Television and Dexter: Can they work together?

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by Zach Heckert

We live in a strange world where what is false is almost valued more than what is truth.

Just look at television. The PTS (Public Television Service) made the decision to drop the popular show Dexter.

With many Dexter fans outraged because of the PTS’s infernal whining, we take a look at what this bodes not only for television, but also for society.

Dexter is a show about a police blood-spatter expert who moonlights as a paragon of vigilante justice. He was trained by a mentor to only release his murderous impulses on people who “deserve” it. So our buddy Dexter runs around and offs criminals. Naturally, you can see where a controversy would arise.

This program originally aired on Showtime, and was going to be aired on CBS, significantly watered down.

Complaints exploded like crazy, ranging from “GORE! HELP!” to the comments like:

“Should we be letting our children root for a serial killer?”

Raising such a ruckus over blood, gore or sex is a normal thing to do, but should people shoot down an interesting, compelling idea?

A similar issue is brought up in the graphic novel Death Note, in which the main character comes into possession of a “Murder Notebook”. If a person’s name is written down in the notebook, that person will die. The main character then begins systematically murdering criminals to create a “Perfect World.”

So why can’t people simply relax a bit and allow some thoughtful television for a change?

It’s fine if you personally don’t want to watch blood and gore, but why tear others’ enjoyment to shreds? If everything begins getting censored, things could rapidly get out of hand, and soon we won’t be entirely sure what is real and what is not. Don’t get me wrong: Some things simply do not need to be viewed, but that is what makes the entire idea of dumping a T.V. program because of an interesting, thought-compelling idea all the more absurd.

As far as TV is concerned, if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, but we should not censor and or remove T.V. programs with reckless abandon.

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