This is all such good stuff. I think it partly related to the convention of having anything the Good Guys do be Good, no matter how vile or inexcusable it is (I don't watch 24, but someone recently blogged about quitting the show when Jack began routinely torturing people--!!!!!) It's not just lazy/pompous writing, it is morally corrupt writing. Surely we owe readers better than that.
Yeah, I mean, the good guys messing with people's rights, freedoms, even their minds and stuff? A-OK! The bad guys doing it? BAD.
It extends beyond fiction, of course. Imprisoning a Canadian citizen for an indefinite length of time because you SUSPECT he or she could be involved in terrorism? Good on ya!
Imprisoning a citizen for an indefinite length of time because you suspect he or she may have links to the American government? HOW DARE YOU?
So, with these examples, I'm not really surprised it showed up in fiction. Saddened, because I have much more faith in humanity than that, but not surprised.
By the time "our" side got to invading other countries on trumped-up excuses I should have expected anything, but I was still surprised and horrified when I read about Iraqi citizens "disappearing"--into prisons run by the US. Mind you, by then we all knew about Guantanemo Bay, so my surprise was pure self-indulgence.
*sighs* I can't really be all that shocked by the crap we pull on the world, anymore, not when I look at the history of our country, or even of my family. It's all a cycle of abuse and oppression. I just hope enough of us snap out of it in time.
I have nothing meaningful to add. However, you may imagine me reading along and nodding frantically because yes, you have hit the proverbial nail upon its proverbial head.
Comments 6
well said, all of it.
Reply
It extends beyond fiction, of course. Imprisoning a Canadian citizen for an indefinite length of time because you SUSPECT he or she could be involved in terrorism? Good on ya!
Imprisoning a citizen for an indefinite length of time because you suspect he or she may have links to the American government? HOW DARE YOU?
So, with these examples, I'm not really surprised it showed up in fiction. Saddened, because I have much more faith in humanity than that, but not surprised.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment