So as usual on Monday nights I watched the one TV show I tune into regularly, 24 on FOX.  I didn't watch the first two seasons, but an advertising blitz one Sunday during football drew me in, and a couple back-to-back episodes later I was hooked.  Although the racial stereotypes in the show have received attention elsewhere - so much so that in one recent episode they had Keifer do a commercial saying to be nice to Arab Americans - tonight was a bit over the top in my opinion.

So far this seasons we've had Arab terrorists, an evil Amarosa-esque black woman, an aggressive white manager woman that puts career advancement ahead of family, a black man with anger management issues who lives a promiscuous lifestyle, and the "rebel" son of the Secretary of Defense.  I'm sure I'm missing a few, but those come to the top of my head.  Anyhow, tonight they figured out that the defense contractor, "McKlennan-Forrester," who they might of well have renamed "Lockheed Martin," was harboring one of the terrorists and selling weapons to the Arabs.  In any event, once Jack Bauer and his side kick raided their headquarters, and the evil old stoggy white men executives (who might as well have been named Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow - the Enron execs) immediately tried to cover their tracks.  By next episode, these crazy white men will be on an all out assault trying to kill government agents.

Maybe it just makes it easier for people to follow the plot when you put the characters in traditional racial roles.  But I think it would be cool if they switch it up sometimes, like the Chapelle Show skit where Dave is President. 

Anyways that was just my rant for the night, and an opportunity to use the new MindSay Tags feature =)