Again, this won’t mean anything to 98 % of you
Which you’ll have realized by now is what I say when I want to talk about the latest episode of “24.” So if you’re not watching it, you won’t care, unless you’re interested in the politics of the series in relation to the “war on terror.” Which I’ve also talked about here, of course.
Anyway, I found a couple of good recent columns about the series. Quotes from the first one in italics, the second in bold.
Another day, another terrorist onslaught the US government’s baddest-ass fictional agent Jack Bauer has only 24 hours to prevent. But this hyper-tense real-time drama, which has endured a few attacks of its own during this creatively resurgent season, is anything but just another TV show.
That much became clear when 24’s producers had the audacity to shoot down Air Force One with the president on-board. Though Fox quashed plans to kill the commander-in-chief, it’s not surprising this show airs on such a bipolar network – The Simpsons vs. Fox News – since 24’s politics, while admittedly conservative-leaning, have far more nuance than either its supporters or detractors credit it with.
Then there’s “The politics of ‘24:”
In a week when former Homeland Security boss Tom Ridge complained of arm twisting by forces outside his office to raise the color coded terror alerts when it wasn’t necessary, it’s clear that the crew currently running the government couldn’t make toast on “24.”
I tried to explain to my wife that torture on television isn’t immoral as long as viewers are capable of being outraged by the real thing. She found my reasoning morally incoherent.
But isn’t it obvious that Lynndie England is no Chloe O’Brian and Charles Graner is no Jack Bauer? The Bonnie and Clyde of Abu Ghraib engaged in torture for purely sadistic reasons because it corresponded with the winks and nods of their superiors. They weren’t “saving America.”
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And on a personal note, if they’re setting up my man Tony Almeida to be killed, boy am I gonna be pissed. Not just because I like the character so much; but because they billboarded it so blatantly in tonight’s episode. They’d better be faking me out, that’s all, they’d just better be faking me out…