24: Torture is A-ok
January 12, 2009 – 3:34 pm by KelA number of my friends have Facebook statuses (stati?) about the new season of 24. Apparently, they’re doing a two night double header, in which they showed one episode last night to be followed by an additional one tonight. I feel compelled to comment on my thoughts of 24.
I saw the first season of 24 in Kuwait, at the end of my year long tour in Iraq, back in 2004. We were readying for our return home, and with numerous hours to fill as we waited for our turn to board a flight bound for the US, a number of us gathered around a laptop and watched the entire first season of 24 in about two days. I liked the show. Then. Granted, in those days, I was a little more “conservative” (ie: I actually thought the terms “conservative” and “liberal” actually meant something different), so maybe I can use that excuse.
Flash forward to the past year. It had become common practice to watch praised television shows that we had missed on DVD, thanks to the usefullness of Netflix. That way, there was no week long wait between episodes – if you timed it right, you could watch an episode or two a night. On my suggestion, we decided to catch up on 24. I mostly skipped my roommates’ viewing of the first season, since I had seen it already.
I don’t think I made it much into season 3 before I couldn’t take it any more. I saw a constant stream of total disregard for human liberty, for the sake of “the country”. With little or no evidence, some “hero” of the anti-terrorist organisation CTU would break some fundamental right – their favorite method was torture – all under the pretense that if they didn’t now, people might die later. All of these horrific scenes were presented as the correct course of action. It disgusted me.
Maybe I can still hold some credibility, though I originally enjoyed the show. After all, in the first season, his family had been kidnapped, and because of such Bauer was at ends with the government authorities as much as he was with the terrorists. Maybe it’s because I can understand a man going through great lengths to recover and protect his family. But maybe I’m wrong, and the first season is just as bad at shilling out the “your safety [sic] is more important than your liberty” shit.
I will not be watching 24 this season (though that is not saying much. I watch very little TV as is). I don’t care to have torture presented to me as a justifiable ends to a mean.
3 Responses to “24: Torture is A-ok”
have you watched an episode of Law & Order lately? Especially the spinoff “SVU”?
I can’t watch them anymore without wanting to throw the remote through the TV.
By David Z on Jan 13, 2009
As you know, torture isn’t really torture. It’s just an interrogation technique. So it’s okay. What if someone had planted a nuclear bomb and you had to find out where it is to save millions of people? Bla bla bla.
Mass media is bullshit.
By Francois Tremblay on Jan 13, 2009
@David:
Sometimes – when I’m extremely bored and don’t have anything else to do – I’ll watch a few episodes of the original Law and Order, especially if there’s a marathon on (which seems to happen more and more often). I do recall there were some episodes where the main character did something I thought was against liberty, but often I felt it was presented with the pretense that he was doing it for selfish gain. Sam Waterson would tread on your liberties so he could win, not because it was “right”. 24, however, Bauer’s actions seem to always be presented as infallible. He does the right thing, always.
But I can only imagine what SVU would be like. As demonstrated by things such as the Duke Lacrosse case, people seem to care little for the liberties of individuals accused of crimes of rape, etc.
By Kel on Jan 14, 2009