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.