24 as Cautionary Tale

Out for coffee with a friend, I admitted my current obsession with the tv show 24 (Fox 2001-14) and asked if he watched it. He replied, with uncharacteristic vehemence, “No! And I’m not going to. That show made rights violations seem an okay response to terrorism. It helped normalize Guantanamo.”

            Well, yes. And no.

            Yes, it’s about a Counter Terrorism Unit agent named Jack Bauer charged with the task of keeping the US of A safe. As the seasons progress, Bauer takes on more and more attributes of a mythic hero, seemingly impervious to bullets and able to take out ordinary adversaries by the half dozen. He does break a sweat -- he does in fact bleed – but it doesn’t slow him down much. By the end of the series, his torso is a map of scars which chart his violent course, a man with an unfailing moral compass that leads to conflict not just with foes and purported allies but also with the very human rights enshrined in the US Constitution

            But, no. The riptide that counters his jingoistic support of the Office of the President is Jack Bauer’s misery. Every season, with an ever-increasing propensity for violence, he negotiates multiple internal and external threats, and each time the personal cost increases:

My wife was murdered because I was responsible for protecting [President] David Palmer during an assassination attempt. My daughter can't even look at me. Every day I regret looking into the eyes of men, women and children knowing that any moment their lives might be deemed expendable in an effort to protect the greater good. I regret every decision or mistake that I might have made which resulted in the loss of a single innocent life. (Season 7, 9:00pm-10:00pm) *

Death of, or total alienation from, family; betrayal by, or madness and death of, lovers; mistrust from allies; personal isolation, alienation, exile, imprisonment. A passionate and intelligent man, Bauer can enumerate each choice that leads to personal disaster. Dedicated to protecting national security, he cannot protect or secure the very people who matter most to him.

            It’s all very Anglo Saxon – like Beowulf,  Bauer’s great virtues as a warrior cannot help him negotiate success.  Bauer's fatal virtue is patriotism, expressed as hate for those who seek to destroy his country by violent attacks from the outside or more subtle corruptions from within. Bauer ends the speech above by asking“…do you know what I regret the most? That this world needs people like me.”

            It’s as if all the misery that Jack Bauer averted in saving hundreds of thousands of “innocent lives” rebounded upon him and then spilled over onto those he loves most. And that’s why 24 is not a model, but a cautionary tale.

*The 24 drinking game: pound a shot every time someone says a variation on the phrase “innocent lives.” Make it a double if there’s a quantity preceding it: “hundreds of innocent lives.”