The disgusting normalization of torture in American entertainment

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I've noticed that many recent TV shows and movies, produced by the "progressive" entertainment industry, treat the torture of criminal suspects, and even those who merely have information about criminal suspects, as a completely normal and routine matter. And the people doing the torturing are portrayed as the good guys. I've seen this on Prison Break, on The Blacklist, and on Hawaii Five-O. (Note: all of these shows completely toe the progressive line on race and "sexual identity" issues.)

I watched the original Hawaii Five-O as a kid, and none of the good guys ever tortured anybody. So what is up with these good "progressive" screenwriters' and directors' enthusiastic embrace of torture?

Well, my guess is they are starting to think the time for the progressive revolution is just about here: their brownshirts, Antifa, are violently intimidating all non-progressives, and progressives are enthusiastically embracing the storyline that Trump is an illegitimate president... which, of course, would justify a coup, right? After the coup, there will no doubt be a whole lot of torture going on, and they just letting us know that it is the good guys who will be doing it.

Comments

  1. Thomas L. Knapp7:31 AM

    The more likely explanation is that torture got normalized in entertainment more than a decade ago in e.g. 24 (which increasingly took its cue from the public debate over "enhanced interrogation" post-9/11) and is now part and parcel of the good cop/bad cop trope.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah8:02 AM

      Yes, but that leaves unexplained why all of these progressive creators are happy to keep using it.

      Delete
    2. Thomas L. Knapp8:53 AM

      Producing television shows is largely a process of looking at what's worked (for meanings of "work" that involve "gained and held a large audience and facilitated the sale of advertising") and copying it with some changes at the edge (that hit show featured a hard-nosed investigator, a hunk, a nerdy but sexy gal -- hey, let's do that but set it in the Navy!).

      Torture "worked" and so now that's what they do. It has nothing to do with being "progressive" except to the extent that entertainment creators want to be just edgy enough that the audience thinks that it is being asked to think, because that's flattering.

      Delete
    3. Lord9:49 AM

      Perhaps because it was embraced politically since then with no consequences becoming the new norm.

      Delete
  2. Ken B1:04 PM

    It extends beyond torture. The "good guy" in most cop shows is always breaking down a door, conducting a warrantless search, lying to get a warrant, and so on in order to get the "scumbag". If you have a manichean mindset this all comes naturally. It's part and parcel of the "punch a nazi" fad on the left.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown8:32 AM

    Stu comments often on one particular director/ producers penchant for torturing children. He waits for it when watching movies.

    ReplyDelete

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