Doesn't 'Breaking Bad' glorify meth use? The best show on TV?

[panader0]

The actor won awards, the show is hyped and hyped. Perhaps the actor is good, perhaps the script is good, but until you have seen the ravages of crank use firsthand, you don't realize how horrible the consequenses are. Besides the obvious things like going to jail, losing all your teeth, horrible health problems (usually at the taxpayers expense), stealing from your neighbors, wild and erratic behavior, there are those other things. Things like spousal abuse and child abuse. Although the spouse is usually an abuser too, the kids get shipped off to foster parents while the parents lose custody. There is a lot of meth/crank/ice abuse around here.
When I see the hype for 'Breaking Bad', it pisses me off. This isn't Hollywood around here. Don't glorify the idiots who make, sell, use, or profit from the worst drug around. I don't have to watch the show, I just watch my neighbors.

[elias49]

1. It's an excellent series! It doesn't glorify meth

any more than The Sopranos glorified life as a mobster.
It's well-acted (the whole cast, in my opinion), VERY well written and shocking.
I miss Six Feet Under, a hard show to watch, but thought-provoking.

[REP]

2. Have you seen the show?

Going on the promo material may not give you an accurate idea. If you did watch it, did it make you want to do meth?

[panader0]

3. The fact that the star of the series is a meth maker

speaks for itself. Countless impressionable teens are lined up to emulate their hero. How many people do you know who forfeited their lives to that shit?

[REP]

4. Being outraged about something on TV? Ah, we've lost too many to that.

[Hannah Bell]

30. cause young people never imitate what they see on tv.

never adopt attitudes they see on tv.

sure they don't.

[REP]

41. WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN??!!12!

We must never allow anything on TV that might influence a pweshush young mind!! All those poor children, and their parents who can't turn off the damned TV! Helpless, helpless.

[Hannah Bell]

47. smells like straw to me. you take the point then: kids (& adults) *are* influenced

by what the media presents for their consumption.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

48. Did you hear their teaching kids about the holocaust in classrooms these days?

It's only a matter of time before they clone Hitler and build the second rike.

[REP]

52. {clutches pearls} !! {faints}

Sssssh! Not Hitler!

[SoCalDem]

88. you'll be needing this

can't enjoy a good faint, without a couch :rofl:

[REP]

89. Oh, thank you!! {fanning self; smelling salts}

I'll need that around here!

[Hannah Bell]

54. that also influences kids. are you saying it doesn't?

gee, i wonder why they bother to teach it then.

however, i rarely see teaching that involves showing hitler as the "star" of a dramatized film version of his life & deeds, with sympathetically rendered investigation of his family life & individual quirks, or eroticized imagery of concentration camp jailers turning on the gas -- unlike what i've seen on, say, "intervention".

[REP]

51. Breaking Bad is to meth as All in the Family was to racism? Is that a bad thing?

[keroro gunsou]

103. well...

if their parents did a good job explaining the difference between tv and reality, it won't be a problem. just because i grew up on a steady diet of dragnet, emergency, the rockford files, quincy, mash, and other similar shows, it didn't inspire me to run out and become either a cop, a coroner, a fireman, doctor, or a private detective. why? because i knew it wasn't real.

if parents use the tv as a babysitter and their kid turns into what he watches, i've got little sympathy for them.

[Bobbieo]

5. Unfortunately, too many!!!!

[MercutioATC]

7. So you haven't seen it?

Watch a few episodes and tell me how much it "glorifies" meth use.

Otherwise, you really have no idea what you're talking about.

[frylock]

18. i know several..

and you should probably watch the show before you pass judgement.

[elias49]

20. You obviously haven't watched even one episode...

How many impressionable teens would choose to emulate the "hero", a 50-something-year-old man who is diagnosed with cancer and in his desperation to pre-provide for his family in the face of his mortality, takes the horrid decision to apply his knowledge of chemistry to produce a quick payday. And then of course it all turns to shit. It's a heart-rending drama at times.
As far as 'how many people forfeited their lives to that shit", I'm happy to be able to report that it's a lot fewer than have forfeited their lives to alcohol. But that's off the point...

[-..__...]

25. The star is anything but a role model or someone teens would emulate.

That distinction belongs to Tony Montana.

In fact... he's the complete opposite.

