A sobering thought
for some reason, i tend to watch tv when i'm here in argentina... yeah, they're u.s. shows on cable and i confess to having gotten attached to a few, namely scrubs, house, heroes, and crossing jordan... most of them air some months following their initial showing in the u.s., but since i don't watch tv in the u.s., that really doesn't matter to me...
getting to the point, last night i was watching an episode of crossing jordan... one of the characters, bug, a doctor from india who had become a u.s. citizen, was abducted from a parking garage by homeland security and detained under suspicion of aiding and abetting al qaeda... the scenes of his interrogation were very faithful to what has appeared in numerous articles and reports about how detainees are treated - the total absence of due process; the threat of torture, extraordinary rendition, and secret detention; the refusal to respond to any outside inquiries; and the denial of fundamental constitutional rights... when, at the very end, the usual television plot device of deus ex machina saw him released (they detained the wrong man) and reunited with his friends and colleagues, i experienced a sharp rush of relief and realized just how much emotion watching the story play out had generated in me... then it hit me... as most of us have, i've watched tv shows and movies that reflect some of those same things, but none quite as accurately as this one did... but the most stunning (and completely obvious) thought was, OMG, THIS IS MY COUNTRY...
i return to the u.s. on friday...
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getting to the point, last night i was watching an episode of crossing jordan... one of the characters, bug, a doctor from india who had become a u.s. citizen, was abducted from a parking garage by homeland security and detained under suspicion of aiding and abetting al qaeda... the scenes of his interrogation were very faithful to what has appeared in numerous articles and reports about how detainees are treated - the total absence of due process; the threat of torture, extraordinary rendition, and secret detention; the refusal to respond to any outside inquiries; and the denial of fundamental constitutional rights... when, at the very end, the usual television plot device of deus ex machina saw him released (they detained the wrong man) and reunited with his friends and colleagues, i experienced a sharp rush of relief and realized just how much emotion watching the story play out had generated in me... then it hit me... as most of us have, i've watched tv shows and movies that reflect some of those same things, but none quite as accurately as this one did... but the most stunning (and completely obvious) thought was, OMG, THIS IS MY COUNTRY...
i return to the u.s. on friday...
Labels: detainee rights, domestic terrorism, Homeland Security, secret detention
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posted by profmarcus at
9/19/2007
