Jack Bauer syndrome

[Briar]

Good article (though I don't appreciate Freedland lumping me with in with people who approve of the glorification of brutality, torture and murder. I don't watch such sickening shows.)

Jack Bauer syndrome

Blair's programme for fighting terror seems inspired by the TV thriller 24; but real life needs a bit more reflection

Jonathan Freedland


Think of it as the dilemma of 24. In the TV thriller, hero Jack Bauer has 24 hours to avert a catastrophe - say, to prevent terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb over Los Angeles. Over the course of 24 hour-long episodes we urge Bauer, from the edge of our seats, to do whatever it takes to stop the killers. As we watch, our nerves taut, there is no ethical corner we don't want Bauer to cut, if that's what he has to do to prevent murder and mayhem. In one series, our man cuts off the head of a villain with a hacksaw - and we're glad he's done it.

That's fiction, but it seems a version of Jack Bauer syndrome operates in real life too. Almost three-quarters of us are happy to give up civil liberties in order to make us safer from terrorist attack, according to Monday's Guardian/ICM poll. Having seen the all-too-real threat of the July bombings, 73% are ready to pay the price, ready to let our protectors do whatever has to be done.
That will bring cheer to Tony Blair, whose parting words before he left for his Barbados holiday were a declaration that "the rules of the game are changing", accompanied by an aggressive 12-step programme for combating terror. Since then the government has been consulting on some of those steps and later this week, perhaps tomorrow, Charles Clarke will announce what action he plans. If our poll is right, and Jack Bauer syndrome really does apply, he will face little public resistance.

But perhaps he should. For the trouble with a 24 approach to policy-making is that it relies too heavily on the gut - and too little on the head...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1554998,00.html