LEFT WING:
My commentary on the populist NBC hit
"The West Wing" is belated because of work, but I had to get it out there all the same. I don't usually watch this program, primarily because I have a hard time distinguishing between it and the DNC platform. This past Wednesday, however, I decided to take a break and watch t.v. for awhile, and saw that The West Wing was getting ready to start. I thought maybe been too judgmental about the make-believe presidency and decided that I'd give the show another shot. I was wrong, of course. The West Wing is the kind of propaganda of which Stalin or Goebbels would have been proud.
Since I hadn't been following the show, I was forced to pay attention to the "scenes from last week" part. I realised pretty quickly that, like
Law & Order, the story line pretty much follows the news. President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) is up for re-election and he has a debate to get prepared for. Now I was expecting there to be other good story lines that didn't have anything to do with politics, but that was a pipe dream. There is a perpetual litany of DNC dogma oozing out of every orifice during the show. Everything from why we need socialized medicine, to why we need government-controlled industry, to how socialism in general is the only true answer to all those nagging problems caused by selfish Republicans who are really only interested in getting rich off the backs of poor people and minorities. The best had to be when, during the debate, the Republican candidate, a rigid and burly fellow, delivers his canned responses only to have Bartlett fire back a witty response that sends his staff into fits of euphoria. We are expected to willfully suspend disbelief as Preident Bartlett scolds the evil Republican for thinking that Americans know what's better for themselves than the government does. This is of course such an incredibly one-sided debate that his staff decides that they won't even do any spinning afterwards, they'll just let Bartlett's incredibly cogent arguments and policy platforms stand for themselves. Yeah, right.
I really can't understand how anyone who isn't a leftist could enjoy such tripe. My wife, who is vehemently Republican and conservative, loves the show. I always ask her, "Do you recognize anyone in that show, or any other show on network t.v., that you feel like you identify with? Can you think of any character on any show that exhibits the same values and moral outlook that you have?" Her answer, predictably, is always "No, but that's just fiction. It's not real. It doesn't actually matter. Maybe you shouldn't watch that show anymore, it gets you too angry." This usually degenerates into "Your not the boss of me ... " and then I go to the other room to find a hockey game or something else that doesn't involve me being preached to.
But the fundamental question still exists: are there ANY characters on ANY t.v. show that accurately represent someone who isn't a leftist? I can't think of any. I can think of plenty of examples of the perfect Democrat or Green candidate. There are lots and lots of examples of characters who say all the right P.C. things and have all the requisite attitudes towards those who are "different" (i.e. morally equivalent -- or superior -- to any other point of view).
