We are a culture of voyeurs.  Admit it, we love to watch.  We watch the news to see the exciting things happening to someone else.  We watch the paparazzi as they chase down the rich and famous for us, to gift us with the candid glimpses.

We see John Edwards primping his hair, George Bush flipping off the camera and OJ in a drive by slow speed chase, all in blazing glorious colour, brought to us by toilet paper commercials and fast food resturants.

We like to watch the indiscretions of others on Cheaters, and the foolishness of people in everyday life, all for the chance to win 10 grand on America's Funniest videos.  In friendlier moments we watch silly pets, but then we tune into Hells Kitchen to watch hopeful chefs be browbeaten by a megalomaniac, or watch the hopeful top models be diligently trained in the creation of illusion.

Cops and Dog the Bounty Hunter make us feel safe as the bad guys are brought down, and Dateline makes us secure as another pervert is exposed, and not in the way they wanted.

Face, it we live vicariously in the videos that infest our TV.

And the news is no better, as traffic copters turn into criminal chasers, video taping the slow chase of OJ, all the way up to the weapons laden bank robbers.  The copter soars overhead, and catches every lurid moment of the high speed chases and the emotional turmoil of a rescue.  What makes this scary is when you see the copter circling and you see its proximity to other news copters and the police helicopters.

These pilots, the pushers to our armchair thrill seekers, take extraordinary chances, sometimes for good reasons, as when the pilot thwarted a kidnapping/carjacking.  But invariably the luck would run out and tragedy would strike.

And it did.

No Distress Seen Before Air Collision

People who saw two news helicopters collide and plummet to the ground while covering a police chase say the choppers did not appear to be in distress beforehand, investigators reported Saturday.

No one described any odd sounds before impact, and they didn't see any smoke or debris from the choppers before Friday's crash, which killed all four people aboard, said Steve R. Chealander, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating.

"It appears as though the Channel 3 helicopter was stationary and the Channel 15 helicopter came up either from under the Channel 3 helicopter, or was at the same level," Chealander said. "Again, this is eyewitness testimony."

Of course, the irony is that the crash was filmed by other choppers.

The helicopters from TV stations KTVK and KNXV collided as both circled over the chase. Video from other stations showed white smoke trailing the choppers as they dropped into a grassy downtown park and exploded.

So the question will be raised:  Whose fault is it?

Which pilot was at fault?  Who screwed up and condemned all of them to front page news status?

One twisted sentiment is the guy who was leading the police on a car chase.

Phoenix Police Say Car Theft Suspect May Face Charges for News Chopper Crash That Killed Four

The NTSB will use a police hot line number to try to get witnesses to call in, Chealander said. Numerous people saw the helicopters drop to the ground.

Meanwhile, the man suspected of starting the chase was booked into jail on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of theft and one count of resisting arrest.

Christopher Jermaine Jones, 23, also may be held responsible for the helicopter crash, police said.

The logic is that by stealing two trucks and leading the police on a chase, he forced the choppers to follow him ultimately setting the stage for the crash.

Bullshit.

Look the guy is a bag of dirt for plenty of reasons, but he is not responsible for the fact that the American public is addicted to video police drama, and the TV stations are adept at pandering to the ratings spike a juicy chase clip brings.

In other words, the guy driving the trucks was less responsible for this then the TV stations were for insisting on a better angle, and closer shot.

The pilots were foolish and let the chase get ahead of safety.  I don't like speaking ill of them, but face it, this is almost undoubtedly pilot error.  It happens.

The blame goes to the pathetic Nielsen Family that would rather watch some dipstick in a car chase as he wraps a stolen Beemer around a tree in LA, thenh= maybe something educational or at least moderately uplifting.

Even CSPAN has more value then seeing some crack head run for it as the police close in.

Why watch Animal Planet when you can watch the K9 unit drop a dirtbag and gnaw on his arm?

This crash was a horrible tragedy, but NOT an unexpected one.  We have been dodging bullets, so to speak for years,  and the sickest twist of all is that the video of the crash is on the net, waiting for you download it and get a chill as you watch people die.

Admit it, we, as a culture suck.  We have twisted priorities, we have shattered values and we don't even have the balls to admit it.

We just blame the dirtbags, rather then deal with the ugly little voyeur inside.