I am an unabashed fan of '24'. I missed season one when it first aired, dismissing it as too gimmicky. But then through the magic of Netflix, I discovered the awetasticness that is Jack Bauer. I must have watched the entire season in like four days. It was a bit sickening. As preposterous as the second season was, it only deepened my affection for the show. How far would the producers go to keep amping up the tension? Cougars and Matt Dillon's crazy brother? No problem! I loved it. However, my friend Maher refused to watch the show, because Jack finds himself fighting crazed Islamic terrorists about 50% of the time. Maher is Lebanese and although Jack never fights anybody from Beirut, I can understand his frustration. It'd be an understatement to say that Arab-Americans have an image problem here in the states and abroad. The question is whether shows like '24' and others that depict Islamisist terrorists perpetuate negative stereotypes that further deteriorate the already battered image of Arab-Americans, especially Muslims.
Yes, Americans are not the most sophisticated people when it comes to being informed about world politics. That much I concede. But do shows like '24' really inflame the situation worse? You could write a dissertation on the subject. I'm not. I'll just say that I think the show is fairly ingenious and that it presents scenarios that do lie in the recesses of the American mind. Is it so crazy to imagine a suicide-bomber detonating himself in a crowded metropolitan area? After the London bomb attacks, I think decidedly not. Is this scare-mongering? I don't think that's the producers' intent. The show for me is about how would we be forced to deal with any of the myriad nightmare scenarios that it presents. Jack Bauer is undoubtedly a neo-con wetdream, but I think the viewer is supposed to be uncomfortable with some of the choices that he makes. Then I start asking myself questions about how far should/could the U.S. go to protect itself from a very real threat.
More later. Tired now. And pissed that CNN ruined the end of season six's 4th episode. Bastards...
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