by Jessica Reed
Bauer: worst desktop picture ever?Earlier today as Kanishk Tharoor and I were discussing the 'merits' of the TV series 24 he mentionned an interesting detail: Joel Surnow (who created and produces the show) is also the producer of the Fox News conservative news satire show "the 1/2 Hour News Hour" (if you read Tan's latest entry you probably had a good laugh: those hi-la-ri-ous republicans...).
The timing is perfect: 24 has recently been referenced for "inspiring" soliders to torture detainees. According to Liberation (in french), an American governmental report published in 2004 notes that some officers use "methods they recall seeing in movies". Add to this some fascinating statistics (102 scenes of torture shown on television from 1996 to 2001, compared to 624 from 2002 to 2006) and we are in for some frightenning deductions.
Granted, the show is the perfect American drama: it is carefully crafted, full of suspens, explosions, patriotic heroism and romanticised violence. Yet, I found myself horrified at my immediate reaction when watching the 5th season on dvd: glued to the screen and holding my breath, I was silently encouraging Jack Bauer to demonstrate violence in order to obtain "crucial intelligence" which would enable him to complete his mission and save the day. And yes, that often involved torture.
The first five seasons of 24 gather sixty-seven torture scenes, all of them justisfied and portrayed as indespensable for the security and well-being of a country fighting its War Against Terror. Everything would be perfect in a fictional world if it all stick to merely being an unrealistic tv show. But as Andrew Sullivan points out:
What's truly disturbing is how enthusiastic the Republican establishment is about this adoption of torture as the American way. The Heritage Foundation had a symposium celebrating the show (...) Michael Chertoff endorsed "24", despite its endorsement of law-breaking by government officials. Then we discover this:
The same day as the Heritage Foundation event, a private luncheon was held in the Wardrobe Room of the White House for Surnow and several others from the show. (The event was not publicized.) Among the attendees were Karl Rove, the deputy chief of staff; Tony Snow, the White House spokesman; Mary Cheney, the Vice-President's daughter; and Lynn Cheney, the Vice-President's wife, who, Surnow said, is "an extreme '24' fan." After the meal, Surnow recalled, he and his colleagues spent more than an hour visiting with Rove in his office.
Now given the apparent sympathy which John Surnow seems to nurture for conservative politics, I am a little bit scared. American citizens wouldn't want TV dictating the way their government treat their prisoners, would they?
Elsewhere: The Jack Bauer body count website helps you keeping track of the number of people the patriotic hero has executed.
