Why can't the nation handle the truth?

[ggroy]

Why not turn that trope on its head. The trope usually involves brilliant leadership dealing with the schemes of evil masterminds. Vital information is said to be held due to the panic it would cause for people to know.

But the actual information would reveal that each agency is completely incompetent, meaning that the agencies have been making horrible mistakes and have withheld information to hide catastrophes that did not otherwise have to occur if the people in charge lost their jobs. And that the great threats are overblown or non-existant in order to justify the agency's existence. The PCs are actually the competent ones working inside the beuracracy to undercut their bosses in order to make right out of wrong. See the Retief series for a good example on adventures that could come from scenarios such as this.

Heh.

Sounds like a variation of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" or the "Keystone Cops".

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) - IMDb

 

[Elf Witch]

This trope isn't always outlandish in the offline mundane non-fiction real world.

Personally I would rather deal with someone in person on a particular matter, than over the phone or email. In person, I can observe and interact with someone and determine whether they are lying to me.

That is not the same thing as calling a person you trust and saying I have found out that the bad guys have done this and I have proof. I will meet you by the so and so at midnight.

Tell them what you know in case the bad guys catch up with you an kill you. The idea that the phone is not safe maybe realistic but then if that is true they know you are meeting someone and what time.

 

[Elf Witch]

Somebody on this website said as much a few months ago- he knew because he used to be a professional scriptwriter.

I have a friend who is a scriptwriter and he has done panels at Sf cons on how technology and changing laws change how things are done.

For example before 9/11 one way to cover your tracks and throw off a tail was to buy a plane ticket with your credit card to one place and then buy a ticket paying cash using an alias to someplace else.

They did this in the X Files with Scully throwing off a tail so she could meet up with Mulder.

Now that is much harder to do unless you already have an established alias.

Also before 9/11 you could not hold someone with evidence or letting them talk to a lawyer as easily as you can now.

Email has changed things now you can just email a suspicious file to the media, your friends, before you had to make copies and either hand deliver them or mail them.

 

[Janx]

It's just been announced that an Alien fleet has been spotted and is headed this way. They will get here in 2 years.

What do you do?

Up until the laser blasts start flying or other people start trying to take my stuff, I see no reason not to keep going to work, mowing the lawn, etc.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Part of me thinks as you do.

Part of me says, "max out the credit cards buying kewl stuff and go to the Bunny Ranch for a month!"

Another part of me thinks I should find a way to be useful to the incoming fleet, and brush up on my recipes for "long pig."

 

[Thunderfoot]

It's not just an issue with adult conversations, either. How many movies would be only 15 minutes long if someone just called the cops, or turned around at the first signs of trouble?

(Search YouTube for Eddie Murphy's standup on haunted houses.)

Yeah, I love that one. Or how about the abridged version of The Lord of the Rings. Where they fly over Mt Doom with the Eagle king and just drop the thing in the lava. The last thing they say is, "wouldn't it have been a pain in the ass to have walked all this way?"
Of course the whole thing would have been written on a napkin. Not exactly epic stuff.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I have a friend who is a scriptwriter and he has done panels at Sf cons on how technology and changing laws change how things are done.

For example before 9/11 one way to cover your tracks and throw off a tail was to buy a plane ticket with your credit card to one place and then buy a ticket paying cash using an alias to someplace else.

They did this in the X Files with Scully throwing off a tail so she could meet up with Mulder.

Now that is much harder to do unless you already have an established alias.

Also before 9/11 you could not hold someone with evidence or letting them talk to a lawyer as easily as you can now.

Email has changed things now you can just email a suspicious file to the media, your friends, before you had to make copies and either hand deliver them or mail them.

You can tell your friend is an American thinking about America. You can still do that, you just have to go to a foreign country to make the switch. Yeah, the trail is easier to trace on the first leg, but eventually, you can run in circles enough to lose people. For instance a child abductor who was recently caught had done that with him and his daughter for the last 5 years. Once they left New York, the trail got hard to follow. They eventually found him in France, I believe.

He went from New York, to Paris, to Moscow, to Kiev, to Athens, to Paris, and then into the countryside via public transit.

 

[Bedrockgames]

A common trope of Jack Bauer and other shows is that the Nation can't handle the truth. That another scandal would destroy America's faith in government.

This seems preposterous. I think a more plausible response is "let's vote those jerks out of office" than "OMG, the government is made up of jerks, it's the end of civilization as we know it!"

When did this kind of thinking start? Is there any historical evidence to support its validity?

Ford pardoned Nixon under this premise. But I have to wonder, would America feel better seeing a crook get prosecuted than seeing a crook walk free or learning that he walked free?

I think it would be more damaging to learn about shady back room deals that never face consequences, than to learn about somebody's bad behavior and seeing them punished. The latter would restore my faith in a system that corrects itself.

As always, avoid talking about actual politics. I'm interested in the concept and the thinking behind it, not in any comparison to some current situation.

24 is a fun show, but I think the idea is taken to a silly extreme in that series. Pardoning Nixon is one thing, but the lengths characters in 24 went to keep the public from being dissapointed in pubic officials (particularly in this day and age when we are far more accustomed to it) always struck me as one of the show's weakest elements.

 

[NewJeffCT]

It's not just an issue with adult conversations, either. How many movies would be only 15 minutes long if someone just called the cops, or turned around at the first signs of trouble?

(Search YouTube for Eddie Murphy's standup on haunted houses.)

here you go - warning, language is not safe for work!!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96s1M8IyrUQ&feature=colike]Eddie Murphy - Haunted Houses - YouTube[/ame]

 

[S'mon]

I think there are plenty of truths that the public is eager not to be fully aware of, such as what happens in war, especially acts committed by their own military. My impression though is that sans a hostile-to-government media whipping up a firestorm, the mere availability of information has very little impact; the public will happily ignore stuff they would rather not know. This goes for facts in other areas too - facts that do not fit the public's preferred world view are ignored or subtly altered/adapted to fit.