Is 24 Political Propoganda?
I found a great article on my daily search of everything 24.
It talked about how liberals and conservatives are speaking out about the show, but in two totally differnet tones (like that’s a surprise).
The liberals are babbling about 24 being a bunch of conservative propoganda. Specifically he quotes Keith Olbermann:
“[24] featured a mall attack, a would-be suicide bomber on a subway, and a successful suicide bombing on a passenger bus. Not in places where these things have already happened, but in a country called the United States of America. In case you missed the point, the show finished up with a nuclear weapon detonating in a major American city, literally conjuring up the administration’s imagery for the war in Iraq, the good old mushroom cloud.”
Olbermann continued: “Is 24 propaganda? Is it fearmongering? Or is it a program-length commercial for one political party?”
And the conservatives are telling everyone, “look this could really happen, you’d better listen to us.”
Over the past year or so I’ve become completely dissillusioned with the way things are run in this country, because of silly things like this.
24 is a TV show. It’s not promoting any political propoganda, as much as people would like to think it is. It’s sad. It’s sad because someone like Olbermann wouldn’t be saying anything about this if 24 was on NBC, it’s just because he has some sort of vendetta against FOX, because of FOX News. While I’m not condoning any side, because I think they are both ridiculous, I think that Olbermann has really gone off the deep end on this one.
24 is drama, plain and simple. It’s silly to think of it as anything more.
Please let us know what you think in the comments. And please do try and keep the comments civil. I don’t want to turn this site into a crazy den of politcal insanity.
EDIT: Faithful reader Sammy mentioned this Kiefer quote in the comments of this story, but I wanted to share it with everyone.
In an article in today’s USA Today about 24, Kiefer was quoted as saying, “I long for the day we can go back to when the show is the fantasy it was designed to be?.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
January 17th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
The sad thing is that some people are so out of touch with reality that if you show them anything gritty and realistic, they automatically think it’s propaganda.
The creators of 24 (both liberals and conservatives) have made it very clear that their only agenda is to tell a great story.
January 17th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
And to Justin’s point- they do a damn fine job of it too!
January 17th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I don’t remember Olbermann or anyone else calling the movie the Day After Tomorrow “liberal propoganda” or accusing the producers of fear mongering to garner support for global warming issues. No one should have, and they shouldn’t be in this situation either. It is entertainment, plain and simple and people need to get over themselves a little bit.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I have to say that i’m with you on this one. i’ve read a couple of different articles like this one. It’s just so dumb, that i really don’t think it deserves any attention. 24 is a tv show… and when it comes down to it i think that people are just trying to use the shows popularity to promote thier own agenda, even if it’s not related to the show.
January 17th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Aaron, I agree that people need to stop spazzing out about what 24 is “really saying”. In an article in today’s USA Today about 24, Kiefer was quoted as saying, “I long for the day we can go back to when the show is the fantasy it was designed to be”. Amen, Keifer.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Sammy,
AMEN! If you don’t mind I’m going to add that quote to the article.
Aaron.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:36 am
I’m from the UK and I have only started watching 24 from season 5. I would say that 24 is anti-war and anti-US foreign policy. Part of the reason why the show is so good is because it is political dynamite.
Season 5 was about how the US administration tried to manipulate the world’s opinion, by the release of a nerve agent, to justify securing oil in the middle east by force. This is exactly the same as the whole WMD nuclear debacle that culminated in the war in Iraq. You can quite clearly see where the writers got the plot for season 5 from.
Season 6 is less certain. There have been lots of nice references to how the government is using the threat of Terrorism to justify breaking civil rights laws. For example, Guantanamo bay - unlawful holding of suspected terrorists with no proof and no trial per se. Lots of references to mistreatment of political prisoners in season 6. (President’s sister’s boyfriend).
Terrorists getting their hands on dirty nuclear weapons is not too far fetched a plot. Nuclear materials tracking is something that the world is going to have to crack down on (excluding bombing Iran).
Also, i think you misinterpreted the quote: “I long for the day we can go back to when the show is the fantasy it was designed to be?. I think it means that the show is based on a possible reality, and that it does indeed scare Kiefer.
However I do still think the show is anti-war. I would say the show is against Bush’s current policies, and is pro-democrat. I think this is an entirely good thing too!