Did anyone catch tonight's 24 episode?
The show is a non-stop orgasm of action. Mindless carnage. One of its redeeming qualities, however, is its frequent presentation of moral dilemmas.
Now Jack Bauer, the main character, is the embodiment of American virtue. Yet he's willing to go as far as it takes during "interrogations" of suspects withholding information. This is a fascinating feature of Jack's character.
On tonight's episode, the Senator leading the campaign against Jack to convict him of using "torture" methods in interrogations, exchanged heated words with Jack after barging in on one of his interrogations. It went something like this:
Senator: Jack, you're barbaric.
Jack: You're soft. You're unable to look evil in the eye and do what is necessary.
How fantastic is that? TV's manliest, most patriotic figure labels all those who would call tough interrogation methods "torture" (whatever the hell that means) and implicitly brands them as little pansy-ferries that don't have the man-organs it takes to do what is necessary against evil forces. Beautiful.
This post sounds like it belongs in Maxim or FHM.
ReplyDeleteRather uncharacteristic of Triablogue...however, I did get a chuckle out of the use of "man-organs."
I just watched the 1st hour on tape. Can't wait to get home to watch the 2nd hour.
ReplyDeleteIt was fantastic!
Love the timing of "24" being shown as the Obama administration is releasing information that the Bush administration destroyed terrorist interrogation tapes.