What shapes people's worldviews

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This guy claims a lot of people working for Homeland Security (what a hideous name!) take the show 24 very seriously:
In my work I interact and assist folks from TSA, Homeland Security or other consultants supporting them. On a couple of occasions I have been in meetings with such folks and have made the mistake of making a joke about the absurdity of 24. I was met with unamused stares which communicated that I was no longer to be taken as a serious person. Something one often hears from these folks is "if you knew what I know....." -- they take 24 quite seriously.
I find that pretty frightening. From what I hear, in the world of 24, torture is often a good idea. That is not a concept I want brought into our world.

Comments

grishnash said…
Sometimes I feel like a bad lefty for liking that show, but then I remember that it's not me taking a silly bit of entertainment as a basis for national security practices.

I'd be laughed out of the room for suggesting that the solution to L.A.'s traffic problems is to give everyone Jack Bauer's car that can go from any given point in L.A. to any other point in 10-15 minutes, or that the most effective computer security consists of stringing the words "server", "firewall", "node" and "bandwidth" together in random combinations.

So why is it any different for those who suggest that the show proves Agent Bauer's interrogation techniques are the solution to terrorism?
10:32 AM, January 18, 2009
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