In today's political climate, when division and refusal to compromise reign supreme, I long for the idealism of Jed Bartlet and his administration. Yes, I realize full well The West Wing fictionalized the president and his staff from a left-leaning perspective, but they managed to hold steadfast to the tenets of their ideology while recognizing the need to reach across party lines and allow for some give and take when necessary. Politicians on the show may not have agreed on every issue, in fact they often argued vociferously over contentious points, yet they listened to one another instead of speaking at and over one another. Believe it or not, they actually tried to understand where each other was coming from, an approach that would be all too welcome in 2017.
Regardless of which side of the political fence you fall on, such empathy and patience would be refreshing, wouldn't it? We citizens of this planet really are not all that different, needing clean air to breathe, nutritious food to eat, and sufficient shelter to protect us. Sometime over the last decade or so, though, we Americans seem to have lost any sense of common ground as we transitioned from championing compromise and civil discourse to demonizing both as character flaws or worse--as flat out weaknesses. Instead, our society celebrates rigidity and considers sticking to your guns, no mater what, a sign of strength. It's as if backing down from an argument, acknowledging the validity of someone else's perspective, and/or admitting when one is in the wrong somehow equates to failure. Perhaps superhero movies are to blame, which until recently perpetuated the falsehood that life fits nicely into good versus evil. Or maybe the end of the Cold War challenged how we think of right versus wrong. The impossible dichotomy of one over the other, however, fails to take into consideration the existence of any variables, and variables persist in every place, time, and situation. Resident of the United States versus Thailand? Variable. Born in 1977 versus 2017? Variable. Learned to speak German instead of Spanish? Variable. Learned to speak both German and Spanish? Variable. Born gay rather than straight? Variable. Identify as Christian and not Buddhist? Variable. Grew up in Minnesota versus Texas? Variable. Life exists in and endless set of variables, and so it ends up somewhere along the hard-to-define spectrum between good and evil, right and wrong. Life fills that murky space between two inadequately defined binary opposites, no matter how you describe them. Just like no two people share the same fingerprints, no two people share the same life experiences. That also means no two people fit perfectly into a neatly arranged box that conforms to the expectations of society. Growing up in the historically "blue" state of Minnesota, you might think the roots of my liberalism formed there, and in many ways, they did. After all, I grew up and spent much of my life in the land of MPR and A Prairie Home Companion. Still, conservatism surrounded me living in rural Minnesota, and I don't mean that negatively or as something I am ashamed of, it was simply a fact of life. I could see and feel the very real tension between urban and rural America that has since come to dominate much of our national dialogue, particularly when my small-town high school invited students from a high school in the Twin Cities for a symposium on diversity. Some parents were so upset by this that they kept their kids home from school that day, a decision and form of protest I could not understand. When news of the reason behind student absences spread through the school well before our guests arrived, all I could think about was how those teenagers would feel if they found out. It saddened me, and I made it a point to attend as many of those sessions as I could and make those students feel welcome. Nevertheless, we remain almost singularly focused on Republican or Democrat, Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative. All of those political qualifiers are labels we identify with, not labels we need in order to identify ourselves. Still, our culture demands that we choose one over the other, and I can honestly say that I considered myself a Republican for much of my adolescent years, primarily because that's the political party I thought my parents preferred. Things started to change for me after I traveled to Germany during my senior year of high school. Walking down the streets of a city more than an ocean away, I began to see my life as smaller and less significant. I discovered I wasn't so special, in the grand scheme of things. Suddenly, the world outside my small hometown and everyone in it felt less anonymous and remote, and I felt ignorant and naive. Leaving home for college and striking out on my own afterwards only intensified those feelings. I had a difficult time connecting with and defining my changing political views. Until I discovered The West Wing, that is. An instant fan of the show's whip-smart banter and unconventional narrative style, I saw my personal beliefs reflected more and more in the characters of Bartlet, CJ Cregg, Bradley Whitford, Toby Ziegler, Donna Moss, Leo McGarry, Josh Lyman, Sam Seaborn, and Charlie Young. A personal highlight of mine is the season premiere episode Aaron Sorkin and the series' creators ran in the fall of 2001 following 9/11. In the episode, the White House deftly confronts the very real threat of terrorism without equating entire countries, regions, or religions as blanket terrorists. (Remember the variables thing I mentioned earlier? This particular episode tackled the issue honestly by portraying a certain amount of natural tension, fear, and uncertainty and not allowing that tension, fear, and uncertainty to cloud the judgment of characters and transform into unwarranted prejudice.) While The West Wing certainly did not turn me into a liberal as this post might imply, the show helped me to better define my own political leanings and beliefs and recognize not everyone thinks the same way--and that's okay.
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I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
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