Note To "24" -- Torture Not That Effective

Here's an interesting story about human rights groups and people from West Point meeting with producers behind "24" to talk about the show's use of torture. Surely the people at "24" knew that torture isn't the easy solution it's presented as: people will die or just give you bad info when they're tortured. And yes the show depicts Jack Bauer as being haunted by what he does, but he does it and so often it seems to work. (Not that his brother cracked.) But here's some fun info:

From 1996 to 2001, there were 102 scenes of torture, according to the Parents Television Council. But from 2002 to 2005, that figured had jumped to 624, they said. "24" has accounted for 67 such scenes during its first five seasons, making it No. 1 in torture depictions, according to the watchdog group.

Not only is there a lot more torture, but nowadays it's often the HERO doing the torture as opposed to a drug dealer or the Nazis. I wil say this: "24" is becoming a cartoon in part because the torture happens so frequently. Scenes of Jack going into torture mode just make me giggle now.