Having It Three Ways
Stephen “Teen Spirit” Sprueill, of the National Review’s Media Blog, imagines that he’s discovered a devastating new rebuttal to reasoned critiques of popular culture:
Keith Olbermann: “24” is a Right-Wing Plot
Keith Olbermann has turned his warped critical lens on the Fox show “24”:
It’s a familiar tactic for grabbing and holding the public’s attention, beloved by both the Bush administration and, just as another example, Fox News Channel. Step 1: Fear, and if step 1 does not work, Step 2: More fear. In our fourth story on the Countdown, it is also evidently how the producers of the Fox series “24” plan to keep viewers during the show’s sixth year, as evidenced by the first 30 seconds of the season premiere:
[Video of Islamic militants blowing up various trains and buses on the show “24”]
If that wasn’t enough to scare or outrage you, the rest of the four-hour, two-night show featured a mall attack, a would-be suicide bomber on the subway and a successful suicide bombing on a passenger bus — not in places where these things have already happened, but in a country called the United States of America.
Technically, he’s right. We’ve only had suicide hijackers ramming airplanes full of passengers into office buildings. But I think where Keith’s analysis takes a wrong turn is where he forgets the part that IT’S A FREAKING TV SHOW!
We think where Stephen’s analysis goes wrong is where he uses the feeble old critic-silencing argument, ‘Hehe suxxor, maybe it’s only a TV show,’ forgetting the part that Keith Olbermann’s Countdown is a freaking TV show. But the recursive meta-spiral only starts there.
The ‘controversy’ of note, courtesy Newsbusters, was that Olbermann had said: “Right-wing websites leav[e] no doubt as to what they think viewers should take away from this fictional account, case in point Newsbusters.org.” This is from the Newsbusters post that Olbermann mentioned, and which led to Stephen’s rebuttal:
’24’ Goes Nuclear
Posted by Noel Sheppard on January 16, 2007[…]
Upon reflection, I wonder how many people in the media understand how possible what was depicted last evening is. As folks on the nation’s airwaves continue to downplay the seriousness of terrorism, and undermine virtually all of the current Administration’s efforts to thwart conscienceless aggression against Western civilization, have they really pondered the unthinkable? Or, have they all grown complacent as we move continually further and further away from that fateful day in September 2001?
(Update: Keith Olbermann doesn’t like “24”, or NewsBusters’ opinion of the program.)
Regardless, this video should be required viewing for all media members who question what’s at risk, and whether there really is a war on terror.
Those who haven’t seen it yet should first be cautioned about it being a “spoiler,� and then be warned about the seriousness of its content. This is not for the faint of heart.
So basically, it’s not just a TV show; it’s an important learning opportunity for America — which has grown complacent and forgotten its fear.
And here’s Newsbusters’ response to Olbermann:
Olbermann Cites NewsBusters’ Coverage of ’24’
Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 16, 2007Keith Olbermann is scared. Not by the threat of terrorism in the United States. But at the notion that “24” might be raising Americans’ awareness of the threat. And he has singled out NewsBusters for the role it has played in highlighting the issue.
Spruiell sums up:
Most Americans also know the difference between reality and a TV show. Maybe Keith Olbermann needs a refresher course.
Above: This is your brain on Spruiell
Yeah, it would be one thing if K-Lo and Newsbusters and others weren’t constantly hailing 24 as the most important docudrama EVAR!!! But they are, so little Stevie comes across looking a tad ridiculous
Technically, he’s right. We’ve only had suicide hijackers ramming airplanes full of passengers into office buildings.
Well, he forgot about the truck full of fertilizer and the pipe bombs in Atlanta, too – so I figure in about 4 years, Lil’ Stevie will be all ‘Osama HUH?’ and ‘9/11 WHA?’.
Who knew that giant nukular fireballs were, like, all bad and stuff? Certainly not the MSM! God bless 24 for setting the record straight.
Heh.
But only Keith Olbermann thinks it’s more than just a TV show, huh? Priceless.
I thought it was awfully unrealistic how they happened to have an Arabic speaker on hand, though. Didn’t we fire all of those hellbound sodomites?
.
I read that, and it took me about three seconds to process it, during which time I slowly gagged with increasing frequency.
I read that, and it took me about three seconds to process it, during which time I slowly gagged with increasing frequency.
I wonder if she gave that “wtf?” look that she always has on the show.
Well, I think that makes it pretty clear that she wasn’t armed.