A well educated guy, but extremely naive and a bumbling idiot when it comes to being street wise.

He's become an addict himself... some ignored Mr. 9-5 nice guy that everyone takes for granted, but suddenly he has earned a bit of respect, wealth and power that he never had before, and he likes it. However... he's starting to fight his inner demons and beginning to realize just how much his enterprise has fucked up his life and those of others.

I'm not a TV fan by any means, but I really look forward to next weeks 3rd season and see how it all plays out (FWIW... I really can't see the show going another year without stretching the realm of creditability to the point of ruining it).

I'm just pissed that it took this long for the new season to begin.

Ohhh... and I'm equally pissed that the next season of "Sons Of Anarchy" is at least 9 months away :( .

[Warpy]

44. Well, you might have read the Wiki explanation of the series

Walter isn't your average half wit scumbag meth cooker.

I've found it impossible to get into because it's produced where I live and it just cuts a bit too close to home, this neighborhood aint the best.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. And that's why Godfather was the worst movie ever.

Sure it's got Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, not to mention a fantastic supporting cast and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and is technically an amazing film.

But it's about the mafia! The mafia is bad! They do bad stuff and junk!

And if the puritans taught us anything, it's that having bad thoughts is bad and should not be done.

[panader0]

15. "they do bad stuff and junk!"

Why, when you put it that way, it makes it sound OK.
And, believe me, I'm no puritan.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. "And, believe me, I'm no puritan." That's what they all say.

But here you are preaching against a TV show because of the subject matter.

It's fucking ridiculous.

[panader0]

26. Maybe you're right

Maybe it's because of the damage I've seen.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. No.

It's because of deeply flawed logic.

[rcrush]

8. Why don't you watch it and find out?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. No, that might give him an addiction to meth.

In the same way video games cause school shootings and rock and roll causes teen sex.

[rcrush]

12. Well then just watch some Celebrity Rehab and that should take care of his meth problem.

[ReverendDeuce]

16. Love the sig...

One of the best DS9 episodes ever.

[Ex Lurker]

28. that show is such a trainwreck

I have a feeling that with most of those celebs, the drug addiction is the least of their problems. If my kid ever expresses a desire to be an actor, we're packing up and moving to a cabin in far northern Canada until the urge passes.

[blueamy66]

94. perfect

thanks for the laugh this morning....

[Aussie_expat]

107. I haven't posted in a long time but.....

that shit is funny.

[Robeson]

9. Have you watched the show?...

...the whole show is about consequences.

[Ex Lurker]

11. It's a good show. I've enjoyed Bryan Cranston's work ever since he was Tim Whatley on Seinfeld

but no, it doesn't make me want to use meth. I can watch Breaking Bad without having any desire to go down to the local biker bar and score some crank.

[Jennicut]

13. The main thing is, it is tv. And only adults should watch it. My kids watch Nickelodeon

most of time after school. They are not up at 9:00 or 10:00 at night watching Breaking Bad. Meth is a bad drug but if you want real life addictions watch VH1, TLC, or A&E. All feature shows about real life addiction. Just watching Heidi Fleiss (major meth head) on Celebrity Rehab told me enough. And obviously that is a more glamorous situation then everyday people.

[ReverendDeuce]

14. Are you kidding me? You've jumped DU's shark with this one...

It's an awesome show and depicts people doing bad things and their "downfall" over time. Last season's opener episodes were some of the most intense, frightening programming I've seen on cable -- basic or premium!

[frylock]

22. it's a little TOO real sometimes

[ReverendDeuce]

24. I agree... it's brilliant programming!

n/t

[Hannah Bell]

58. intense for jaded viewers

[happy_liberal]

17. I hear what you are saying

I haven't seen it but any show that gives the youth the idea of how to make meth or just how much they might make brewing meth sounds like a bad idea to me. I think some of these horrible drugs were actually introduced by the CIA to screw people up, starting in the 60's when THC was making people think twice about their lives and drop out of the system...they had to come up with something that would screw people up big time and slow the movement to a stand still. I recently read that small CIA planes were found to be transporting the ingredients to make meth...for a bust of course....ya sure....It would not suprise me if certain powerful people were trying to push meth on the youth.

[fishwax]

19. I take it you haven't actually seen the show

or perhaps this is just performance art ...

