I have recently watched my first episode of the show Dexter (no relation). Most of my friends know that I don’t watch TV, but I downloaded and watched an episode after repeated suggestions from various people that I was missing something wonderful . “You’ll love it”, they assured me.
They were wrong. The show is feminist snuff fantasy. The title character is a forensic investigator specializing in blood stain analysis, who also happens to be a serial killer. What makes this show a feminist erotic fantasy is that the protagonist exclusively murders other criminals – which in the show’s reality are men.
A genial, good-looking, high-status employee of the police who brutally murders “bad” men.
He’s the ultimate white knight.
Police dramas are a longtime staple food group in the network broadcast menu, and while they’re entertaining – they also send a universal message of authoritarian domination to the public. The police are the iron jawed protectors of all that is good and holy, and you, the dirty unwashed masses had better tread carefully in your speech and action.
The various CSI franchises present viewers with a distopian fantasy of the police’s technologically aided omniscience. Story lines often pivot on the near-magical abilities of technicians to “enhance” tiny scraps of evidence and extrapolate lengthy, detailed and definitive proof of the bad-guy’s guilt.
The hugely popular drama “24” reflected a rules-out-the-window approach to protecting national security, neatly securing the public’s identification with “heroic” Jack Bauer – a character willing to torture, murder, illegally spy, and cheerfully shred the constitution in protection of the security of “the state”. Meanwhile, in the real world, the Bush and Obama administrations disregarded Habeas Corpus, due process, freely discarded the 4th, 5th, 6th 8th and amendments. For anyone already anesthetized by the torrent of lies fed to them through their 75 inch flat screen – those amendments refer to the following protections.
- Amendment 4 guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Like illegal wire-tapping, and invasive search by the Transport Safety Administration - Amendment 5 protection from abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
Such as the president enacting laws through executive signing statements. - Amendment 6 guarantees your right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed. As opposed to being imprisoned – without trial, for years in an offshore jail such as Guantanamo Bay
- Amendment 8 prohibits Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Water-boarding and solitary confinement are both forms of torture
Also, in case anyone forgets, the Oath of the President is the thing he swears to do above all other duties at the hour of his assumption of office.
It reads as follows : “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
That’s his job: to protect the constitution, how well do you think he’s doing so far?
This is where television takes a shaping hand in the public’s perception.
For that matter, one of Obama’s most important campaign promises was to close Guantanamo Bay within a year of taking office. This would be a step toward a return to the rule of law. He’s been president for 2 years, 3 months so far. A Washington-Post article on the topic uses the title : “Guantanamo Bay: How the White House lost the fight to close it” to suggest to a credulous public that closing the illegal prison was ever intended.
Getting back to the idiot box: Cop-shows advance the propaganda goal of portraying state enforcers (police) as if they are the heroic everyman, standing up for the rights of the citizens, while unsubtly reminding everybody that the reach of the law (the state) is infinite and that you (the individual) had best mind your manners, stay in line, and continue being a good little tax paying consumer.
Advancing public storytelling to reflect a modern feminist ethic brings us back to Dexter (no relation). The title character titillates the show’s audience, but not by enforcing the actual laws enacted by the state. No, Dexter (no relation) indulges the ultimate feminist fantasy. He’s a damaged man – with the power of the state’s authority, and rather than enforcing the law, he simply slaughters the bad, bad men who conform to feminist ideology by all being killers and rapists themselves. Several other “good” characters in this show’s fantasy world know of Dexter’s murderous adventures – and provide cover for him. This complicity in serial murder is, of course all ethically justified, because the men murdered are, of course – “bad” men. If traditional cop shows serve the propaganda goal of reminding everyone just who has power and who doesn’t – what are we being told by Dexter?
Certainly, it couldn’t be that extra-judicially murdering men is acceptable. No, it couldn’t be that.
After all, we live in a patriarchy, right?
