NCIS

I like NCIS - I know, it really means that I am old.

NCIS is one of the few shows in which the age of the protagonists is not constrained in a narrow demographic... the charismatic leader is well in his 50s, the M.E. is steadily marching toward mandatory retirement and most of the cast is really in his '40s by now, with the "new blood" represented by the last female addendum to the cast, Bishop, a woman in her late twenties.


At the same time, I think that NCIS is also yet another one in a crop of US shows that the State Department should, really, ask producers NOT to export in foreign countries.

Of course, not that it would mean much, in this Internet-laden era, but the case for avoiding show the rest of the planet how little does the American public think about international laws - and some of their country's staunchest allies, for that matter - should be compelling.

Even if itt is - and by far - not the worst offender, NCIS doesn't really help convince the rest of the world that the U.S.A. are not the biggest bully on the planet today.

Of course, it can be argued that the show is just a bit more realistic than what a guy like me would like: the U.S.A. ARE the greatest power acting on the international scene today, as much as they were at the height of George H. W. Bush presidency, and they use their weight in plenty of "unjust" ways.

Obama is better at public relationships than his predecessor, but the USA still have an illegal prison, concealed from the wrath of constitutional jurists by a couple of fig leaves that doesn't really convince anybody. The country is still engaged in military operations without explicit authorization from the congress, it is all  but certain that nobody is ever going to be charged for the systematic use of torture in interrogations that have stained its reputation, American forces continue to make their presence felt all around the world, Afghanistan is still a mess etc.

Now, this obviously does not surprise - at all - political official of anywhere else... for most of them, the relationships between countries are still, at best, accords between highwaymen, with brutality often ill concealed, just below the surface. 
 
On the other side, most "common people" is not necessarily affected by this kind of perceptual aberration... if you do not keep reminding them this kind of issues, they'd gladly go back at envying the USA and its inhabitants and see it as the land of freedom.

 If you do not remind them too much, for example, that  USA intelligence agencies tend to valuate as nil the life of foreigners that have the misfortune of crossing their path.

Ever after 2001, a lot of modern American shows tend to portray the US as an overpowering, and ever-so-slightly arrogant superpower that does whatever the hell it wants, regardless of violating international law, foreign air spaces or the civil rights of the occasional miscreant.

All in order to safeguard the inhabitants of the USA, of course - maybe.

A pity that a lot of other persons live in other countries, and that some of these countries have legitimate interests that go in opposition to some USA goals... in which case, some "American Hero" should arrive and solve the problem, say, organizing the next military dictatorship.

Or organizing a nice clean "extralegal rendition" - or something.

As I said, NCIS is not the worse offender... it is more realistic than many of its brethren, as it does not hand-wave so much that, for an US Military plane to pass over some countries (any country, reall, unless there are already accords in place), it is better to log a formal request to that country's authorities, that even in countries with formal treaties with the U.S., extradition requests may be contested on the base that the crime upon which the request was issued is not a crime in that country, and a host of other, similar details.

It is not a Michael Bair movie, with the heroic American flying gunships mowing down anything that moves in a desert oasis, without even spending a second showing thay someonein the command chain has to stop to consider the wider political implications of such an action.

Yet, it sways out of realism, describing the military personnel that is, so often, protagonist of their story.

Of a female pilot of assault airplanes, "she saved hundreds of innocent people" bombing a taliban camp.

The same is said of a navy jock turned UAV driver for the USAF.

Now, don't get me wrong - most soldiers hardly ever have to kill anyone, and some even manage to spend most of their time in the army making the kind of constructive contributions that even a most intransigent pacifist would be proud of - drilling water wells, shoring up damaged dams - that kind of things.

However, these are a very damn few lucky ones.

A lot of other soldiers are faced with less palatable options - firing like crazy trying to get out of an ambush, sorry for the little girl that gets the bullet in her eye;  having to apply rules of engagement in environment so ambiguous that "fire before ask" is just being moderately cautious, and maybe even go crazy.

In the end, a fair number of soldiers - in every action theater ever existed - always end up with the shorter stick, having to do the kind of crap that nobody would ever wan to remember in any moment of the rest of their life.

Some of them will kill some innocent bystander - out of tactical errors, political expediency, mind-blowing terror or any combination thereof,, often not even on their part.

The US government never ratified the Hague international tribunal for war crimes - this because, no matter how they paint things when under trial is some of their political adversaries, War is just - really - "shit that happens so fast and crappily that you have no idea".

It would be nice that these fundamental details of the USA experience, in occupying what used to be the greatest civilization on Earth, managed to reach the public of the most seen drama in USA.Just to show the rest of the world that a glimpse of objectivity do permeate USA's "popular culture".

Of course it is not going to happen - HBO may green-lit a show like Generation Kill (in the end just a bunch of actors going crazy in New Mexico), but NCIS gives the vibe of depending quite a bit more from the logistic support of the US military... 

Lockheed C-130s do not grow on trees, no? And, if the producers want access to that kind of support, they must lay nice, have a liaison officer vet their scripts, and smile and dance to military tunes.


Which contribute to the latent, powerful pro-army propaganda that flush almost every aspect of current USA entertainment.