Everything is politics

It's almost June and the 2008 Presidential Race is, I dare say, heating up. All around we hear about politics. The political left, the political right, the candidates that will lead their sides of the spectrum -- a full year and a half. Even for me, a political geek (or wonk if you prefer), has almost had enough.

Turns out though, there's no escape. It turns out that Monday nights at 9:00PM offered an ideological choice. '24' vs 'Heroes'. Or, according to an article in Salon, the right leaning politics of '24' versus the left leaning politics of 'Heroes'.

Here's the gist: On '24', Jack Bauer has to save the world from Terrorists bent on destroying a US city. In the show, Jack has to bend some rules, and torture people to get the intel he needs to save the world. Geneva convention be damned, it's the hypothetical "if a terrorist has a suitcase with a bomb, would you torture him to get the information' blown out to a TV show. In fact, in the second republican debate, one of the candidates said this to wild applause when answering a '24ish' hypothetical about a terrorist with a suitcase bomb.

"I'm looking for Jack Bauer at that time, let me tell you. And there is nothing -- if you are talking about -- I mean, we are the last, best hope of Western civilization."

Contrast that with Heroes. The arc on Heroes this year was the Nuclear destruction of New York City. The difference is that we knew that the bomb was a person. We also expected Heroes to save New York from that person. Without torturing them. In the Heroes world view, interracial marriage is as normal as a hero from Japan or India. The heroes in 'Heroes' aren't black and white: you can't tell the good guys from the bad guys and Heroes can't control their own power.

Anyway, the bigger news is that Heroes kills '24' in the younger demographic ratings. Meaning, I suppose, more people lean to the Heroes world view than the 24 world view. In a country where it's legal for the President to detain and torture its citizens, it's good that more young people are leaning left.