Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne are in my soup
By John Amato Friday Jul 17, 2009 1:00pm
After reading this, I have to conclude that Conservatives really can't tell reality from fantasy and are easily manipulated by movies and TV. I'm starting to understand why the Brent Bozells are always trying to sue some TV show or other. They think it's real; I mean, why would anyone sue a Buffy TVS episode, right?
Anyway, Digby's post covers the Jack Bauer influence on the right wing party.
It's very creepy and disturbing.
The Wapo also reports that the thing was just about to be operational before the plug was pulled last month. The plot thickens.
The LA Times says that the "CIA Was A Long Way From Jason Bourne" but when I read that description of a secret hit squad with no limits, I was reminded of something else, which I wrote a year ago:
Fanboy InterrogationsDahlia Lithwick has a great column in this week's Newsweek about the biggest influence on the thinking of members of the Bush administration in regards to its "interrogation" policies: Jack Bauer.
I've written a ton about this shocking phenomenon over the years, but even I didn't know that John Yoo actually cited the show in his book:
"What if, as the Fox television program '24' recently portrayed, a high-level terrorist leader is caught who knows the location of a nuclear weapon?"...read on
Read her full article because she ends with this.
Rush was actually asking the right question. I laughed at him at the time,thinking he was an embarrassing torture fanboy. But it turns out that the military really was getting ideas from the show:
According to British lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, Jack Bauer—played by Kiefer Sutherland—was an inspiration at early "brainstorming meetings" of military officials at Guantanamo in September of 2002. Diane Beaver, the staff judge advocate general who gave legal approval to 18 controversial new interrogation techniques including water-boarding, sexual humiliation, and terrorizing prisoners with dogs, told Sands that Bauer "gave people lots of ideas."
This probably worries me as much as anything I've heard about the antics of the Bush administration. These people are so fundamentally unserious that they found inspiration in a television show when the stakes were about as high as they could possibly be. It's horrifying to think these powerful people were this daft. But they were.
It seems it was actually worse than I thought.
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It's funny, I watched Bourne Ultimatum a couple days after the Cheney story came out. I thought it a highly relevant movie. Now it has to be classified under 'historical fiction'.
The utter joy of NEVER watching TV. I have no idea what these shows are about or what this means.
I love the fact that I can't "popcultspeak". I hear about Kate and John, have no idea who they are but I know they must be meaningless to get the attention they are getting.
To Jack Bauer whoever or whatever you are, let me remind you, YOU DON"T exists except in the minds of mainstream media addicts.
From wiki: the term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his or her individual health, mental state or social life.
We know the mainstream media is the deadly harmful. There is no doubt of that. Yet some continue to use it.
Jason Bourne is a superspy created by Robert Ludlum, and recently popularized in a trio of films starring Matt Damon. (An earlier made-for-television version of 'The Bourne Identity' starred actor Richard Chamberlain.)
But the folks we're talking about are more interested in Bourne's charter - he was trained as part of a group of assassins to take down terrorists.
====
'24' is a drama that airs on FOX, starring Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, an operative of the secretive 'CTU' or CounterTerrorism Unit. Each season follows the progress of a threat and its ultimate resolution through a 24 hour period. (That's right, Bauer would have al-Qaeda all wrapped up in 24 hours.)
Bauer breaks the law, tortures people, kills people, all in pursuit of his goal.
Oddly enough, the show also had a black president - played by Dennis Haysbert. But maybe the torture fans are more interested in the fact that Haysbert's character was assassinated by terrorists.
... also takes full responsibility for his actions. To the point of admitting he broke the law and accepting prison for his actions if that's the ruling.
What could be more fictional than that?
Bauer sounds like your average republican.
the Rethugs can't support Richard C, as he's, well a fan of Judy's, if you get my drift.
I part way there too, living overseas and all. I don't know this Kate person, nor Bruno, and a host of others I see sprawled across the internet. (I have seen the Bourne movies on my movie channel.)
Nor do I care. That's the best part.
I googled Miley Sirus and the Jonas Bros. out of curiosity (watching South Park online)
But what if the nuclear device is set to trigger if the terrorist suspect is tortured?
"Oh no! Mr. Bill" time...
You know, I've never watched an episode, but have always thought the timing of airing of the series was unsettling. The first episode aired November 1, 2001 on FOX. It had to have been in production for some time ahead of that date. I'm sure it's coincidence that the series aired at the very moment that the nation's vulnerability to paranoia was highest and the desire to influence public opinion through fear greatest, but in hindsight its suspect to me.
