You Are What You Watch (?)

I'm not really one of those people who believe that children somehow ingest whatever they see on TV and have it dictate how they live their lives. Research does demonstrate that media influences children's behavior, but it tends to do so to a minor degree. In other words, if a child watches a violent cartoon, he or she might act more aggressively, but is unlikely to emulate the behavior directly - children can tell the difference between fantasy and reality and act accordingly.

What's interesting is that this is apparently not the case with adults. We, seemingly, cannot tell the difference between TV shows and our real life. Frighteningly, the places where we can't tell the difference seem to be right at the point where reality and fantasy shouldn't collide. A place where guns, torture, and phobias meet. 

Three examples of this scariness: "24", Zero Dark Thirty, and Homeland

I'll begin with the show 24 because it's the most egregious of the three, and because it kind of sets up what I mean about the other two. I'm not going to go into a full scale explanation of the show, because pretty much everyone knows what it's about, but suffice to say the "anything it takes" philosophy dominates the main character, Jack Bauer's, personality - up to and including the torture of potential terrorists.

So let's start with the practical reasons why this is bad.

First, torture like that shown in 24 doesn't work. Folks like John McCain are living proof that you can be tortured and never give up an ounce of valuable information. Even if you give up information, you could lie to get the torture to stop or because you don't like the people who are torturing you. You could also give up information and have it be of no use whatsoever. You could accidentally (or not so accidentally) die.

But who cares, right? It's just a TV show. 

Except no. The head of the United States Military Academy had to go speak to the producers of 24 to say "cut this shit out because you're screwing up my recruits." Ok, that's not really a quote - but it does capture the gist of what he was getting at. U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, had to go to Hollywood to explain why the show was having a negative effect by telling people (and specifically soldiers) that it's OK to sacrifice American law if it means saving Americans. Let me repeat that for you slowly. 

He. Had. To. Go. And. Explain. It.

That's what's really scary to me. People don't "get" why this is a bad thing - especially those making the films and televisions shows. And if you think that it got solved after 24, think again. Just last week the Director of the CIA came out against the movie Zero Dark Thirty because of it's portrayal of "enhanced" interrogation techniques as the definitive mechanism by which they were able to find the intelligence which they used to track and kill Osama bin Laden - which, incidentally, is not the case. But that wont stop adults from either refusing to acknowledge this idea, or recognizing the fact that the movie took significant artistic license. And that, to me, is really scary.

The new show homeland is similarly framed (in some ways) but has an issue that is slightly different than problematic violence. Instead of demonstrating that breaking laws and using ineffective torture techniques is acceptable, the show uses stereotypes of Islam to imply that Muslims are a problem. And, at least in the most recent season, it tends to treat all different types of Muslims as potential threats. Of course, I don't think that the producers of the show are out to smear Islam or Muslims, at least I sincerely hope not, but this type of presentation, given the facts presented regarding the impact of both 24 and Zero Dark Thirty, is concerning.

I'm not sure what, if anything, we can or should do about this. Obviously many people found 24 entertaining, and I have many good friends who have recommended Homeland. I think that it's this, more than anything else, that's disturbing. There is no conversation - at least a truly public conversation - about what message these shows present and how we, as a society, can address the negative aspects. I'm certainly not suggesting censorship or even that the shows change their method or message, but I do think that they need to engage the conversation as much as the rest of us. After all, I don't believe that those who make shows that wish to dramatize the protection of our people want to jeopardize other aspects of the American lifestyle.