Discovery Zone

If you're like me and you live in Oakland, then you probably wonder what was going through the tiny brains of the folks over on The Discovery Channel. You remember them. The ones who make all those pretty shows that show off how great your new high definition TV works. The ones with the pretty nature shows and that guy who eats anything? The ones who used to sponsor Lance Armstrong? Those guys. They just aired a new documentary called "Gang Wars: Oakland," and it has no cute little animals, no scenic vistas, and no Lance Armstrong. All this one had was murder and grief.
I live in Oakland, and I can accept that we have more than our share of murder and grief. I didn't need a hard-hitting expose to land in my living room to know which way the wind blows here. But check this little bit of math out: This documentary states that, in a city of approximately four hundred thousand souls, there are ten thousand gang members. To put that in rational terms, one of every forty citizens in Oakland is a member of a gang. That is irrational. And here's what the Discovery's program guide has to say about their show: "In Oakland, neighborhoods are being torn apart by gangs whose battle over turf and colors makes this city one of the nation's fiercest killing zones. It's a war with big guns and young soldiers who are willing to kill or be killed for their streets."
Okay, I confess that there are days when I yearn for a graffiti-free wall or relaxing walk through some neighborhoods after dark. I have a front-row seat for the pain and fear that gang-related violence can compound. There is nothing romantic about it. Aside from the rather sketchy math that the show exhorts, it also fails to offer a point of view. With one set of cameras following the police task force members referred to on the show as "The Elite Eight," and another hanging with the kids in the gangs, it is never clear whose side the producers are on. The gang task force depicted in the show no longer exists because of budget cuts, and the actual number of gangs and gang members is open to wide discussion and speculation. If we do surrender to that ten thousand figure, that makes it all the more important to show the root cause of the problem, not to glorify it.
Personally, I think The Discovery folks sent the wrong guys. I think they should have sent over Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage.