While on the topic of reality shows, what do you think of the Ghost Hunters? [View all]

[kattycat]

Another thread about these scripted "reality" shows got me to thinking about this show. For one, the show makes fraudulent claims, in that it presents the material in a manner that makes viewers think that it's "happening real time", that cameras are just following "normal" folks around capturing their real day to day interactions. I'm sure somewhere in the legal wording of the show the producers have slipped in the fine print that the show is fictitious, but many viewers think that it is a documentary. Then I think that the show gives people false claims about the "afterlife", the people on the show run around with high tech gadgets that they supposedly know how to use and they capture evidence of "spirits" etc. I also think that the "knocks" and "bumps in the night" are all staged by the production crew. The knocks are reminiscent of the "spirit taps" that early 20th century mediums used to perform as part of their scam.

How can this show be seen as anything other than a scam? Again, I'm sure if they were taken to court, they would have a hundred lawyers telling people that it is fictitious and that they have said so much. I'm sure if you read the production notes and credits there is probably some twisted legalese that says the show is faked but in a way that says that it's real too. How can they have a "reality" show that says there are spirits of dead people running around all over the place? The show reminds me of how Penn & Teller on their show debunked "spirit talkers" like John Edwards. Aren't the Ghost Hunters people pretty much the same as scam mediums who talk to the dead? Why haven't they been sued for perpetrating a fraud? Have we gotten so lax in society that anybody can just say flat out lies, make money off the lies and coast through with no consequence? The show is a scam and gives people false hope in an afterlife.