Moderator Rush Limbaugh planted a full-on mouth kiss on actress Mary Lynn Rajskub (a.k.a. tech geek Chloe)
I’m sure she just loved that. Mary Lynn used to date David Cross, who is kind of like the anti-Limbaugh.
What a twisted story – we’re told we have to watch a clip from 24 to see what a threat we face. Then when someone points out how 24 is used to communicate such a threat, the people who told us to watch 24 for an education about the threat, tell us 24 is just a TV show. They have not only eaten Bush’s pudding, they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, too. They must be zombies to continue.
I’ve never watched the show, so I don’t know much about this Chloe person, but I did see the actress on a late-night talk show recently. She made a comment about how she got dragged to this convention thing (the Heritage forum, one assumes) and everyone started asking her all these political questions. Her reaction was something like “uh, I have no idea, it’s just a TV show!” I didn’t get the sense that she was a very political person at all, although if a full-mouth kiss from Rush doesn’t warn you to be vigilant against conservatism, nothing will.
Dude, Spruiell’s having a three way?!!1 A real one? Noi-i-ce!!
At the Corner “having a three way” means going out
with K-Lo.
Rock on, brah!!
Inchoate is a good word.
Yes, I like it.
It can mean “vague, amorphous, without clear definition.”
Or it can mean other things, if used in a self-referential context.
Sort of like me.
Inchoate.
I like me.
Anyone else notice that Noel Sheppard is one of them edumacated conservatives? The grammer, while well above normal Sadly, No! prey, is still awkward and disjointed. And there are a few words in there that I don’t think have ever existed before.
But I think where Keith’s analysis takes a wrong turn is where he forgets the part that IT’S A FREAKING TV SHOW!
Doesn’t this kind of invalidate the whole business of “the liberal media is indoctrinating our children to marry gay people and convert to Islam as they have abortion parties”? I mean, either television is influential or it isn’t.
Oh-Damn, I forgot. Cognitive dissonance is the one true “value” of the wingnut crowd.
uggh wha… ummm… where to begin…
I hate shell games like this. “24 is teh most importnat show evah!11!! Jack shows us that we can torture people to stop the attacks!” then when we call them to the mat: “24 is just a TV show you silly little lefties!”
I’d love to see one of those shows where the good guy go ahead & torture the guy, get bad info & the bomb still goes off. Then have us follow the good guy as he realizes the error of his ways, etc. etc.
So I read this, and now I’m having one of those things where I don’t know if the blinding pain is caused by wingut logic or a brain tumor.
I’m sure there’ll be an inevitable flipflop around episode 7 (rough guess) where it turns out that the evil Muslim is being manipulated by Graham or whatever his name is, and the wingnutsters will suddenly start baying that it’s unrealistic and anti-American and they spoiled a nice genocide and torture show with conspiracies and plots.
I do wonder about Olbermann though lately. There’s a big difference between being the anti-O’Reilly and a blustering, liberal version of O’Reilly which is where he sometimes seems to be heading.
ortho_bob, I seriously doubt anything like that will happen. I mean, the whole plot of last season was that the (Republican) president and his evil cheif of staff were behind a plot to sell dangerous weapons to Central Asian terrorists, wait for said terrorists to use said weapons, and then go “OH NOOEZZ!! TEHY HAVE TEH B0MB!” and invade. The wignuts certainly didn’t pick up on that.
But I do have to agree with Spruelli on one point: it is just a TV show, albiet a fun and silly one. We should pay no more attention to it when guiding our foreign policy than we would Superman Returns or Casino Royale.
I agree with ortho_bob. I really like Olbermann, but he’s starting to get near that fine line between true outrage and bluster.
However, that is not to give the WingTards any creds for their insipid primate screaching on…well, shit, anything.
K Lo’s comment really was precious, though:
Nutter.
To everyone who goes to work today protecting you, me, our families, freedom: Remember Valencia.
Too bad those oranges froze earlier this week.
My eye was caught by NR’s giant “stopmelmartinez dot com” banner.
Curious that the wingnutosphere and media aren’t all over this controversial race to be Chief Gooper, isn’t it? Where’s the endless parroting of each side’s indictments of the other candidate like they did with Dean?
This is the flipside of the pre-emptive smearing of all Democratic candidates — where Gooper internecine mudslinging gets quietly buried. I say it’s our job to make sure these important voices get heard.
Typical of wingnut net savvy, the banner is a dead link when clicking through but typing it in we learn that Mel is anti-mandatory English, supports Bush on amnesty for illegals and loves him some Harriet Meiers. In other words, clearly too much of a Bush-toadying team player for the job. (Not to mention suspiciously surnamed and brownskinned!)
