All my mom watches is all of those Murder shows on cable like Forensic Files and the like. She's been watching this since I can remember and long before I ever heard the term "true crime". I legit think shows like this are why so many gen-x and boomers are terrified of the world. They all open talking about how the small town that the case happened in was using almost identical language each time, " here in x we don't lock our doors, everybody knows everybody, things don't happen like this in x, we stop and help people on theroad ". And as a person who grew up in a small town I'm like what? Everyone there is the most paranoid castle doctrine ass motherfucker I've ever met. They don't know their neighbors and they treat anyone who they don't know as threats. Then the show goes at lengths to show you how kind, pretty, full of life, etc the victim is so they can then go into detail about how they were brutalized.
I don't know where I'm going with this rant it's just something that's been on my mind for a while.
When I was a kid we'd watch America's Most Wanted because we had like 5 channels because cable TV was so expensive. It would make me terrified watching these "real life monsters." Then around that time we also lived sorta near where the DC Sniper was active and it just was terrifying to think about as a kid especially with the news talking nonstop about them. Then our house got burglarized and now I just have a paranoia that can get extremely intrusive. It's taken a while for me to really get control over it and know how to manage it without severe anxiety. Dumb stuff like having a set hand motion every time I lock my car so I don't question myself and return to double check.