[Withywindle]

23. No, it doesn't glorify it at all.

No more than LOST glorifies plane crashes.

You're a lot more likely to be able to make an argument about Mad Men glorifying smoking and cocktails at work--but even that would be kind of stupid.

[Hannah Bell]

27. i think a lot of shows (e.g. addiction, intervention) do romanticize or glorify drug use

in a backhanded way. just making users "tv stars" gives them a certain level of importance.

& i think there probably is some influence on levels of drug use.

[panader0]

31. That's the point I was trying to make.

[Hannah Bell]

34. but it's not one the people you're talking to are going to admit.

we're all individuals making individual decisions, uninfluenced by anything around us.

isn't that the talking point?

it's bullshit, of course.

i wonder *why* there are so many shows on tv that glorify drugs these days?

almost like someone's trying to manufacture drug users.

[Withywindle]

43. No, lots of people on this thread will never admit

that someone who's never seen a given show understands it better than someone who has watched it.

Cause people who get all moral-panicky about some promos of things they've never actually seen just sound like fundies freaking out over Harry Potter books and witchcraft.

It's not the theme, it's how the theme is handled. And if you haven't seen it, then you don't *know* whether the handling is objectionable or not. You just get up on a soapbox about the possibility that it might be.

[Hannah Bell]

46. anything that gives attention to something -- whether it's good attention or bad attention,

treatment showing degradation, moralizing, etc. -- nevertheless gives *attention* to it. and that will be attractive to some. i think that's the point. the methmaker = the antihero, no matter how conventionally attractive or unattractive he might be: the "star," his personal psychology & quirks worthy of analysis on the big media screen.

[REP]

49. Now all the kids will want cancer and seriously disabled sons!

Ban everything!

[Hannah Bell]

56. cancer & disability aren't behaviors that are selected. are you fond of false analogies?

[Withywindle]

50. So do you have a very, very long list of things people shouldn't write stories about?

Or is it OK as long as it's nonfiction-only, in books very few people ever read?

[REP]

53. She's got a little list

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list — I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!
There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs —
All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs —
All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat —
All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that —
And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist —
They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

Chorus.
He's got 'em on the list — he's got 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed

Ko-Ko.
There's the banjo serenader, and the others of his race,
And the piano-organist — I've got him on the list!
And the people who eat peppermint and puff it in your face,
They never would be missed — they never would be missed!
Then the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own;
And the lady from the provinces, who dresses like a guy,
And who "doesn't think she dances, but would rather like to try";
And that singular anomaly, the lady novelist —
I don't think she'd be missed — I'm sure she'd not he missed!
Chorus.
He's got her on the list — he's got her on the list;
And I don't think she'll be missed — I'm sure she'll not be missed!
Ko-Ko.
And that Nisi Prius nuisance, who just now is rather rife,
The Judicial humorist — I've got him on the list!
All funny fellows, comic men, and clowns of private life —
They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed.
And apologetic statesmen of a compromising kind,
Such as — What d'ye call him — Thing'em-bob, and likewise — Never-mind,
And 'St— 'st— 'st— and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who —
The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.
But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list,
For they'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!
Chorus.
You may put 'em on the list — you may put 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed!

[Hannah Bell]

59. because someone posting their opinion that drug shows affect drug use

is so very much analogous to the State's lord high executioner.


you folks love your straw & herrings.

[REP]

76. Says she doesn't dance but would rather like to try

Watch the show; have an informed opinion. Asking a lot, I know.

[Hannah Bell]

57. do you have a large selection of ear plugs & straw men?

[slampoet]

55. So you are against the nightly news by that definition.

[Hannah Bell]

61. if the news presents individualized dramas with "stars," examining the

individual psyches of the star with loving detail, & ending with eroticized filming of said star injecting drug & falling into orgasm-like nod?

drama is explicitly designed to get us to identify with its characters.

so, yeah, i wouldn't like that kind of "news".

[Withywindle]

64. So stories about people who do bad things are only OK if

the people who do them are flat and boring one-dimensional characters and we don't get any insight at all into what makes them tick?

You can yell "straw" all you want, but I'm really trying to figure out what your ideal handling of the situation would be. What would TV, movies, novels, etcetera look like if you could control them?

