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Archive for the 'Bloggers Unite for Human Rights' Category

Bloggers Unite: Torture and "24″

May

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states it simply:

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Yet, every week during the run of 24 each season (until this season, when we got pre-empted by the writer’s strike, sniff), many people who otherwise abhor torture cheer on our man Jack Bauer as he shoots a suspect’s wife in the knee, uses a lamp cord to administer electric shocks to his girlfriend’s estranged husband, chops a bad guy’s finger off with a cigar cutter and otherwise tortures assorted bad people.

Problem is, sometimes the bad guys aren’t actually bad. Take Audrey Raines’ estranged husband: he hadn’t actually done anything wrong, it just appeared that he had a connection to the bad guys. Or how about when Jack held Audrey off the floor by her neck, thinking she was a mole? Only Jack’s love for her and disbelief that she could be involved with the bad guys stopped him from really hurting her.

I’ve read many articles by rabid fans of 24 who wonder how they can enjoy it so much when they feel so strongly that torture is wrong.

But the thing is, how often does Jack actually get decent intel out of the torture? Even when his brother, Graeme, confessed to being behind the assassination of David Palmer and other nefarious crimes, he still didn’t confess the whole truth, or give up his dad as the mastermind behind it all.

Bloggers Unite: A wonderful life

May

“Life was his sentence,” defense attorney Contance Griffiths (Brooke Langton) says of exonerated client Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) on NBC’s “Life.” “And life was what he got back.”

But fans of the drama — which returns this fall in the 10 p.m. Friday time slot, where it has the potential to become the Peacock Network’s “House” — have to ask themselves, What kind of life is it?

As we commemorate Human Rights’ Day, we’re regularly confronted on the news with real-life Charlies — men, and women, who’ve serious time for serious crimes they didn’t commit and who were finally exonerated thanks to the new forensics technology. (My favorite recently was Cynthia Sommer, who was convicted of poisoning her Marine hubby, basically because she slept around and got a boob job with the insurance money after he was gone. The case is known on the Web as the Boob Job Murder. Hey, just because you act like a hussy doesn’t make you a killer.)

I don’t have to tell you that few of the exonerated get the sweetheart deal Charlie did — a $50 million settlement from the Los Angeles Police Department, where he was a uniformed officer, plus his job back with an upgrade to detective, and all that $50 million can buy — the mansion, the orange grove, the parade of cool, soon-to-be-discarded cars and cool, equally disposable girlfriends. Then there’s the also-beautiful, also-damaged partner; the sympathetic roomie; the eager stepmom-to-be; the tough but fair-minded boss; the guilt-ridden ex-partner. Sounds like a solid support system, right? This is, after all, TV.

But the truth is Charlie lost the life he knew— the lovely wife he had, the children he might’ve. Indeed, he is not the man he used to be, no man could be after being so brutalized.

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights: The Right to Work at The Office

May

When fellow RA’er Amy Vernon brought the idea to me to use our little TV Blog as a platform to help raise public awareness about human rights, my reaction was rather Grey’s Anatomy-esque.

I thought, seriously?

I mean, I’m all for human rights—I know, who isn’t?—and I knew Amy wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t a good idea.

But I write about the antics of Tracy Jordan and Dwight Schrute. When I get serious I delve into the heart of Jim and Pam’s relationship or Sarah Connor’s dilemma as a single mom raising the leader of the resistance against a futuristic army of homocidal cyborgs.

My point is, I don’t deal a lot with reality in this blog. And it doesn’t get more real than human rights. But if vigilance is the best, perhaps the only defense against rights abuses, then I figures even a humble TV blog ought to play its part. Read more of this entry »

Posted by Brian Howard on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 12:30 pm | del.icio.us Digg Reddit Google StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo!
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Bloggers Unite for Human Rights, the television edition

May

For the past few weeks, some of you may have noticed the badge in our blog’s sidebar that declares today as the day that Bloggers Unite for Human Rights.

We at Remote Access decided to join in, writing about topics that relate to some of the shows we watch and write about.

First off, at 12:30 p.m., Brian Howard uses The Office as a springboard to talk about the inherent right people have to work and earn a living to support their families.

At 3 p.m., Georgette Gouveia discusses Life and what society owes the wrongly imprisoned.

Finally, at 5 p.m., Amy Vernon addresses 24 and the issue of torture. Just because it works for Jack Bauer, does that make it right?

We’ll update this post as the day goes on to hyperlink to each of the aforementioned posts.

Please feel free to join in the discussion throughout the day.

Posted by Amy Vernon on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 7:00 am | del.icio.us Digg Reddit Google StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo!
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