i'm boycotting 24

So when i moved to my present crib in East Nashville (372-0H-SIX!), i discovered it was a house custom to have weekly gatherings for dinner and the latest 24 episode. i never was a real fan of the show- i hardly watch any TV and 24's plot continuity problems (flights from the east to west coast in 90 minutes) and poor acting (no need to even cite examples) wasn't doing it for me. But the ritual - the social aspect - was worth it, so for the past two seasons i obliged.

Not anymore. i'm staging an all-out boycott of 24 on the basis of it's role in desensitization. Not desensitization to violence, nor vulgarity, not even promiscuity- desensitization to the idea of a police state violating our rights. i might stomach it if 24 were a sci-fi set in another time and place, but 24 is meant to represent our beloved nation in the very near future. God help us all if it is.

The "war on terror" paradigm permits the writers to present a slew of previously intolerable scenarios: warrantless searches, illegal surveillance of American citizens, detainment of people without charges, government-sanctioned kidnapping, even torture- of internationals, citizens - shoot - even family members. Suddenly we can trample over everything that ensures a free society; habeas corpus, our Bill of Rights, human rights, the Geneva Convention, even the rule of law, if it's too inconvenient for 24's heroes to tolerate. This, i suppose, is what the end of the Republic looks like.

One day i suddenly snapped out of my daze and realized what i was going along with. When i thought about it some more, if realized that our current government is not so far from it's fictional counterpart. And 24 is not any help in the general awareness, appreciation, and defense of the rights and freedoms we've inherited- quite the opposite, really. i, for one, won't stomach it any longer.