sHiZo963
Jedi
I just finished seeing the entire two-night, four-hour season premiere of the "hit" show '24' on FOX. This show has become immensely popular in the U.S. and this season premiere had to have been watched by millions. Knowing this, I joined my roommate and decided to, for a change, watch the show on TV with him. I watched it with an objective and attentive mind so as to 'catch' some things that the PTB might be wanting the American people to think.
First, some background. '24' follows the protagonist Jack Bauer, an operative working for CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) in the U.S. as he saves America (aka "the world") from all kinds of terrorist threats. Every season is 24 hours (hence the name), so each show is supposed to represent an hour of a VERY eventful day. Bauer often has to go under the noses of his superiors to get the job done, getting fired and reinstated pretty much every season. CTU has some spiffy intelligence tools at its disposal, like cell-phone tracking, extensive databases, and instant access to satellite coverage, and Bauer uses all of these to get to where the action is, single-handedly saving "the world."
Now, my observations of the season premiere:
The antagonist is a cruel, merciless Islamo-fascist militant leader who's behind a recent wave of deadly terrorist attacks on major U.S. cities. All, of course, are suicide bombings of locations with a high civilian density. These attacks have shocked the American people and many are turning against their Islamic-looking peers. The U.S. gov't is forced to use detention centers that lock up suspected 'enemy combatants' (the show uses this phrasing and relates to the administration's latest 'revising' of laws so as to make surveillance and arrests without official charges possible - all out of 'necessity').
This practice is shown, at first, in a bad light in the show. Many characters complain about the destruction of 'all that this country has stood for' and what-not, including the President in the show. And then, the show takes 'interesting' turns:
The antagonist makes the following demand to the government: "Release the supposed 'enemy combatants' in this-and-this prison, these FREEDOM FIGHTERS, arrested without trial..." - this is the BAD guy talking - nice use of words, huh? Well, it turns out, that one of these supposed 'enemy combatants' held in this prison IS a terrorist, a nuclear scientist whom the antagonist needs to finish his nuclear device that is to go off on American soil - how convenient! I can just hear the thought process: "well, if we can arrest ONE of these bad people and stop them from doing this horrible thing, maybe these arrests really ARE necessary for the security of the majority of Americans?"
There's more. The episode goes to focus on a CLASSIC middle-class, white American family (all 'normality' American ideals apply here - who (mainly what demographic) do you think is watching this show?). The FBI come in and arrest the father of a Muslim family, who are their neighbors. The white family is 'struck' with such injustice and offer the Muslim son a place to stay until his father comes back, especially because some of their more 'extreme' white neighbors have threatened to assault the boy because of their fear of his family being 'terrorists.' Guess what!? The nice, normal-looking;sounding;acting Muslim son turns out to BE in compliance with the antagonist! After a few plot twists, he ends up taking the family hostage threatening to kill them if they don't follow his orders. Shocking betrayal! The message: "Don't trust your neighbors! As much as your human empathy may tell you that they're most likely as normal as you are, they may very well be ruthless Islamo-fascist terrorists! etc..."
There's MORE. The director of the Islamic-American Alliance organization (in the show) gets arrested by the FBI after failing to give access to their private member database. He gets put into one of those detention centers. The show portrays this as Negative at first. But then, while being obviously mis-treated by the military types there, he over-hears a conversation between two seemingly randomly arrested Muslim individuals and - you guessed it! - they turn out to be terrorist conspirators! Once again, I can just hear the thought process: "well, if we can arrest ONE or two of these bad people and stop them from doing this horrible thing, maybe these arrests really ARE necessary for the security of the majority of Americans?"
These are just brief summaries and they in no way do justice to the 'emotional' and 'shocking' elements used by the show to, no doubt, spawn certain thought processes in the dumbed-down American populace. This is serious manipulative propaganda, if I ever saw it. They are using the EXACT same approach as Casino Royale (and most likely other popular movie and TV "hits") with its strategy to first play the "gov't actions = give up liberty = bad" cards followed by more 'emotional' and 'shocking' scenes that play the "gov't actions = SECURITY and survival = necessity = good" cards, which pretty much nullify the healthy common sense of the former cards.
To go back to the demographics thing I brought up above: the show is clearly using the "US v.s. THEM" approach by showing the normal, white American family, who empathize for their Muslim neighbors and then get their backs stabbed by the very same people who they try to "protect." I'm pretty sure that the majority of the viewers of this show are white, middle-class Americans, so the propaganda is clearly directed at them, and its message is crystal-clear: "these Muslims are so different than us, even though they might ACT the same, they're secretly hiding their hate for OUR values; it's OKAY to lock up the 'suspected enemy combatants' so as to ensure the safety of the majority (read: OUR safety) ... I mean, it's not like WE'RE going to have to go through the humiliation of being wrongfully locked up - WE'RE white, middle-class Christians, not terrorists! It is OUR way of life that we must protect... etc."
To add insult to the injury, a nuclear bomb, successfully completed and detonated by the antagonist's organization (who suicide-detonate it, btw) goes off at the very end of the season premiere in the suburbs of Los Angeles, mushroom cloud and all. Talk about fear-mongering... "clearly, the government didn't DO ENOUGH to stop this from happening."
I wonder where the show will go next? Perhaps the season FINALE will be a classic "happy ending" in which, after all the BAD terrorists are dead (killed by Jack Bauer, of course), the detained Muslim families are released from the prisons, happy that they could contribute to the "Fight Against Terror" with their "temporarily"-halted liberties and freedom in a state of emergency, finally being able to be hugged by their used-to-be-suspicious white neighbors.
