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To kick off, let me make it clear that I believe it is the latter although it definitely excites the neocon base. There was much hype around the sixth season of Jack Bauer’s worst day - 24. To those who are unaware, 24 is a drama series on Fox that unfolds in a timeframe of 24 hours and often involves American counter terrorism unit (CTU) along with the Administration fighting against an imminent terror threat by an unknown individual or organization. The protagonist, Jack Bauer leads the fight to uncover the sinister motives of the terrorists at a great personal cost. He loses his wife in the first season and was captured by the Chinese and tortured for 2 years in the last one.
So you might think everyone watches it for an hour every week and switches off the TV satisfied, right? Nope, if a storm is brewing around a stupid Big Brother TV show, then 24 with its high-voltage drama cannot be far behind. The show feeds off the current climate of fear and uncertainty complete with use of contemporary talking points like torture and giving up civil liberties. Newsweek recently stirred a hornet’s nest by saying:
The show debuted just a few months after 9/11, and its watchful, paranoid visual language was forged in that moment. Depending on your perspective, “24” is either a neocon sex fantasy or the collective id of our nation unleashed.
24 with its doomsday predictions and nation under attack theme is naturally a hot favorite with the neo-conservatives who are saying, see I told you so. Rush Limbaugh is a big fan and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank held a roundtable on 24 and America’s image in fighting terrorism (I am serious!) with Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff in attendance. And you think only Indians take TV shows seriously. Although conservatives use events on 24 to justify being scared of terror attacks, they forget that it is a mere show that exaggerates events for higher ratings.
Also, they conveniently forget that if 24 shows incessant attacks on America, it also shows dilemmas surrounding civil liberties and use of torture (torture has no effect on Jack although he uses it often to elicit information from suspects). In fact, Jack once tortured an innocent man, Defense Advisor’s estranged husband no less and ultimately was the cause of his death. The last season in a clear indication although highly exaggerated showed an American President turning traitor by colluding with terrorists to instigate attacks on foreign power. Why are these aspects forgotten by the neocons when they sing praises of the show’s ‘creativity’? Perhaps the danger of terror attacks justifies shaking the very foundation that this nation was built on.
A recent controversy involves the Muslim community protesting vehemently against depiction of their community. Well, considering a majority of terror attacks in the world today are rooted in fundamentalist Islamic conflicts, I don’t think the show’s writers were pulling it out of their ass. And again, the TV show has no responsibility toward assuaging concerns and they are merely going after the ratings. Don’t like it, turn it off. Muslims are already subjected to racial profiling (not necessarily justified) in the U.S. and showing that in a TV fiction drama is certainly not crossing any boundaries. In fact, responding to CAIR’s protest, the show creators pointed out that:
Over the course of the series, no ethnic group has been singled out for persecution or blame. The villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States.
True. In one case it was even a rogue MI5 agent. Borat made fun of heartland Americans and protests to ban/censor the movie rightly died. So leave out the so-called larger implications, enjoy the show, and base your policy decision on real-time events not fictional accounts of reality. If you have problem following the show, you might like to read these ‘tips for 24 newbies‘.
by Patrix | on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 5:08 pm | 
Politicking, Television, United States . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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January 20th, 2007 at 12:33 am reply
I started watching 24 during the winter break in december (thanks to online streams) and finished 5 seasons over 2 weeks. While the 1st season was the most jam packed day, the 5th was the ‘crowning glory day’ of the show.
Of course, just when I wondered how the writers were really going to top day 5 they come up with the nuke (and of course Bauer breaking down in the end).
Yeah the most satisfying bit of it all was that I got to watch the first four episodes of day 6 even before the premiere. God bless Dailymotion, Rapidshare, Bittorrents et al.
Btw, if u want the link to the 10 minute teaser of the 5th episode, let me know. :)
January 20th, 2007 at 1:36 pm reply
I just heard about it yesterday… on the so called “no-spin” factor. I loved the way that the CAIR spokesperson put forth his point of view on the generalisation and how it could hurt the American Muslim community, in the same way as it would create a huge fracas if it was the 7 million black community members were shown in camps/jails. Even O’Reilly was a bit stumped but the righteous prick that he is, he could not come out and say - “yes, you’re right” so instead said, “I don’t know, I doubt it”.
January 20th, 2007 at 3:30 pm reply
Piker, that must have been one long marathon session of 24. You must wake up all paranoid. I haven’t seen season 1 but its has gotten progressively better as seasons progress and of course, the nuke in this season makes it all the more exciting.
Oi, that may be being too sensitive. If everyone took TV shows that seriously, our television would really be boring. I’ve seen American shows that stereotype Indians and Indian shows/movies that stereotype Americans. You just have to take TV and movies with a grain of salt.
January 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pm reply
I admit it is being a bit sensitive but considering the times we live in, and especially the Muslims live in, it is not too far fetched an idea. Sensitivity changes depending on the circumstances.
The same thing would have happened if the community in question were the Japanese right after World War II and it did.
January 20th, 2007 at 5:40 pm reply
Oi, yup it would have but that is no reason to be paranoid. in fact, 24 may have just initiated a conversation on depiction and profiling of American Muslims.
January 20th, 2007 at 7:39 pm reply
Yes, it has and that is a good thing. Initially I rubbished the idea in the name of free speech as well, but then when it hurts and is likely to inflame passions and maybe help in building wrong perceptions of people based on their skin colour or appearance, I reconsidered. I am not a Muslim btw, but I can see why they would be concerned by putting myself in their shoes for a moment.
The same thing happened to Sikhs and Muslims alike after 9/11 which I remember reading. And you or me might be intelligent enough to keep the fantasy and real world’s separate but not all people are. Just as there are people who consider everything they see and hear in the MSM to be gospel truth, there is also a class of people whose perceptions are influenced by fictional dramas as 24.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:00 pm reply
Oi,
I am sure you agree that such a class irrespective of religion is a minority. If we pander to everyone’s crazy whims and fancies, we’ll have no entertainment because at any given point, someone is bound to be offended by someone.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:49 pm reply
Fair enough Patrix. I see that this can go on for a while. While the last statement is something I quite agree with, I also understand the feeling of paranoia that Muslims are experiencing. The show is going to show around 7 million Muslims in camps as the bad guys dressed in a particular attire with beards and all.
While 24 has also shown Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese and others as bad characters, there is a considerable differnce between showing them and showing Muslims considering the paranoia that has engulfed America since 9/11, as witnessed by the recent case of those 6 imams ejected off a plane. The MSM was obsessed with this story and they are not obsessed with anything that a majority of their viewers are not interested in.
I see what you are trying to say though. I also believe you too understand what I am trying to convey. Having said that, I hope you enjoy the coming season of 24 :-)
Peace!
January 21st, 2007 at 1:46 am reply
The other interesting observation I made about 24 is that in all seasons, the Muslim terrorists have been mere puppets in the hands of greater evil organizations who are invariably Americans. So it looks like a conscious effort on the part of the writers to balance out things.
Btw here’s the link for episode 5 of Day 6. It is the first 10 minutes of the episode released by Fox on the Day 5 DVD which also contained the first four episodes.
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/24/links/15162
January 21st, 2007 at 11:42 am reply
Oi, I guess. I still have some issues but let us leave it at that.
Piker, thanks for that link but I rather wait one more day for the full hour instead of just ten minutes. I’ll keep the link for those who might be interested.
BTW if you are bittorrent-ing from campus, be careful…they are cracking down hard on such things these days. I know that sucks.