[Hannah Bell]

67. i have no ideal. i merely observe that some kids will identify with the protagonists on drug shows.

and that it's quite likely that such portrayals impact the general level of use.

and i wondered *why* there are suddenly so *many* tv shows about drug use.



as for drama letting us "get inside people's minds & figure out what makes them tick," i think more often drama = the beliefs of its makers about what makes people tick. & transmits those beliefs.

[Withywindle]

69. Have you ever watched this particular show?

Some kids might identify with the protagonists on some shows, but I think in this case it's rather unlikely.

There've always been shows about drug use. "Weeds" did the middle-class-parent-turns-to-drug-dealing-to-feed-the-family plot before, and handled it very differently. (More "glorifying,"IMO, but then it's pot, not meth--and believe me, it still gets pretty gritty and ugly.) There's no sudden proliferation. There is an explosion of "reality" shows, and an explosion of serious cable-TV dramas, and the two are extremely different, and the explosion of both of them can be chalked up to their being more different TV channels than there were 10 years ago, and they need material.

"i think more often drama = the beliefs of its makers about what makes people tick. & transmits those beliefs."

Well, yes. That's because drama is written by screenwriters and that's what writers *do.* How accurate they are in tapping into human psychology is one of the things that separates a good writer from a bad one. Same is true of actors.

[Hannah Bell]

74. i'm not talking about this particular show. i'm talking about the general rule.

there *is* a proliferation, imo, & there's a reason all these cable channels have chosen to produce a rash of similar cheap reality shows glorifying trashy behavior by celebrities & nobodies, focused on personal "feelings" & behavior, instead of, e.g., producing a rash of new westerns or a rash of period dramas or a rash of hard-hitting investigative journalism shows.

just like there's a reason we've got cops & lockdown & that one about pedophiles, judge judy, etc.

[Withywindle]

75. Yes but this show is not one of those.

It does not glorify anything, nor is it a "reality" show.

Critical thinking is only possible if you've *seen* the show you're trying to think critically about. If you're having a kneejerk reaction to a particular genre - to which the show we're actually talking about bears no resemblance--that's fine, but it has nothing to do with "Breaking Bad."

New Westerns? Deadwood.

New period dramas? The Tudors. (Also, Deadwood.) Mad Men.

Science fiction, war dramas, and crime dramas are also very popular. I'd consider BB in the latter category. And I don't think it has much teen appeal at all.

[slampoet]

66. You see an Orgasm? What does that say about what you bring to the table?

[Hannah Bell]

68. i didn't say i see an orgasm. what does that say about your reading skills?

[slampoet]

95. " orgasm-like nod?"

Guilty.

[RainDog]

32. ****SPOILER*****

Don't read this post if you want to watch the show without knowing things about it.

Breaking Bad is about a man who is fighting to keep his family financially solvent while he gets chemo therapy.

The guy is a high school chemistry teacher who doesn't make that much money, you know? And then there's the son with a disabilty. And a wife who.. oops..gets pregnant again.

And he's hiding the other life as a meth dealer from his family - including a in-laws in law enforcement.

He takes on an ex-student as a partner. The kid uses and the show DEFINITELY shows the horrible effects of meth use, as well as the horrible effects of the drug dealing business. It also shows other victims and how their families try to keep them from killing themselves.

And there are the criminal sides of the show as well.

I mean, honestly, the show is an indictment of a nation that puts people in the position of considering crime in order to not lose everything, including their lives.

It's a great show. Brutal and harsh and sickly funny and sad.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Well that's even worse.

That encourages teens to have disabled children and get cancer.

[RainDog]

40. I hate all those shows that promote cancer!

The best thing about the crappy economy is an entirely new golden age of television.

Much cheaper than the movies.

I'm working my way through the 90s - The Wire - saw Deadwood - Arrested Development - have watched Mad Men from the start, saw the Sopranos from the start - caught Breaking Bad because of Mad Men and I'm glad they put it where they did to get it some exposure.

Anyway, the stories and character development on these shows are wonderful to watch.

I rarely go to movies anymore, at least not till they're the five buck thing. Ah, recession!

[msanthrope]

99. Let's face it--it's the depiction of a loser HS chemistry teacher that has

some feathers ruffled here....

I call Walter a loser because at one point in his life, he had the chance to be something other than a HS chemistry teacher who doesn't like his two jobs....he had a future, but he gave it up to be safe.