Also, the Hispanic vote is a myth, and Mel barely won his re-election with 48% voting for his opponent, unlike Bush’s landslide where only 47% voted against him.
Makes me wonder who Mel’s opponent is, and what dirty laundry Mel’s smear team is digging up on him. And where are all the chattering pundits on his choice of clothing?
Somebody needs to do a show called “10 days”. Takes place about a week and a half after 24. Turns out Jack shot the wrong guy and the initial terror reports were a cover-up. Hilarity ensues.
Valencia oranges are from Florida. The freeze was in California. What is she talking about?
To everyone who goes to work today protecting you, me, our families, freedom: Remember Valencia
Maybe that’s some kinda code? Like in teh spy movies:
Fedora-wearing guy: “Those oranges look mighy swell today.”
Trenchcoat-wearing guy: “I hear the rain in Spain falls mainly on the train.”
Fedora-wearing guy: “These Valencias make my nuts itch.”
Valencia, CA got nuked on 24.
Cause if there’s one thing the terrorists hate, it’s the suburbs.
I also suspect somewhere around mid-season it will be revealed that the main Arab bad guys are being manipulated by someone else, who is also perhaps being manipulated by someone else, who may or may not have their motivations thought up, um, I mean, revealed, in the course of the show. Both the 2nd and the 5th seasons involved terrorists being supported by the government in order to provoke a war. I’m a little surprised more wingnuts don’t outwardly support this strategy.
Oh, Valencia, CA. I thought she meant Spain. Which of course would be Madrid, for terrorism, or Seville, for oranges. So she’s wrong either way.
Anyway, I can do that too. So, yo everyone who goes to work today protecting you, me, our families, freedom: Remember Osgiliath.
Man, honestly how thick do right-wingers have to be to not see that the entirety of last season was basically a serial melo-drama of the Bush Admin. (exaggerated of course) I mean good god, it could have been written by Counterpunch it was so anti-Right Wing.
NobodySpecial (did he ever get that one right!) said: “Well, he forgot about the truck full of fertilizer…”
Which of course was the handiwork of a US citizen, a veteran in fact. Which must be why the Bush Administration, in addition to an indiscriminate religious war against the world, is also waging war on US citizens and veterans. Makes perfect sense.
The only thing I know for sure about the future is that If there is ever another terrorist attack on the U.S., the right wing will be thrilled! It will prove that they learned a lot from watching the teevee!
So I read this, and now I’m having one of those things where I don’t know if the blinding pain is caused by wingut logic or a brain tumor.
Reichtard ‘thinking’ is frequently indistinguishable from a brain tumor. But as long as it still gives you a headache when you read it, the virii wingnutti have yet to overcome your logic center’s immune system, and you will recover to think sanely again. That’s why the Wingnut Wurlitzer was invented — in the hope that forcing prolonged exposure to virii wingnutti will destroy more Americans’ natural bias towards optimism and eventually lead them to the Repubs’ zombie army {g}.
Shorter Spruiell: We’re in ur tv, suxxors, eating ur braaaains!
Valencia? Hmm. Woulda thought the faux edumacated wingnuts would be all “Remember Roncevaux Pass”!!! Dirty Muslims killed their d00d Hroudland, fer cryin out loud!
mikey
i believe it was mary matalin who said that ’24”s high ratings proved americans approve of bush’s handling of the WOT. or something like that. or maybe laura ingrahm. hard to keep my idiots straight these days, what with there being so many.
To everyone who goes to work today protecting you, me, our families, freedom: Remember Valencia
I’m pretty sure that that’s what motivates crossing guards and bouncers.
VALENCIIIIAAAAAA!!!!!!
Yes, one should always remember fictional bombings to draw inspiration to resist whatever.
Me? I remember Alderaan.
Remember Wolf 359!
Agree completely with the above – see also my http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/01/olbermanns-suspension-of-rationality.html
And I’ll be talking about this in my weekly interview about the media on KNX 1070 this Sunday at 7:20am Pacific time – streaming live at http://www.knx1070.com
Everybody. Does. This.
When conservatives freak out that a show is promoting a liberal point of view, liberals claim it’s just a show, and if you don’t like it don’t watch it, and then pat themselves on the back for creating art with progressive themes to challenge and educate the public. All this teaches us is that conservatives are capable of using the exact same circular argument.
If you actually step back and look at things objectively, it’s all true.
Is it just a show? Yes.
Does it have broader implications given the resonance with current events? Yes.