"I went to a place to eat. It said 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered french toast during the Renaissance". --Steven Wright ... If you are a devotee of time travel, check out this song...

Monday, October 1, 2012

The Good Wife 4.1 Meets Occupy Wall Street

The Good Wife was back on CBS for its fourth season last night, with a bunch of good punchy stuff including Kalinda's husband, but Zach stole the show with his deft use of viral video.

The defining incident began with Alicia, Zach, and Grace driving back from a college visit through a neighboring county in Illinois.  They're pulled over by a cop on a bogus charge.  He gets agitated when he realizes that Zach has been using his smartphone to record the cop's illegal activities - much like NYPD pushing around people with cameras during the NYPD's unconstitutional restrictions on demonstrators and press last year - and, indeed, much like what happened in NYC, Zach is arrested.

Alicia and Peter do their best to get Zach out of this, including getting the officer to apologize, but law enforcement in the neighboring county refuses to be pushed around.  Fortunately, Zach has the savvy to put up a video of the cop and his actions - Zach discovers that the cop had several other innocent victims - and when the video goes viral, charges against Zach are dropped, and the cop is told to apologize.

Not exactly the same as happened in New York City in reality, but close enough.  Citizen photographer Alexander Arbuckle was arrested in NYC on New Year's Day 2012 for "blocking traffic" during an OWS demonstration.  Fortunately, citizen video journalist Tim Pool recorded the whole sad NYPD spectacle, and when this video evidence was offered in court, Arbuckle was acquitted. A victory for the First Amendment and what I "new new media" - aka social media.   Every since Rodney King, a video camera has the victim of police misconduct's best friend.

There was not much political content in Zach's story, but it hits the same point nonetheless. It is gratifying and satisfying indeed to know that we now live in a world in which police cannot just get away with anything they please because there are no witness other than the victims of police misbehavior.  Good for The Good Wife for bringing this point home in such an entertaining and impressive way.  It's a tonic and warning for NYPD and other police harassment of demonstrators and press that is still going on.





See also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter v. Will ...  Dexter's Sister on The Good Wife 3.10  ... The Good Wife 3.12: Two Suits  ... The Good Wife 3.13 Meets Murder on the Orient Express ... The Good Wife 3.15: Will and Baseball

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars

No comments:

InfiniteRegress.tv