That says it ALL!

The ticking time bomb makes no sense. Throw out the racist undertones that the White Male can withstand years of soul numbing torture - when the Brown Swarthy Evildoers.

What I've never understood is - why wouldn't people assume the tortured would lie? I'm sorry, but if I'm being tortured, I'd be lying my ass off. Oh, sorry - you went on a wild goose chase and wasted time? I feel bad.

And all evidence points to no "ticking time bomb" scenario - not when people were tortured for months on end. But for the life of me I can't see how any vaguely reasonable person could say "gee - this is *totally* getting results!"

Hilarious!

Score, M. Tomorrow...:)

Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!

Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!Excellent!

Best TMW Ever, dude.

It is perfection. Thank you.

...where Jack Bauer head-butts the bad guy.

The best Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made about terrorism.

Seriously, who could take such a show seriously? Doesn't the utter ridiculousness of the events every season clue people in to the fact that NONE of it is believable?

I love the show, myself, because it's endlessly entertaining. Jack always comes back for more, like Rambo, like Daffy Duck. Completely unrealistic character, scenarios, overall show. But FUN, yes.

I just find it weird that there are people who don't get the idea of "it's just a show". Do they, like the Thermians, feel sorry for the poor people stranded on Gilligan's Island, as well?

But, unlike your example, it serves a propaganda purpose. Why don't you get that? It's effective--apart from its poisonous effect on political discourse, the people who teach human rights classes at West Point say that their students always bring it up. When I see Jack Bauer, I don't see Daffy Duck--I see Abu Grahib.

Yes, there are people who take it seriously to the detriment of others. NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. Why should that interfere with my enjoyment of the show itself? I haven't tortured anyone, nor am I ever likely to. I certainly wouldn't sign any petitions to keep the show on the air, either, and if the Obama administration drafted a letter to the shows' producers asking them very politely to KNOCK IT OFF, I'd have no objections at all.

It's unrealistic, irresponsible, and more than a little poopy-headed. So were Starship Troopers (encourages xenophobia), Scream (encourages paranoia), Sister Act (encourages Catholicism - kidding!), and Independence Day (encourages general asshattery). But they were fun, too.

Bottom line - the fact that some people are so utterly, abysmally ignorant as to take 24 seriously in no way dampens my enjoyment of it as a fictional story. When the show goes bye-bye (which it will, very soon - it can't survive without Jack), I won't cry, either. And I'll hope there won't be another show that could encourage the coprocephalics to behave like that.

But Jack is still a gas.

Don't you know Gilligan's Island WAS real? Why, it was the precursor for all these dopey reality shows that are on network tv. Poor Marianne is 78 now and ill from the all-coconut & fish diet she's been on. Those shapely legs ain't what they used to be bucko.

24 - Next Season: Bauer returns as a brain dead zombie who no longer has to deal with morality issues. Much like producer Joel Surnow. Watch out terra-ists!

From all the laughing. Can't. Catch. Breath.

Wait...WHAT?

Are you kidding? You mean, all these years I thought I was watching a goofy sitcom and I was actually watching a freking DOCUMENTARY??? So it really IS possible to build a phonograph out of coconuts? DAMN.

Next thing you'll be telling me is lawyers really do pack it in to mow hay in the sticks, and all the water towers in Tennessee are filled with semi-naked girls. What the hell kind of world am I living in, anyway? Is this the Twilight Zone??

*whimper*

Just freaking perfect. Your comics are so very good. But this is the most coherent statement about just how stupid our torture program was, ever ever ever. Thank you.

I started watching 24 in its 2nd season. I stopped watching 24 in its 3rd season. The novelty wore off very quickly.

Let's say that the ticking bomb scenario is as realistic as the villain that reveals his masterplan to conquer the world to the superhero before putting it at work.

But the most important thing about this comic is that shows that torture is a method of gathering information as useful as an I Ching lecture.

Not only a terrorist would lie under torture, an inocent person (and here in Argentina we know about inocents being tortured) would lie too, tell whatever the torturer wants to hear in order to stop the suffering.

But, as Zappa said, the torture never stops.

Thanks, TT, for laying it out as it really is.

I watched that show 24 for one early episode. That was enough for me. I actually did check out a new episode several seasons in but it was exactly the same, so I tuned out. I like Kiefer well enough, but not enough to watch that show.

And yes, I imagine every torture victim supplies whatever "information" the tormentor wants to hear. I'm sure I would. Making the torment stop would be the overriding concern.

But none of that is the real issue. The real issue is: Are we above that or not? Are we better than that or not? If we claim we take the high road then we damn well really better take the high road or we are nothing but a pathetic mockingstock.

Some fates are worse than death. Death before dishonor.

Torture demeans everyone. It has no redeeming qualities.

You could write another dialog for this strip along these lines:

"Tell me where the ticking time bomb is!"

"Curse you!" Trickle, trickle, glug glug glug, "ARRRRGH! I'll admit it! It's in the basement of the Diddlefratz corporate headquarters in Siwash."

"Quick, get a SWAT team to Siwash with body armor and bomb-containment equipment!"

Next episode:

"You scum, there is no Diddlefratz corporate headquarters in Siwash. Tell me the truth this time."

"Gurgle, gurgle, gasp, pant -- OKAY, I'll tell you! It's in our safe-house at 333 Cumquat Street in Podunk! That's the truth, I swear!"

Next episode:

"You SOB, we went to that address and it was booby-trapped! We lost a couple of good men, but your accomplices were long gone. Tell me where that ^&*()&&^ bomb is, will you?"

"Gurgle, gurgle, glug -- Okay, I'll admit it, it's . . .

KABOOOOOOOM!

gone off. See ya on the other side, sucka."