Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who participated in the discussion, praised the show’s depiction of the war on terrorism as “trying to make the best choice with a series of bad options.” He went on, “Frankly, it reflects real life.” Chertoff, who is a devoted viewer of “24,” subsequently began an e-mail correspondence with Gordon, and the two have since socialized in Los Angeles. “It’s been very heady,” Gordon said of Washington’s enthusiasm for the show. Roger Director, show creator Joel Surnow’s friend, joked that the conservative writers at “24” have become “like a Hollywood television annex to the White House. It’s like an auxiliary wing.”So, yeah, 24 (which was once a pretty good suspense thriller) has slowly devolved into pro-war and pro-torture agitprop.
Figures.
Surnow has been confronted again and again by real military personnel who have real interrogation experience trying to tell him that what he depicts on the show doesn't work in real life and is negatively influencing real interrogators in Iraq, but he can't be bothered to listen, busy as he is conferencing with the likes of Roger Ailes about future shows. So Jack keeps torturing.
Now, I'm pretty strident about freedom of speeech- even more so that I used to be. Surnow has every right to put out his show. But, of course, we now have every right to remind people about that "auxiliary wing".
(Me, I was done with 24 a while ago. If I want science fiction and superheroes, I'll choose Battlestar Galactica and Heroes; and if I want "gritty", I'll choose The Wire or The Shield. Vic Mackey's way more interesting as a torturer anyway.)
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