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April 22, 2003
24 - The Destruction of Trust
Again the Fox series '24' reveals something desparate about our culture. Aside from the fact that the protagonist has been pulled back from the brink of brain death and lung collapse at 3:30 in the morning, there may yet be something eerily accurate about this show.
I'd like to get to know a bit more about Islam during my time on the planet. I find it a likeable religion, primarily because of its robustness. My Episcopaleanism could not survive in Pakistani caves. My Buddha could, but not my Book of Common Prayer. I need incense. What I am hoping to find in Islam is something which is completely lost in America if 24 is to be believed. That is trust. It's not for me, mind you, but I'm having some difficulty understanding exactly what it is besides oil the suicidally militant radicals of the Middle East actually believe they have to offer our 'corrupt' culture. It can't be material.
The manipulations of trust in this series are so byzantine that they have to be the central theme. The show has taken each of its characters beyond their breaking points into the zone where only adrenaline and animal cunning keep them alive. The entire 24 hour period is a binge to be reflected upon with disbelief like the memory of a personal best marathon by an aged portly cripple. How did I possibly get through that, and what was I thinking has to be the sentiment. 24 slows that period down to realtime.
But the level of deception and anticipation of betrayal is mind-boggling. When a phone call is not returned in 30 minutes it smells like a palace coup. When a wife 'only wants to help' the paranoid hackles are raised. In 24's world, the explosion of a nuclear device is only a pretext for stretching the limits of confidence of every human being to the breaking point. The world hangs in the balance between jealous co-workers, sinister traitors, thuggish patriots, religious zealots, mercenary spies, secret lovers, neurotic armed robbers, two-faced family members, slippery survivalists, crusty bosses and various and sundry unscrupulous conspirators. Nobody is credulous. Everyone watches their backs in anticipation of the worst.
The world of 24 lacks lasting principles. There is no time for reflection. Everything must happen now and everything is life or death. There isn't a single character in the show who can even be bothered with what happens tomorrow or next week. The formula won't allow it. So every decision requires trust, but is there any to be had? The answer is no. Nothing is certain, not the news nor the messengers. This is a perfect metaphor for a culture of amnesia. People have no reason to develop character and no chance to rest and reflect. There are no lessons of the past that will get you through. Crisis is the constant companion. The only thing old is old suspicion. The only value in human nature is the hunch, the instinct for survival.
I would hate to live in 24's world. I'd crawl under a rock and hibernate until all the paranoids kill each other off. I'd get off the grid and be incgonegro at all times. I'd go native. To be connected to the need to know basis is to inherit superhero's disease of eternal peril, secret identity and super villain emnity. There would be nothing to celebrate except survival, and that only means you live to be tortured another day.
There would be nothing to celebrate except survival.
There would be nothing to celebrate except survival.
Here is the moment at which I self-referentially seque back to suicidally militant Islamic extremism. OK you get the point. We Americans are equally prepared for seige mentality, and the popularity of this show is the proof.
What we do not have are ways and means of trust which are embedded into the fabric of everyday life. Instead we have electronic proxies of regimes of trust authenticated by the fleeting transactions of our thin cultural intercourse. If all we can do is trust in God, or trust in Empire or some other (well) capitalized entity we lose our ability to operate independently to secure the commons because we don't trust each other outside some chain of command. 24 proves that all chains of command are vulnerable to perversion either by commission or omission. So long as this is a dangerous world that can push us into the adrenaline zone, the culture of amnesia and constant necessary action is inevitable.
The answer is to slow down and reflect. Take time to empathize. Grow trust in your networked neighborhood. Press flesh. Demand bourgie brotherhood and write to your brother, before dire circumstances overtake us.
Posted by mbowen at April 22, 2003 11:24 PM
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