A small item appeared in the Daily News here in New York about presidential hopeful Barack Obama in which Dennis Haysbert, the actor who played President Palmer on 24, claimed credit for fomenting in the American mind the idea that a black man–the right man–could become president. And I thought hmmm.
Now there’s no doubt in my mind that the actor was not really serious about his assertion, but who knows if that isn’t partly the truth. I’ve heard complaints from both cops and layers that it’s more difficult to prosecute folks now unless you can CSI the jury up the wazoo. Crime writing has been accused of glorifying crime since, at least, the time Truman Capote put pen to paper for In Cold Blood.
So how much of a rap should fiction in the form of film, TV, song lyrics and books take when it comes to forging reality, and is it really a bad thing?
With the pervasiveness of information on the internet, no one needs to look to fiction of any kind for inspiration, motivation or how-to-do-it guides. Where do you think writers get it from? But is it our duty to self-monitor? What do you think?
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