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Torture, the debate over it and the TV show "24"
by
Rich Gardner | 01.10.2009
I received this as a letter from Human Rights First. Please keep in mind that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has referred to scenes and situations from "24" as though it was depicting vignettes from real life. Was he actually confusing TV with life? Well, intellectually, he was clear on the difference, but it's hard for people to really draw distinctions like that.
No character on TV uses torture more than Jack Bauer, the hero of the FOX program "24" which begins its 7th season on Sunday night. In Bauer's hands torture appears to be the perfect tool to fight terrorism. As the The New York Times and Washington Post reported, this season of "24" will make the debate over the use of torture central to the plot line. We are concerned about this development. Two years ago Human Rights First began to investigate how "24," which has shown 89 scenes of torture in its first six seasons, influenced the thinking and the actions of young people in the armed services. We learned that some junior soldiers — even some interrogators at Guantanamo Bay — had copied abusive interrogation techniques they saw depicted on the program. And military educators told us that "24" was the biggest problem they had in their classrooms. In response, Human Rights First — helped by donations from hundreds of our supporters — developed a training film that we provided to more than 1,200 military educators. The 15-minute film weaves together scenes from the program with the words of real world interrogators who explain that Bauer's tactics would never work in the field. The film is in use at a variety of facilities ranging from ROTC classrooms to classes at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. As the new season of "24" begins, we want our film to reach a wider audience. Please consider forwarding a link to this film to anyone you think may be interested: http://www.PrimeTimeTorture.org We have also worked hard to educate the producers of the program about the impact "24" has had. We brought Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the Dean of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and several senior interrogators to the set of the program to talk to them about the way they showed torture. "I asked them to stop," Finnegan explained to The New Yorker after the visit. This season of "24" will make the debate over the use of torture central to the plot line. To date torture has been a part of the action but its use and effectiveness has not been debated explicitly at length by the characters. Though we expect a more nuanced discussion of these tactics than has ever been broadcast before by the program we fear that the take home message of the series has been — and always will be — that torture is effective and can be justified. More than 13 million people are likely to watch the first episode. The 7th season will also be broadcasted overseas in dozens of countries, including in the Middle East. We believe "24" will help set the tenor of the public debate over interrogation policy in this country and abroad. In the coming months we will likely call on you to help us combat misleading information forwarded by the program. We invite you to learn more about our efforts to influence the way that torture is portrayed in popular culture by visiting www.primetimetorture.org. And we look forward to working with you in the future. Best, David Danzig P.S. We are making a second training film that will also be distributed to military educators free of charge. While the first film focused on how "24" shows torture in a misleading way, the second will focus on what real world interrogators actually do to gain information from suspected terrorists. Please support the production of this film. Those who contribute $250 or more to production will have their names listed in the credit portion of the film. |
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Comments
Hopefully Jack Bauer's got something up his sleeve...
Submitted by HansBennett on Sat, 01/10/2009 - 7:46pm...and the season premiere will transcend that superficial narrative about torture being useful (Keep in mind that Jack is pissed because he just got blackmailed into returning to the US---and he will be testifying about the use of torture, but a preview clips suggest he may tell them a little more than they want to know).
I must say (I've been talking about writing my "24 article" for a long time now) that 24 is one of my all time favorite shows, and is far more complex than some of its lefty critics give it credit for. I think it often has very radical critiques of the US govt's police state and how transnational military industrial complex corporations have subverted democracy, and purposefully used "fear of terrorism" to further their sinister power grab.... The real bad guys are almost always "white guys in suits," with Jack usually having to disobey orders and become a fugitive to go after the powerful people that are being protected.
For example, in winter 2003 Jack Bauer was trying to stop the Iraq war (in the show it was going to be an attack on three un-named middle eastern countries) and then last season (two years ago) the show was extremely critical of how Muslims, and folks from the Middle East are scapegoated in this post-911 "terrordome"....
I could give more background, but I'll save it for my future article.
Suffice to say, I agree that it is misleading to say torture is useful for getting reliable intelligence, and the show basically perpetuates that narrative. However, I don't think its glorified (Jack and his friends have been tortured), rather, I see it as more of a "see how ugly this is", but its a "necessary evil"---and like I just said, I don't agree with this part of the show.
In previous seasons 24 had the first two black presidents (the Palmer brothers) and this season kicks off with the first woman president, who seems like a very strong character, based on the 2 hour movie released a few weeks ago.
You are kidding, right???
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 9:33amYou think a fucking TV show is going to influence the nation on torture???? You are getting dumber and dumber. Typical progressive stupidity from the dean of ignorance.
So what you're saying
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 10:04amis that you're a complete ignoramus who is completely unaware of how "24" has shaped attitudes on torture?
If the TV show and only a TV show was influencing attitudes, that'd be one thing, but with people in government openly contemptuous of international law, it's an effective addition.
Recommend look up the interview where Justice Scalia talks about how effective torture is and see what he uses as an example.
Fox News cites season premier of "24"
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 10:32pmhttp://mediamatters.org/items/200901130014
in their arguments concerning torture. They explicitly acknowledge that it's fictional, but nevertheless seem to think Jack Bauer's arguments make sense. Problem is of course, that Jack refers to a completely fictional scenario as justification for his actions.
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