Good point. I never saw the show, do you remember what the first episode was about?
Season 1 begins and ends at 12:00 AM, and occurs on the day of the California presidential primary. Jack Bauer must protect Senator David Palmer from an assassination plot, and rescue his own family from those responsible for the plot, who seek retribution for Jack's and David Palmer's involvement with a covert U.S. mission in the Balkans.
Probably just as well that I never watched it. I doubt I could keep up with all the plots and sub-plots.
I know my husband watched like the first two seasons of it and all I remember him saying about it was that it was the fastest hour on television. He likes mystery shows and movies. It's the one thing he and I don't have in common. If I watch a movie it will probably be a comedy or an animated movie. Life is enough of a mystery for me.
Does it take a whole season to get through one day? I'd be lost.
I can't watch a multi-part anything cause I always miss the middle. Who schedules their life around TeeVee watching?
If someone looks forward to, say wednesday night, because their favorite show is on that night and it gives them something to look forward to, I really am not going to judge them for that. Everyone gets their thrills and treats where they can. If they find it in a tv show, well good for them.
but there is a difference between looking forward to what one considers a treat, and scheduling your life around television shows.
With goodies like the VCR, TiVo, and DVR, no one needs to schedule life around the network's schedule.
I used to have a few shows I liked to catch. I was big into... Dynasty, back in the day. Evil Alexis and Sammy Jo. Good stuff.
PS Let's not forget the gay sub-theme and the hunk John (what's his name). One of the first!!
http://www.voltairenet.org/article30201.html
... evil ba$tards
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's "Get Smart" was watched carefully by the CIA. Mel has an interview about it. It seems to indicate our government has been using TV all along to create new programs for use upon KAOS.
Great minds think alike . . .
Here's what the CIA really based its brilliant War on Al Queda on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojmwSlE3dJU&fe...
Yeah, no kidding, AC!
Excuse me while I watch Part 2 .... I loved that show!
Next we are going to learn that Elmer Fudd really wasn't trying to shoot Bugs Bunny.
How in the world can someone take a fictional character from a tv show and base US policy on the actions of that character? I remember when I was a little girl and would see something frighening in a movie, my mom would always tell me, This isn't real, it's just a movie. Maybe some one should have conveyed the same message to the bush administration.
Maybe they should have been watching Road Runner cartoons. I think they would have learned more from them. Wil E. Coyote could have shown them what doesn't work and perhaps they would have stopped ordering stuff from the Acme Corp.
... the whole of the Bush/Cheney national security strategy is based on magical thinking.
As Hurricane Katrina showed us, we had jack shit lined up for a national emergency - which a terrorist attack could easily rival/surpass. No evacuation plans, no communications drills, nothing - at local, state, and federal levels. Cupboard's bare, nobody's home.
It's fine to consider that there may be another attack. But it's foolish to predicate your defense/response on 'we'll stop it before it happens.' It's like banking on a no-hitter in baseball.
Our national security has to be in-depth, flexible, and fail-safe. (Nothing I haven't said here and on other forums before.)
And before Katrina the evidence of its approach was where? It was on the television yet no one in the administration seemed to watch or take it seriously. Their timing of when to watch television was way off. Maybe they got so caught up in their fictional shows they forgot there were real ones on too.
... was so out of it (stoned, drunk, stupid, oblivious - take your pick) that he couldn't remember the word HURRICANE.
This is the guy keeping us safe?
...this whole time I was under the impression that the Bush Administration was using The Three Stooges as their media-driven motivational tool.
I wonder if they checked out the old MAD magazine cartoon of Spy vs. Spy?
.
Q U E S T I O N:
If Cheney's super secret hit squad was "non-operational" and abandoned, why the rush of Panetta to brief Congress as per the law?
More so, IF the Ceney hit squad was "non-operational" then why did Panetta need to issue that it be discontinued?
.
.... Panetta needs to inform Congress to both cover his ass and perhaps get an investigation started, because that's what oversight is for.
As for ordering the discontinuation, that, too, was necessary. Congress spiked the RNEP (Robust Near-Earth Penetrator) warhead several times, but it kept resurfacing in different appropriations bills.
Fire Panetta and put Ray McGovern as head and give him carte blanche.
...closer to their true admiration.
"I have to conclude that Conservatives really can't tell reality from fantasy and are easily manipulated by movies and TV."