Overall message:
"America Prevails. Remember that you need your government to protect you and your way of life; we know more than you, so don't ever question us. Go back to sleep. Look! The NFL play-offs are on TV!"
First, some background. '24' follows the protagonist Jack Bauer, an operative working for CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) in the U.S. as he saves America (aka "the world") from all kinds of terrorist threats. Every season is 24 hours (hence the name), so each show is supposed to represent an hour of a VERY eventful day. Bauer often has to go under the noses of his superiors to get the job done, getting fired and reinstated pretty much every season. CTU has some spiffy intelligence tools at its disposal, like cell-phone tracking, extensive databases, and instant access to satellite coverage, and Bauer uses all of these to get to where the action is, single-handedly saving "the world."
Now, my observations of the season premiere:
The antagonist is a cruel, merciless Islamo-fascist militant leader who's behind a recent wave of deadly terrorist attacks on major U.S. cities. All, of course, are suicide bombings of locations with a high civilian density. These attacks have shocked the American people and many are turning against their Islamic-looking peers. The U.S. gov't is forced to use detention centers that lock up suspected 'enemy combatants' (the show uses this phrasing and relates to the administration's latest 'revising' of laws so as to make surveillance and arrests without official charges possible - all out of 'necessity').
This practice is shown, at first, in a bad light in the show. Many characters complain about the destruction of 'all that this country has stood for' and what-not, including the President in the show. And then, the show takes 'interesting' turns:
The antagonist makes the following demand to the government: "Release the supposed 'enemy combatants' in this-and-this prison, these FREEDOM FIGHTERS, arrested without trial..." - this is the BAD guy talking - nice use of words, huh? Well, it turns out, that one of these supposed 'enemy combatants' held in this prison IS a terrorist, a nuclear scientist whom the antagonist needs to finish his nuclear device that is to go off on American soil - how convenient! I can just hear the thought process: "well, if we can arrest ONE of these bad people and stop them from doing this horrible thing, maybe these arrests really ARE necessary for the security of the majority of Americans?"
There's more. The episode goes to focus on a CLASSIC middle-class, white American family (all 'normality' American ideals apply here - who (mainly what demographic) do you think is watching this show?). The FBI come in and arrest the father of a Muslim family, who are their neighbors. The white family is 'struck' with such injustice and offer the Muslim son a place to stay until his father comes back, especially because some of their more 'extreme' white neighbors have threatened to assault the boy because of their fear of his family being 'terrorists.' Guess what!? The nice, normal-looking;sounding;acting Muslim son turns out to BE in compliance with the antagonist! After a few plot twists, he ends up taking the family hostage threatening to kill them if they don't follow his orders. Shocking betrayal! The message: "Don't trust your neighbors! As much as your human empathy may tell you that they're most likely as normal as you are, they may very well be ruthless Islamo-fascist terrorists! etc..."
There's MORE. The director of the Islamic-American Alliance organization (in the show) gets arrested by the FBI after failing to give access to their private member database. He gets put into one of those detention centers. The show portrays this as Negative at first. But then, while being obviously mis-treated by the military types there, he over-hears a conversation between two seemingly randomly arrested Muslim individuals and - you guessed it! - they turn out to be terrorist conspirators! Once again, I can just hear the thought process: "well, if we can arrest ONE or two of these bad people and stop them from doing this horrible thing, maybe these arrests really ARE necessary for the security of the majority of Americans?"
These are just brief summaries and they in no way do justice to the 'emotional' and 'shocking' elements used by the show to, no doubt, spawn certain thought processes in the dumbed-down American populace. This is serious manipulative propaganda, if I ever saw it. They are using the EXACT same approach as Casino Royale (and most likely other popular movie and TV "hits") with its strategy to first play the "gov't actions = give up liberty = bad" cards followed by more 'emotional' and 'shocking' scenes that play the "gov't actions = SECURITY and survival = necessity = good" cards, which pretty much nullify the healthy common sense of the former cards.
To go back to the demographics thing I brought up above: the show is clearly using the "US v.s. THEM" approach by showing the normal, white American family, who empathize for their Muslim neighbors and then get their backs stabbed by the very same people who they try to "protect." I'm pretty sure that the majority of the viewers of this show are white, middle-class Americans, so the propaganda is clearly directed at them, and its message is crystal-clear: "these Muslims are so different than us, even though they might ACT the same, they're secretly hiding their hate for OUR values; it's OKAY to lock up the 'suspected enemy combatants' so as to ensure the safety of the majority (read: OUR safety) ... I mean, it's not like WE'RE going to have to go through the humiliation of being wrongfully locked up - WE'RE white, middle-class Christians, not terrorists! It is OUR way of life that we must protect... etc."
To add insult to the injury, a nuclear bomb, successfully completed and detonated by the antagonist's organization (who suicide-detonate it, btw) goes off at the very end of the season premiere in the suburbs of Los Angeles, mushroom cloud and all. Talk about fear-mongering... "clearly, the government didn't DO ENOUGH to stop this from happening."
I wonder where the show will go next? Perhaps the season FINALE will be a classic "happy ending" in which, after all the BAD terrorists are dead (killed by Jack Bauer, of course), the detained Muslim families are released from the prisons, happy that they could contribute to the "Fight Against Terror" with their "temporarily"-halted liberties and freedom in a state of emergency, finally being able to be hugged by their used-to-be-suspicious white neighbors.
Overall message:
"America Prevails. Remember that you need your government to protect you and your way of life; we know more than you, so don't ever question us. Go back to sleep. Look! The NFL play-offs are on TV!"
