Pro-Torture Propaganda
"The number of scenes of torture on TV shows is significantly higher than it was five years ago and the characters who torture have changed. It used to be that only villains on television tortured. Today, “good guy” and heroic American characters torture — and this torture is depicted as necessary, effective and even patriotic." - Human Rights First
"At least the contestants in the French show acquiesced to torture reluctantly and even with resistance, rather than with the demented pleasure, vicarious sensations of power, 24-type entertainment, and primal arousal which many disturbed individuals on the American Right derive from it. " - Salon (March 2010)
"Torture Chic: Why Is the Media Glorifying Inhumane, Sadistic Behavior?" - Alternet (Feb 2009)
"The Right's Jack Bauer Fantasy: 'Clip the Electrodes to His Balls and Turn on the Juice'" - Alternet (Feb 2009)
"With New Season Of 24, Right Wing Falls In Love With Torture All Over Again" - Think Progress (Jan 2009)
"We are supposed to feel bad for Jack Bauer, the lead character on FOX's hit show "24." Only he and a handful of his colleagues, it seems, have the moral strength necessary to do what has to be done. While Senators whine and his superiors wring their hands about what is "right," Bauer acts and saves the nation." - Huffington Post (Jan 2009)
"McCain named 24 as his favorite show on his Facebook page. The show has done more to advance the Bush White House defense of torture than anything else in the American media. According to its "ticking time bomb" scenario, the only way to stop terrorists from exploding a nuclear weapon in the heart of an American city is to torture them into revealing their fiendish plot." - Huffington Post (Nov 2008)
"This fictional counterterrorism... has his fingerprints all over U.S. interrogation policy. As Sands and Mayer tell it, the lawyers designing interrogation techniques cited Bauer more frequently than the Constitution." - Slate (July 2008)
Report: Jack Bauer "Gave People Lots of Ideas" at Gitmo - Mother Jones (April 2008)
"This week's Republican debate was a Jack Bauer impersonation contest." - L.A. Times (May 2007)
"Here's the best evidence for a TV show boycott I've seen recently." - Deadline (Feb 2007)
"Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, the dean of the United States Military Academy at West Point, flew to Southern California to meet with the creative team behind “24.”... Finnegan and the others had come to voice their concern that the show’s central political premise—that the letter of American law must be sacrificed for the country’s security—was having a toxic effect. In their view, the show promoted unethical and illegal behavior and had adversely affected the training and performance of real American soldiers" - New Yorker (Feb 2007) via Digby
"Is Torture on Hit Fox TV Show “24” Encouraging US Soldiers to Abuse Detainees?" - Democracy Now! (Feb 2007)
The Politics of TV Torture - Deadline Hollywood Daily (Feb 2007)
"In "24," Sutherland plays special agent Jack Bauer, head of the Counter Terrorism Unit. He fights some of his biggest battles not with the dark-skinned enemies trying to nuke L.A., but rather with the light-skinned do-gooders who think the head of the Counter Terrorism Unit should follow the rules." - Alternet (Jan 2007)
"The show is much more successful than the White House at making the case for torture. Its ratings have gone steadily up over the last five years, while Bush's ratings have gone steadily down." - The Nation (Jan 2007)
'24' gives Bush crowd the man of the hour - Journal Sentinel (Jan 2007)
24 & The Myth of the Ticking Time Bomb - Alternet (Sept 2006)
Softening Us Up for Torture, 24 Hours at a Time - Infowars (Sept 2006)
Is Fox's 24 an Advertisement for Torture? - PopMatters (March 2006)
24 Legitimizing Torture (Himmlers of Hollywood) - The Guardian (Jan 2006)
'24' hours of torture-loving - Prison Planet (Jan 2006)
24 as Pro Torture Propaganda - Media Matters (May 2005)
Normalizing Torture on '24' - The New York Times (May 2005)
Torture becoming entertainment:
Torture Movie
Why 'Torture Porn' Is the Hottest (and Most Hated) Thing in Hollywood
Torture: Just another plot device
The number of torture scenes on the networks last season grew at a rate almost double the previous two seasons.
Torture Isn't Entertainment except for fascists
Torture's Long Shadow
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