See:( http://www.cloudtenpictures.com/ )
The [New World order / Mark of the beast] movie, is right up their alley. Entitled... "- Judgment"
[ http://www.cloudtenpictures.com/ourmovies.php ] √
I too have never watched 24 (not really my cup of tea) but I can't help but wonder what the writers and producers think about their being able to alter the reality of millions of people through their medium.
... about reality television shows like Survivor (and others from the fuck-you-so-I-get-mine genre) and other lowest-common denominator fare.
We're willing to believe a video game can turn a kid into a remorseless killer, but we're not willing to accept that our own media/entertainment choices can be equally damaging.
I think it depends on the mentality of the viewer. Some people are smart enough to understand that most of tv is fictional. I don't know what's wrong with the rest. I have no quarrel with anyone sitting down after a long day and watching some lame show if it takes their mind off their troubles or an hour or whatever. I do the same thing with a book. I escape the real world for a little while and concentrate on someone else's thoughts.
Surnow is a supporter of the Republican Party, has donated money to Rick Santorum and has strong admiration for former President Ronald Reagan. He is also a close friend of Rush Limbaugh. He also is the "creative genius" behind Fox's 1/2 Hour News Hour. (You know, the one they thought was funny)
Cochran is the co-creator of 24, he and Surnow also created and produced the television series La Femme Nikita and later also served as the series consultants.
Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland is the grandson of Tommy Douglas, the man who brought medicare to Canada. Keifer has publically declared himself a Socialist.
[That is REALLY Kiefer's whole name, learning to write that must have made 1st grade suck.. 'o}]
The remake was yuck, not bothered to even attempt the TV series.
republicanism is a mental illness!
You may have mentioned it once or twice. :)
no one ever goes to the bathroom on 24?
Geez, you'd think everyone would be having enormous cramps by now.
PS Murphy Brown is a really person, too.
NYAHHH.
... Nor have I ever seen anyone sit down to a meal. Or get woken up.
Well that explains not going to the toilet.
;)
They can't eat. You have all their toaster ovens!
Kiefer
on a good day.
for me.
... my ass! They cribbed their entire modus operandi from a different FOX bankrolled show -- FX's "The Shield". Dick Cheney and the rest of the NeoCon fedayeen openly embraced their inner Vic Mackey and Shane Vandrell and wanted to create a Strike Team just as corrupt, criminal, and above the law as they themselves were. The sick irony is President Obama is merely playing the role of "Captain/Councilman David Aceveda" and he'll deliberately railroad any investigation into Bush and Cheney including obstructing justice himself and doling out the immunity deals and pardons since he wants to "move forward" instead of looking back.
MI5 some Brit drama with questionable ethics,
Eagle Eye that stoopid movie with the crazy zany plot about the uber powerful computer gone nuts and pathetic lame Hollywood ending.
Die Hard Four ! with its hacker plot to destroy the infrastructure.
The post 'Red Storm Rising' Tom Clancy books, theres no way a naval warfare novelist suddenly gets all Special Force knowledgeably and writes those crap pulp Rainbow Six books. IMHO they are cribbed from other pulp novels, and just use his name on the cover.
This is where the tabloids, Congress and Lobbyists gets their scare mongering crap from, this is where our tax dollars go when they get scared by shadows.
And not forgetting decades of fascist law enforcement TV shows which
ignore reality and the law in their portrayal, and glorify showcasing of everything wrong about jackboot cops. We now have a generation of cops walking around thinking they are 'THE LAW' (obey my authority), not the servants of the law and the people.
You all aren’t the only ones concerned about the influence the media is having in our military. According to a New Yorker article, Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the Dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, recently flew out to California to meet with the producers of “24,” to voice his concerns about the show 24—“the show’s central premise—that American law must be sacrificed for the country’s security—was having a toxic effect.” Brigadier Finnegan said, “I’d like them to stop. They should do a show where torture backfires.” No word yet on any possible changes to the show’s script…
Are you a little curious why some people think torture is justifiable?
Do you think they have had a chance to learn about the Geneva Conventions? Think about it: When were you taught about the Geneva Conventions? In middle school? High school? College? EVER?
Maybe if youth could have a chance to learn about all of this during high school they wouldn’t be confused about the meaning of torture later in life.
The American Red Cross put a new petition out to encourage school district superintendents to teach the Geneva Conventions in high schools—it’s through Facebook Causes, called Protect the Vulnerable in War: Teach the Geneva Conventions and can be found at
bit. ly /RCpetition .
Want to actually DO something about people not knowing what’s allowable under international law? Sign the petition, and get your friends to sign, too. Let’s give our country’s future leaders the chance to understand what is legal, and what is right.
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