A couple of nights ago, I was watching an episode of the TV show Criminal Minds called "Normal."  Minor spoilers follow.  The episode guide at IMDB summarizes thusly:

Middle aged Caucasian blonde women are being gunned down on the freeways around Los Angeles. Based on victimology, the BAU determine that the women are surrogates for someone in the unsub's life, probably his wife or former partner. The unsub is feeling emasculated, this feeling onset by some specific traumatic event, but precipitated by perceived attitudes toward him. However, the killings are getting progressively brazen, where the BAU believes the unsub will eventually kill the real blonde women in his life, and the children associated with that relationship. When the team locate the unsub, it may be too late.

The first incident takes place thusly:  You see a man and a woman at home, preparing for a party.  The pretty blonde wife says to the staid-looking husband, "I'm going to have to go now, I'll see you there.  I can't be late."  She seems dismissive; he seems hesitant.  We are immediately aware that this is a henpecked husband and shrill harpy wife.

The husband leaves for the party.  We see another woman driving her big SUV.  She is arguing with someone at her son's school about whether her son committed plagiarism; she is on her way to the school to sort it out, may miss out on a business deal as a result, so she is driving aggressively. 

The killer is driving slowly ahead of her.  She honks at him and drives around him.  Then she pulls up at a light.  He pulls up beside her and motions for her to roll the window down.  She does so.  You do not hear what she says; you see his shocked reaction.  Then you see him become enraged, pull a shotgun out of a box, pursue her and eventually force her into a bad crash.

When she is able to talk, two agents go to interview her.  She is in a hospital room with her son.  The son says, "she's already answered all your questions," but the victim consents to talk.  One agent (a subdued but friendly female) takes the son out of the room; the unsmiling male agent interviews the victim.  He asks, "is there anything he said to you."  She flashes back to the events of that day.  In this version you see what she said.  It's something about him maybe looking like a man but driving like an old woman.

The agent asks if the shooter said anything in return.  She breaks down.  "I never gave him a chance."  And commences with the boohooing.  The agent doesn't point out that no one deserves to be shot or run off the road, no matter how rude or emasculating one's comments.  He just continues with the pickleface.

Maybe I'm wrong, but to me, "I never gave him a chance" sounds like something a friend, lover, spouse or colleague might say about someone who needed a friendly ear, didn't get it, and did something stupid. 

In this case, remorse is apparently the correct reaction to not letting someone lecture you about your driving and having him try to kill you as a result.  "Had I only fulfilled my feminine role as nurturer and understanding listener, I would not have turned this man into a homicidal maniac, I would not have been gravely injured, and other women would not have had to die because I enraged him."

In the meantime, the son is discussing the incident with the other agent.  He blames himself for what happened because he was the reason she was on the road, going to the school.  The other agent  tells him it wasn't his fault.  It was the man who shot her that is entirely at fault.  When the male agent emerges, he tells the son that the mom said how strong and supportive he was.

Oh, yeah, and at the end of the episode, an agent who left the team on maternity comes by to show off her new baby and everyone smiles, even Agent Pickleface.  Good ladies are smiley and have smiley babies!  They cheer up the grumpy mens!

Gah.

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Sometimes I wonder why I pay attention to any TV shows.  The expectations can really get to me.

This is actually a serious issue for me.  I don't want to just hide in a cloistered happy-libby environment, protected from and unaware of the ways of the mass media.  But the ways of the mass media sure can get me down.