[Swede]

33. You must really hate post apocalypse shows,then.

Or war time dramas.

[aikoaiko]

36. Who knows -- there could be a bumper crop of chemistry teachers?

:shrug:

[fishwax]

38. haha

:rofl:

[western mass]

37. I hate how 'Lost' glorifies plane crashes

Hollywood, the blood is on your hands!

[Hannah Bell]

62. straw.

[Kievan Rus]

39. It doesn't glorify it at all IMHO

[Richard Steele]

42. If you'd ever actually WATCHED an episode, you'd know that it doesn't.

nm

[RainDog]

45. just a little background on restorational 3 act drama

allllllllllllllll the way back to the beginnings of popular theater, the convention was that bad things happen.

actually, that's a definition of drama. bad things happen. greeks knew this. that's why people still find their plays interesting. shakespeare too. (I'd like Romeo and Juliet much better if they didn't kill themselves but it wouldn't be a tragedy then, would it? - and any kid who might kill him/herself over love after seeing this play would be acting out his or her own problem - not the problem of the drama. After this many years, I think we can reasonably say that the majority of people who have watched Romeo and Juliet have not gone out and poisoned themselves for love. - so, can we get rid of that argument about "romanticizing" things - romance, tragedy, those are the elements of drama.

so, people who object to show that shows bad things happening object to the basic premise of what constitutes a story that people find compelling to watch.

now, why do they find it compelling? different people, different reasons. drama allows viewers to vicariously act out in ways they wouldn't otherwise, suffer from that, but experience a restoration of the viewer's more moral life when the drama ends. Or they see what others do that they never would consider. Or they consider and recognize the difference between reality and fiction.

And that's how dramas have worked for a loooooong time.

Comedy too, for the most part. Except comedy plays the humiliations of life for laughs.

[slampoet]

60. You get my vote for Post of the Day and the Voice of Reason.

Thank you for having a brain and not being afraid to use it to put the foolish back in line.

[Withywindle]

65. +10,000!

:thumbsup:

[Hannah Bell]

72. can't speak for romeo & juliet in its day; but here's one from a little later:

One of the earliest known associations between the media and suicide arose from Goethe’s novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), published in 1774. In that work the hero shoots himself after an ill-fated love, and shortly after its publication there were many reports of young men using the same method to commit suicide. This resulted in a ban of the book in several places. Hence the term "Werther effect", used in the technical literature to designate copycat suicides.


drama provokes emulation. any mother knows that.

you're going to have a hard time making the case it doesn't.


marketing is based on the premise it does.

[REP]

78. Ban Goethe. For the children.

[Hannah Bell]

79. you & your straw buddies are the only ones who've brought up bans, executions, & the like.

but they're pretty straw men.

[REP]

81. I watch a show or movie, or read the book, before I wring my hands about The Children. You - no

How about you spending more time influencing your kids before TV can sway them to evil? Too hard?

[Hannah Bell]

85. i don't have kids. bad guess, but typical of the knee-jerk thinking prevalent on this topic.

[REP]

90. But SCORE! on the you not reading or viewing before condemning observation

[Hannah Bell]

108. hardly. but score on straw for you.

[RainDog]

109. lol

this has to be the most insistent incidence of stupidity on any thread I've seen.

someone who has never seen a show.

someone who does not have children.

someone who is not an educator.

someone who is ignorant about the variety of programs that have been produced in the last decade that dismisses everything this person gripes about...

tells everyone here what this show is all about, its impact on children (who are not its audience) and cites bullshit fear-mongering from the 1700s as justification.

and continues to defend said stupidity.

[RainDog]

84. lol! insomnia theater

I'm the one with insomnia. for theater I changed the thread to print-format (that's how you can see others' posts if you have them on ignore.)

anyway, yes, Goethe's work had no redeeming qualities because of the gothic sentiment of the time. Mary Wollstonecraft was blamed for making young women run off with bad men or abandon their husbands because of her fiction, too. She was called a "hyena in petticoats" because of the horrific influence on society.

Breaking Bad isn't meant for kids. It comes on late in the evening. If parents have kids who are so vulnerable to watching people vomit and die from meth use as an enticement to use it, those parents should block the station, etc. The kids should be in bed then anyway.

Adults, however, are allowed to have entertainment that is not meant for children. Adults are responsible for their actions and reactions when viewing a drama.

