The other day a couple of our friends were over and in the process of entertainment conversation they ended up asking Mrs. Pliny and I why we had stopped watching Fox's '24' a couple of years ago. It turns out that it was pretty simple. Although it had initially been mildly entertaining with its over the top senarios, Mrs. Pliny and I came to see the show '24' as an ongoing propaganda film to both justify and desensitize Americans to the notion of torture and the elimination of due process. Each season a new and terrible threat has been completely missed by the conventional intelligence and judicial system and with only hours to spare, old Jack Bauer has to torture his way to the truth. The show creates this sense of constant threat that can only be stopped by turning to evil and discarding the Constitution. Amazingly, even when Jack gets it wrong and tortures the wrong guy, his victims understand that he had to do it to protect us and shrug it off. It's all part of Fox's complete package of fear mongering and apologetics for evil. We are kidding ourselves if we think that these kinds of ploys don't work over time. I suppose that I can be dismissed as a conspiracy nut for thinking such things but just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...
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5 comments:
You're not paranoid Pliny.
The old tricks are the best one's!
I have never seen the show. I don't know whether or not Jack got some suitable comeuppance at one point (or whether that comeuppance was framed as a form of unjust punishment that only made him into a martyr to a broken system that cares about human rights). I also don't know whether the world they were portraying was designed for propaganda purposes, instead of just vacuous entertainment purposes that merely happened to be colored by the thoughts of real-life nightmare scenarios racing through the public consciousness. What I do know is that the same guy, getting 24 action-packed hours to thwart a massive terrorist threat every year and half or so (for a total of 7 glorious times)not only strains credibility, but patience as well (or at least it would for me). Of course, they apparently plan on ending the series with one more season and a movie and that's it. So luckily they aren't planning on pushing too far into turning Jack Bauer into a human avatar of the god of antiterrorism.
You're right on base Pliny.
I remember a republican mouthpiece spouting Jack Baur's praises last year during the primaries. As in "vote for my candidate, he's tough on terrorism. He'll get the job done just like Jack Baur!". The commentator went on to tell us 24 was the most popular show in America at the time. Therefore, most Americans would agree with Jack's tactics - if it meant catching the bad guy.
the constitution is for everyone, not just the ones we agree with. This goes for US and THEM .
US and THEM are merely for demonstration.
By US, I mean thinking Americans. By THEM, I mean everybody else.
I meant no political affiation with us and them, sorry if I inferred such
No worries Mac - I never thought you were one of THOSE ;)
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