Face It, We Loved Watching Torture

[undeterred]

TV, movies and video games made heroes of torturers

Our pop-culture heroes have tortured a lot of folks in the last decade. After 9/11, America’s leaders told us the war on terror would be different. A war that wouldn’t just take place on the battlefield, but in the back alleys, markets and bars of foreign lands. A war that required us to check some of our morals and ethics at the door. The heroes of TV, movies and video games stepped up. They got dirty. Jack Bauer did what he had to do. Rick Grimes held prisoners without trial. Batman tortured Joker. They got results. It was all a fantasy. One inspired by the CIA and popularized by Hollywood. Thanks to the Dec. 9 release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Agency’s torture program, we now know how wrong the fantasy was.

The 1998 film The Siege depicts the aftermath of Islamist terror attacks on New York City. Bruce Willis’ Maj. Gen. William Devereaux seals off Brooklyn and institutes martial law in his bid to capture the terrorists. His troops round up Americans of Middle East descent up and force them into internment camps. Soldiers march through the city. When confronted with an uncooperative prisoner, Deveraux decides he’ll torture him to make the him talk. Denzel Washington’s FBI agent Hubbard passionately argues against torture. “What if what they really want is for us to herd children into stadiums like we’re doing … put soldiers on the street … bend the law? Shred the constitution just a little bit?” he says. The movie is a nightmare scenario. One that now seems prescient. A few years later the media landscape changed to reflect the new reality—Americans were ready to accept torture as long as it kept them safe. Or seemed like it kept them safe.

Zero Dark Thirty is the ultimate reflection of that thinking—a late, desperate attempt at legitimizing torture. The 2012 film opens with torture. CIA agent Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, watches as Jason Clarke’s Agent Dan works over a captured Al Qaeda operative. Dan forces the prisoner to stand for hours. He strips him naked, places a collar on his neck and walks him like a dog. Maya watches hours of interrogations on tiny monitors. Prisoner after prisoner coughs up useful information after the spooks waterboard them. One of the driving messages of the film is that torture works. It saves lives. Halfway through the movie, the politics change and the CIA loses its authority to torture. This doesn’t sit well with the heroes. “We lost the ability the ability to put him to bed when we lost the detainee program,” an operative complains. He’s trying to convince representatives of Pres. Barack Obama’s administration that Osama Bin Laden is hiding in a compound in Pakistan. The movie implies that craven politicians and a weak-willed American public stood in the way of finding Bin Laden. According to film, losing torture set the Agency back half a decade. The impression of torture being key to capturing Bin Laden was so strong that Michael Morell—then acting director of the CIA—denounced the idea.

Zero Dark Thirty took in almost $100 million at the box office, earned five Oscar nominations and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93 percent. It was a blockbuster. The story American audiences wanted to believe. We wanted to think torture was useful. Righteous, even. We wanted to believe the CIA needed torture. The Senate report reveals Zero Dark Thirty for what it really is—an unpleasant lie American told itself in the waning days of the war on terror, years after other media had begun dispelling the torture myth.

More on torture at: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/face-it-we-loved-watching-torture-560f91044bc8

[ladjf]

1. The term "we" doesn't include millions of Americans.

A better phrase would have been "Many" enjoyed watching torture.

[stone space]

2. ^^^^^ this ^^^^^

[PoliticAverse]

3. 'who often cited the TV show “24” as an example of why torture is sometimes necessary.'

(referring to former President Bill Clinton), see: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/where-hillary-clinton-torture

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

4. Many Americans have an incredibly immature and childish view of the world, torture, bad guys

vs good guys etc.

How the USA is seen around the world would SHOCK the average dipshit teapartier, for instance.

[Vox Moi]

5. You bet we love to watch it …

As long as we believe that it can't happen to us.
------
Trouble is, it can.

[7wo7rees]

6. No. We did not.

Never watched one episode of 24. Homeland blowz. Torture and most of war movies suck wind and any weekly series you can pull up.

De humanizing.

[TexasProgresive]

7. I did and do not watch shows news or "entertainment"

that depict and glorify torture.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. I guess the author loves it, I sure as fuck don't. And Zero Dark Thirty was the 32nd most popular

film of that year in the US. Avengers made 623 million, Dark Knight 448, Hunger Games 405 million....all the way down the list to #32, which actually made 95.7 million. Argo made 136 million. Zero Dark was not even close to a 'blockbuster'. It was a moderate commercial success. Author is selling something very hard.

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?at=0&sort=boxoffice_gross_us&title_type=feature&year=2012,2012

[GeorgeGist]

9. The author is a buffoon.

[Nitram]

10. No we didn't love watching torture.

If you did, you should seek help.

[undeterred]

11. The name of the article is "Face It, We Loved Watching Torture"

This is a post of an article, and the headline is not an expression of my opinion. I am not accusing anyone at DU of loving to watch torture.

I am sure that nobody at DU watched Zero Dark Thirty or any of the entertainment mentioned in the article. Or if they watched it, it was only by accident; they certainly did not enjoy it.

The author points out that Zero Dark Thirty took in $100 million at the box office. The show '24' lasted for years.

So, a bunch folks loved watching torture.

The name of the essay should have been: "Face It, a Bunch of Folks Loved Watching Torture".