Callie Crossley was one of the few realists in the earliest days after 9-11. As other people were solemnly declaring that "everything had changed" that "irony was dead" that "this is going to change things for an entire generation" she said that after a short time things would be exactly as they had been. She might have said months, it didn't last that long. Except for the wars, the one that had a bit of justification in Afghanistan and the entirely illegal one, the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq, a horrible war based on the failure of geography education in the American school system and in our one way mirror on our side media.
I wish I knew how to link to the specific time on the mp3 of the last segment of this old Callie Crossley radio show when she, Thomas Connolly and Rachel Rubin talked about the response to 9-11 in pop-culture (beginning at about 34:40). The incredible narcissism of some figures in popular culture and the abysmal promotion of torture as a solution and a means of protecting ourselves in the fascistic and wildly popular with even-liberals, the FOX hit, 24 are discussed. I have always wanted to ask members of the New Democratic Party in Canada what they made of such a prominent NDP member, one with a stellar legacy in that party being one of the foremost proponents of torture on the most effective medium for dispensing propaganda in history.
One of the things I remembered from that time was the famous West Wing episode cobbled together on the fly, the White House full of high school kids, lock down episode which sold the idealistic nonsense that "terrorism doesn't work". The best thing that was ever said about that was the response of Noam Chomsky who pointed out that terrorism had been working for powerful countries, specifically the United States, for decades.
Update: FOX entertainment's biggest fan boy has this to say in a comment I opted to post.
steve simelsSeptember 11, 2015 at 4:57 PM
24's first season started to air before 9/11. And the show was never as reflexively right-wing as you think. But of course you would have had to actually see it to know that.
That, to refresh his memory, would be September 11, 2001.
IMDb says that the first episode was aired November 6, 2001, as do other online sources I just checked. Apparently someone needs to have a refresher course in how to use a calendar. Or maybe an introduction to one.
As I recall, I heard that people in the Bush II regime, especially those centered around Dick Cheney were fans, too, Sims. Like I said, you guys have a lot more in common than you'd like to believe.
Update 2: I don't have time to keep knocking down every stupid thing Mr. Pop Kulcha and the Eschatots say this weekened so, here:
“24” returns: Is Dick Cheney programming Fox?
And the lack of aggressive repudiation of the “24” past means that the show is still at least plausible today.
“There are those that champion torture within the government,” said Karen J. Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham. “Given the refusal of the Obama administration to call them out in any punitive way, they are in the media all the time. They say, ‘We needed torture.’ Nobody’s countering them and nobody’s prosecuting them. Public opinion is following them. As long as that drumbeat is out there, Pew polls will follow.”
Sands believes that “24” is quite a bit more influential than, say, “Idol.” He wrote during the show’s run that “24” was popular among American interrogators at Guantánamo Bay prison:
Some described to me how the series contributed directly to an environment encouraging those in the interrogation facility to see themselves as being on the front line, and to go further than they otherwise might have. 24 also made it more difficult for those who objected to the abuse to stop it.
Sands told Salon he was concerned about the potential impact of a revived “24”: “Programs have a profound impact. They send messages about what’s right and what’s wrong. Television programs do matter. They’re not academic, arcane debates about various perspectives.”
The rebooted “24” is not connected with conservative producer Joel Surnow, who famously told the New Yorker: “There are not a lot of measures short of extreme measures that will get it done […] America wants the war on terror fought by Jack Bauer. He’s a patriot.” In fact, it may well be headed in a softer direction, as it’s to be produced by Howard Gordon, the writer who told the New York Times Magazine: “Obviously anyone with any conscience is going to take [charges of abetting acceptance of torture] seriously. But look, we also recognized too that you can’t just hide behind, ‘This is just a TV show.’ That’s a little like the Twinkie defense. So we actively engaged and reconsidered how we told stories.”
And this: Joel Surnow, Rush Limbaugh Defend '24' From Janeane Garofalo
Rush Limbaugh and 24 creator Joel Surnow on Monday were responding to attacks leveled by actress-activist Janeane Garofalo, who starred in the 2009 season of Fox's hit TV show and said recently that Surnow used 24 to advance a conservative agenda and malign liberals.
24's first season started to air before 9/11. And the show was never as reflexively right-wing as you think. But of course you would have had to actually see it to know that.
ReplyDeleteSorry. It was written and filmed before 9/11.
ReplyDeleteNow go fuck yourself.
Thanks.
:-)
You are such a horse's ass. Read what you said which I responded to or are you so senile that you can't even do that much fact checking?
DeleteYou are Rupert Murdoch's favorite kind of pseudo-liberal dupe.