Sunday, April 30, 2006

Rampant crime in Century City, California, riots likely, military called in.

I live in University Park, MD, which is in Prince Georges county, the most affluent majority-black county in the country. University Park is a pleasant middle-class community immediately adjacent to both the University of Maryland and Hyattsville. It's a great place to live. It's safe. The azeleas are beautiful this time of year. Many of my neighbors work at the University. I very much like living here.

However, the tendency of people to form absurd unfounded opinions about the county on the basis of race can get old. Now, in an episode of "Commander in Chief" that aired Thursday night, the people at ABC have really gone too far. I read about this in the Washington Post (also see Google News) Apparently, the President has to personally send 40 U.S. Marshalls to Hyattsville in order to restore order. The show is fiction, but if the writers have no contact with reality, then they should not use the names of real places. The good news is that this show is apparently going down the toilet. On one hand, that's too bad. I like Geena Davis and it's good to have a show in which she is President. On the other hand, people from Fantasyland should not try to make TV shows about real places they know nothing about (like the United States, Washington, DC, Hyattsville, the White House, etc.).