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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe 25th Hour: Still Living With Jack Bauer in a Terrified New American World
from TomDispatch:
The 25th Hour
Still Living With Jack Bauer in a Terrified New American World
By Rebecca Gordon
Once upon a time, if a character on TV or in a movie tortured someone, it was a sure sign that he was a bad guy. Now, the torturers are the all-American heroes. From 24 to Zero Dark Thirty, its been the good guys who wielded the pliers and the waterboards. Were not only living in a post-9/11 world, were stuck with Jack Bauer in the 25th hour.
In 2002, Cofer Black, the former Director of the CIAs Counterterrorism Center, told a Senate committee, All I want to say is that there was before 9/11 and after 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off. He wanted them to understand that Americans now live in a changed world, where, from the point of view of the national security state, anything goes. It was, as he and various top officials in the Bush administration saw it, a dangerous place in which terrorists might be lurking in any airport security line and who knew where else.
Dark-skinned foreigners promoting disturbing religions were driven to destroy us because, as President George W. Bush said more than once, they hate our freedoms. It was "them or us." In such a frightening new world, we were assured, our survival depended in part on brave men and women willing to break precedent and torture some of our enemies for information that would save civilization itself. As part of a new American creed, we learned that torture was the price of security.
These were the ruling fantasies of the era, onscreen and off. But didnt that sorry phase of our national life end when Bush and his vice president Dick Cheney departed? Wasnt it over once Barack Obama entered the Oval Office and issued an executive order closing the CIA black sites that the Bush administration had set up across the planet, forbidding what had euphemistically come to be called enhanced interrogation techniques? As it happens, no. Though its seldom commented upon, the infrastructure for, the capacity for, and the personnel to staff a system of institutionalized state torture remain in place, ready to bloom like a desert plant in a rain shower the next time fear shakes the United States. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175866/tomgram%3A_rebecca_gordon%2C_a_nation_of_cowards/
WillyT
(72,631 posts)The Magistrate
(95,241 posts)And a disgusting show.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)but from the description I kind of knew what it would be. I cannot stand cop shows, either.
The Magistrate
(95,241 posts)More than enough to put me off.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)than I do this show, because this show can get people killed.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Without any real Congressional oversight or legal boundaries.
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)The targets were the US population.
They have been conditioning us to be cowards and subservient lest WE be the targets.
Michigander_Life
(549 posts)If torture:
1. Was a reliable method of extracting accurate information
2. Was regulated with civilian oversight
3. Was completely transparent in each and every government utilization
Then and only then would torture be justifiable. Since none of those conditions are present, it is morally, legally and ethically WRONG to torture.
KatyaR
(3,445 posts)It absolutely amazes me that people scream about morality and brotherly love and then consume crap like 24 like it was chocolate sauce on a hot fudge sundae. To be honest, I watched 24 when it first came on, but it became so violent I finally quit in the second or third season.
Tetris_Iguana
(501 posts)A totally ridiculous show that's a lot of good fun when taken for what it is.
He's such a badass this season; can't wait for the finale 😄👍