI: Vegas; CSI: Springfield; CSI: Antartica; CSI: Moonbase Alpha; CSI: Outback (it was the dingo); or CSI: Old Guy Pretending To Still Be Cool. We will watch the quirky ones–Psych being a good example–or even the ones that don't pretent to be reality based (CSI: Using Equipment And Techniques That Don't Really Exist Which Makes Real Law Enforcement Jobs Harder) which is where White Collar comes in.

The premise behind White Collar is "the unlikely crime-solving partnership between Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), a charming con man turned consultant for the FBI, and Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), the Federal Agent charged with keeping him on the right side of the law." The idea is that Caffrey's extensive background as an art thief, forger and general con man gives Agent Burke the advantage in capturing other criminals. Caffrey is released from prison and put on home arrest. He has to wear a tracking anklet except when he is working a case undercover. Then alternate means of monitoring (wearing a wire or a gps enabled watch) is used. This doesn't prevent Caffrey from getting himself into illegal situations. He has a trusty sidekick–a fellow con man that has not been convicted–named Mozzy that helps Caffrey out on the cases but also helps keep Caffrey involved in illegal activities. For the most part Agent Burke works to keep Caffrey out of trouble and even tries to catch Caffrey when he suspects Caffrey in stealing a large amount of Nazi stolen treasure.

The stolen treasure ends up playing a pivotal role when it turns out to be the ransom demand for Agent Burke's kidnapped wife. The treasure (or at least half of it) is used to draw out the kidnapper (who is an "archenemy" of Caffrey) and everything seemingly works out. The kidnapper takes credit for stealing the treasure in the first place which gets Caffrey off the hook. Burke knows that Caffrey had the treasure (which was technically stolen by Mozzy) and it becomes a point of contention between the two. It all leads up to the Season 3 finale where Caffrey has a hearing to determine whether or not his sentence is commuted. It turns out that Burke–knowing that Caffrey was involved in the stealing of the treasure and other art work–testifies that Caffrey has become a valuable asset to the FBI and good citizen who should have his commuted. Of course this testimony comes just as Caffrey is cutting his tracking anklet and making another escape.

Up to this point I thought the struggle that Caffrey was having between being a reformed criminal and reverting back to his old ways was an interesting insight into what grounds a person. The more Caffrey became rooted through friendships and his work with the FBI the less Caffrey wanted to give that up and live a life on the run. That part I understood. But the turning of Agent Burke from being honest and straight forward to someone that was willing to cover up for Caffrey because the situation was working really bothered me.

What bothered me wasn't the fact that Burke was making a pragmatic choice. We make pragmatic choices every day. When we find something that works we usually stick with it and hold to the truth of the situation. It is where we get the saying, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." What bothered me is that the elevation of someone that we would consider a criminal to the position of hero. But it was more than that. If we look at the heroes of the Bible (particularly those of the Old Testament) they were not always good guys. They lied, cheated, murdered, committed adultery and more. Yet they were still considered heroes. They all had to face the consequences of their sins. What really bothered me about the direction of White Collar is that it was designed for the viewer to root for Caffrey to get away with it. We don't want to see Caffrey arrested and put back in jail. We want to see things somehow work out without the consequences.

Unfortunately the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross tells us that the things we do wrong has consequences. Even when we receive forgiveness for our sins there was still a price that needed to be paid. There might not be an eternal consequence that we have to pay (there may be earthy ones) but someone still had to suffer the consequences. I think that it sets a bad tone when we start rooting for criminals (even fictional ones) to get away with their crimes. While they may escape the consequences for their crimes there is still a victim somewhere that has had their life negatively affected by the crime.

 

Posted with Blogsy

An Uphill Battle

This is one of those news stories that is too disturbing to ignore. While we as a nation have made great strides in racial harmony it shows just how far we still have to go. And I fear that–if world history is any indication–that we may never get there. According to the story in the Chicago Tribune:

"The three teens, who are white, allegedly put a noose around the neck of (Joshua) Merritt, who is black, and hurled racial epithets at him before one of the boys held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him, police and Merritt said Thursday."

This isn't something that happened in the racially charged environment of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. It happened last month in the Chicago neighborhood of East Beverly. It seems that the three white teens were upset that Merritt was dating a white girl. So they lured Merritt over to one teen's house and then proceeded to engage in an activity that was assuredly meant to convey the image of a lynching. Fortunately Merritt was able to escape without any serious physical harm.

Unfortunately there is assuredly other longterm harm that has been done. There is longterm harm that has been done to Merritt and to other within the minority community as well. Lynchings were not designed to just punish one person. They are meant to send a message to a whole group of people. It is also unfortunate that while it is a shocking and surprising story, it really isn't nearly as surprising as it should be.

I find it interesting that only one of the three teens was charged as an adult. They were all charged with very serious crimes and this cannot be merely passed off as teen boys being teen boys. This crossed a line. The two younger teens (16 and 17 years old) are old enough to know that they crossed that line and not by a little bit. Although I have to admit that I am not a legal expert and do not fully know what the difference will be for those two young men being charged as juveniles rather than adults.

The other thing that I find interesting is that all three are charged with committing a "hate crime." I understand what is meant by the term "hate crime" but I have always felt that it is a very poor term. All crime comes from some sort of hate. In fact all crimes comes from some sort of prejudice as well–a love of self that is far greater than a love for others. In this case the crime was allegedly* motivated by the fact that the three white teens disapproved of the behavior of Merritt simply because he was not white. And anytime a crime is committed for this type of reason we have a very serious problem.

The very heart of the problem is that there is a problem with the heart. We can make laws that make racially or other prejudicially motivated decisions illegal. We can create educational programs that work towards teaching others about these issues. We can do all sorts of things to try and right these wrongs. But we cannot get into someone's heart. We cannot make these changes for someone. We see racially motivated crimes and wars happening all around the world. Some of them have been going on for thousands and thousands of years. And this is why this particular crime isn't as surprising as I would hope it to be.

There is a young man with hopes and dreams that now has to deal with something that no one regardless of age, race or creed should ever have to deal with. While we can deal swiftly and harshly with the men that put a literal noose around this young man's neck, this story is a reminder that dealing with the figurative noose is still a longterm and uphill battle.

 

*I use the term allegedly not to convey any doubt about whether or not I believe that these crimes were racial in nature. I have no doubt that they were. Rather I use the term because they have not yet been convicted in a court of law.