David's World

January 13, 2005

Jack's Back, with a New Web of Fear.

Jack Bauer is back. The premiere of the new '24' season was aired last weekend, I've seen the first four hours by now. Does the show live up to my high expectations?

For those who don't know: 24 is almost a real-time TV show: action is shown as it happens, no flashbacks, no jumps in time. 24 episodes per season: the longest day in the life of Jack Bauer, who used to be an agent hunting down terrorists and saving little blond girls' lives. He's a cowboy that does things his own way, and that's what we love him for. The show is full of action. And it's full of violence. 24 is one of the best-designed action TV series in a long time.

So how is 24/2005? The new story is the old story. Some evil terrorists plan an evil attack on the United States - in this case, some Secretary of Defense, who is to be tried by the evil terrorists for crimes against humanity in front of cameras. Of course, the evil terrorists come from a not-so-evil country (Turkey, but it doesn't matter, as long as they have an Eastern accent). The NY Times has the scoop. (More links)

What strikes me is the political shift that the series has seen. A shift to the right, a move that acknowledges America's conservatives. "Don't give me your sixth grade Michael Moore logic", the Secretary of Defense says, because we're the good ones, not you. He is talking to is son, who happens to be one of the guys that stage protests to save the environment. But in 24, Greenpeace activists are somehow linked to terrorism. This 24 season, the democrat, black and somewhat Kerry-esque US president David Palmer has been replaced by an old, Bushy guy.

Again and again, the agents of the Counter Terrorist Unit CTU use "physical interrogation"
to get suspects to talk. What that means? Torture.

In 24, time is of the essence, and torturing suspects is a matter of life and death for millions
of innocent people. Inquiries, carried out by the annoying 'division', only get in the way of good agents like Jack.

24, however, is hitting close to home. What's happening in real life
obviously couldn't be further away from the time pressure of 24. American and
British soldiers have tortured Iraqis - the photos were in all papers. Thousands of suspects are still detained, without lawyers and without trials. The CIA seems to have been abducting suspects from within foreign countries (like this German).

Do the makers of 24 inadvertently legitimize torture in counter-terrorism investigations?

What's painfully obvious is that 24, conceived long before the 9/11 attacks, now nurtures a diffuse sense of fear among its viewers, keeping the belief in a good government alive and legitimizing violations of human rights.

The message: Everything is okay - in Guantanamo Bay.

Hmmm. I'm from Turkey. I didn't know that, interesting. I think there are actually right-wing conservative guys in Turkey who would like to see the US gov't hanged for crimes against humanity. I wouldn't mind the plot but I just remembered that the turks in US were shocked when they saw it on TV and protested wildly. What a whole load of propaganda. US has the right to violate every human right, and the rest of the world got to tolerate that. Somehow, it doesn't seem to work out in the end. It didn't work out for nazi germany. And US had gotten into WWII for ... profit. I think if in Europe we cared about history then we wouldn't be so surprised about the US greed and atrocity that is arguably approved by the public in US, land of the free.

For more entertaining subjects, please visit ai-philosophy group at yahoogroups.

Cheers,

--
Eray

Thanks for writing - I doubt you can legitimately compare Nazi Germany and their atrocities with the current U.S.. And while power and stability might have been some reasons for getting involved into WWII, the outcome was a humanitarian victory.

But anyways. My original post was about 24 condoning torture and supporting a general feeling of fear, not about U.S.-led wars.

Jack Bauer 100%

24 is a film of National Security issues in America. The most thrilling part to me is when Jack Bauer was apprehended for the assasination attempt on President Palmer which He tried to foil but no body Believed his Story.
Through out the Series of the Seasons and the Catastrophy involved Jack Bauer plays the role of a defeated Intelligence Expert to acquire information of Terror Activities and their possibility of imposing a Nuclear Threat on Americans. I have watched alot of US intelligece films on National Security but 24 brings out this terminology"The Enemy is Within" as displayed by Nina and the others especially Curtises so-called wife in Season four who all along collaborates information to the Terrorists making the Intelligence efforts of Jack Bauer to apprehend the man "Marwan" useless as He is made aware of his trackers.
Anybody who needs to know how Friends can Suddenly become Enemies over National Intelligence Threat would find such in the actions of Jack Bauer as His duty to Serve and Secure His Country Comes First.

I really enjoy reading your articles. Keep up the great work.
TBoardenson