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The Effect of Torture in Televised Media |
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Friday, 18 May 2007 |
By Frederic Germay
In
a world still reeling from massive terrorist attacks, a growing number
of people are claiming the government should be able to do whatever is
necessary to prevent more from occurring. Ever since the allegations of
prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, revelations of terrorist suspects being
tortured are frequently displayed throughout the news. Even the Bush
Administration has been accused of authorizing the usage of extreme
interrogation techniques against prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay.
Perhaps
the reason why so many are willing to justify torture as an acceptable
method of obtaining information from a reluctant terrorist is because
they are influenced by popular television shows, such as Fox’s 24 and ABC’s Lost, which commonly portray torture as a highly effective method of interrogation.
An Emmy award-winning television series, 24
is about how counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer tries to prevent some
type of national disaster from happening, depending on the season. In 24,
Bauer often confronts terrorists who are withholding information that
is vital to the nation's security. Since Bauer has only twenty-four
hours to avert the terrorist attack, he often has to resort to brutal
yet time-efficient methods of interrogation to extract the valuable
information from resistant suspects.
Bauer uses various methods of torture to obtain the useful information. Throughout the past seasons of 24, Bauer has shot, tasered, and electrocuted several terrorist suspects. 24
graphically depicts these acts of torture and visually captures every
aspect of the suspect's suffering. The show openly flaunts these images
of violence with an air of righteousness, and simultaneously influences
the viewing audience to sympathize with the characters’ plight.
However,
there are reasons why Bauer resorts to taking such drastic actions.
Aside from the impending time limit, there are the multiple and often
larger-than-life terrorist attacks. Some of the national threats have
included the assassination of a presidential candidate, the release of
a highly contagious deadly virus, and the detonation of a nuclear bomb
on American soil. The executive producer of 24, Joel Surnow,
stated that, "If there's a bomb about to hit a major U.S. city and you
have a person with information…if you don't torture that person, that
would be one of the most immoral acts you could imagine" (Cusac, 2005,
p.35). In reality, however, the revelations of torture in the news are
rarely accompanied by a serious national threat.
There are already many similarities between reality and 24, which argues that 24
is indeed relatable to the real world, or at least draws from real
events. One of those similarities is when, on the show, the United
States is about to enter into a war based on evidence that is later
proven to be fabricated, clearly referencing the incidents surrounding
the so-called discovery of “weapons of mass destruction.” Popular
journalist Anne-Marie Cusac points out how on the one-year anniversary
of Abu Ghraib, 24 showed a suspect who was being treated for wounds he received during his torture in the previous episode (Cusac, 2005, p.34).
Although Joel Surnow insists that 24
isn't trying to influence anyone's stance against torture, it is
obvious that the show is having an impact on the political world.
Rightwing papers and magazines such as The Washington Times and National Review,
praising the show and advocating the use of torture in it, is an
obvious example of this. Even Amnesty International actually referred
to the instances of torture in 24 as "educational" (Cusac, 2005, p.36).
The
show also portrays the negative side effects of using torture as an
effective tool. In the last season a government employee was tortured
for giving information to terrorists, but it was later determined the employee was innocent and set up by another employee.
24 is not the only show to display torture as an ineffective method of interrogation. ABC's LOST depicted Sayid, a former Iraqi soldier and member of the elite
Republican Guard, torturing a man, but because he was stopped before he
could finish, his interrogation yielded no results. Sayid is
continually called upon to use his skills as an interrogator, but from
his demeanor we know he finds it morally questionable despite his
training. On an episode of Law & Order, a detective, in
order to find a kidnapped girl, forces a suspect's head into a toilet
bowl until the suspect relinquishes the location of the child. Although
the detective is never officially punished for his violent behavior,
the morality and legality of his actions were continuously brought up
throughout the episode.
Ultimately, I believe that if viewing
audiences are continuously subjected to viewing torture as an effective
method of interrogation, they may be influenced to believe it is an
acceptable method of interrogation as well. The more often the public
sees something as shocking as torture being portrayed as righteous and
justified, torture will then become a normal or even necessary action
in the public's eyes. The United States has already been found guilty
of practicing rendition, the act of transporting a suspect to another
country to be tortured. If left unchecked, the U.S. may grow arrogant
enough to start torturing foreign suspects on U.S. soil or even torture
U.S. citizens.
Some may even argue that torture isn't
effective at all because, as the Inquisition and other famous periods of rampant torture eventually revealed,
suspects being tortured simply tell the interrogators what they want to
hear (O'Hare, 2005, paragraph 17). I implore the public to deal with
the issue of torture, and not let television shows influence the way
they view these important issues.
References:
Cusac, Anne-Marie; “Watching Torture in Prime Time;” The Progressive; August, 2005.
O’Hare, K.; “24 Turns to tTrture;” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service; March 18, 2005.
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