I trust that the majority of adults are not so freaking batshit crazy that they will go out and become chemistry teachers who run a meth lab - at least not because of the show itself. Maybe the economy will push people into all sorts of crime.... but you couldn't really blame that on the show either since we know Bonnie and Clyde and all that were responses to a society with no appreciable safety net and a rotten economy.

however, I DO think we need to throw all those rock 'n roll records on bonfires!

KKK made sure those Beatles were destroyed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=rN3wvY4a1DU&feature=related

[Withywindle]

86. I think most of the tropes being played out in this thread are comedy, not drama.

But it wouldn't be as funny if some mindless sponge of a kid acted them out. It's one of those "you had to be there" things.

[RainDog]

87. their eyes were glassy. some of them pulled their hair out. an epileptic had a fit

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=vicAOQ6QDGs&feature=related

[msanthrope]

98. And these were the youngsters from the better homes, mind you.....

[RainDog]

104. isn't that a scream?!?!

that same mindset is still active.

and those tickets cost five dollah.

[REP]

91. I'm up because this thread influenced me to try meth.

[Iggo]

63. Bet you hated The Sopranos, huh.

[Lilith Velkor]

70. Whatever you do, Don't. Watch. Dexter.

Srsly.

[Withywindle]

71. Heee!

Yeah, unintended consequences are everywhere - I watched BSG and threw half my office out an airlock.

[Lilith Velkor]

77. At least you didn't frak the Vice-President.

:blush:

[Withywindle]

80. Isn't that a song?

I frakked the Admiral
But I did not frak the Vice President....


I hear it with a reggae beat for some reason....

[Lilith Velkor]

82. I heard a different version

I frakked my CO
But I did not frak the CIC....

(The nuggets take to singing that when they're plastered.)

[Withywindle]

83. LOL!!!

Yours scans better.

[PVnRT]

92. When I saw the first episode, I had a sudden desire to listen to Hendrix

Weird.

[msanthrope]

96. Frak, I just clipped the corners off my books and started using "So say

we all" with my kid....

[Duer 157099]

73. More than anything, it's an indictment of our health care system

the fact that a middle class teacher with cancer becomes financially devastated due to his disease (which we all know is a very common story nowadays) is actually a much more significant part of the story and lesson.

Breaking Bad glorifies meth in the same way that Dexter glorifies serial murder.

[sendero]

93. Have you watched this series?

Not only does it NOT glorify meth use, it shows the consequences of hard drug use in stark terms.

In fact, the last episode of season 2 was difficult to watch.

There are comedic elements to the series but overall calling it a dark comedy would be quite an understatement.

[msanthrope]

97. No, neither the OP or Hannah Bell have ever watched this series.

Thus, they are eminently qualified to comment on it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

100. Oh, is this thread still up?

Listen, I'd rather children grow up using meth then grow up using the kind of logic displayed by some people in this thread.

People can always clean themselves up off of meth. This shit will always be stupid.

[Bluenorthwest]

101. One of the stupidest posts I have ever read on DU

And that is saying something. Clearly you have not seen the show at all. Are you under the impression that Hamlet glorifies patricide? Does a film like 'Days of Wine and Roses' glorify alcoholism? How about the Story of Bill W? Barfly?
Breaking Bad is the most unrelentingly brutal piece of TV I have ever seen. There is no person drawing breath who would wish to be in that character's shoes. Not even drug dealers would want to be that drug dealer.
It is just a display of right wing like ignorance to judge any work of art that you have not seen. That is a basic fact.

[Robb]

102. The same as 24 glorifies torture

...Which is to say, not at all.

[bamacrat]

105. I wouldn't say it glorifies it.

It may paint it in a slightly better light than reality, but not really glorification. The show shows its dangers, Malcolm in the Middles dad is crazy in it. It's like any show that shows a dark side of America.

[PA Democrat]

106. I've watched every episode and there is no way that the series even remotely "glorifies"

meth use. Quite the opposite.

The show is not for young kids because of the violence, but that is why it is at 10:00 at night with warnings about the content. I watched the first season with my high school age (at the time) son and he agrees with my assessment. The shows depicts a long line of ruined lives and ruined relationships due to meth. If anyone sees "glory" in that, then I would say their problems are much deeper than a tv show.