The West Wing
Last night the former hit NBC drama The West Wing opened its fifth and likely final season. To be mercifully brief, in yesterday's episode the earnestly liberal president Jed Bartlet, played by the earnest lefty Martin Sheen, responded to a Gaza bombing that killed US congressmen and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by dragging the Israelis and the Palestinians to Camp David for a summit to work out their "impasse."
As though the Mideast tragedy is the result of a lack of communication, and that it could be solved by a good-hearted if hard-headed mediator. But it reveals the visceral worldview of the Hollywood left.
Last month, on September 15, I posted this item:
Non-mis-communication
Those who accept the assumptions of the political/social left tend to presume that they live in a world mired in noncommunication, and they think--no, they feel--that it is the underlying cause of almost every problem, whether interpersonal, or social, or economic, or political, or etc. This misapprehension is fundamental and profound; it infects almost everything that they think, that they say, and that they do.
In fact, there is very little non- or miscommunication. Most disputes occur when clearly-articulated, tangible interests collide. Opposing sides understand each other perfectly, but their interests conflict and they govern their actions accordingly. Soon-to-be-ex-spouses; Hatfields and McCoys; Democrats and Republicans; unions and management; Arabs and Israelis; Islamists and Western Civilization; the US and Old Europe--in each instance both sides know precisely where the other stands. They understand each other. Communication can be flawless even when it is hostile.
--
The observation stands.
As though the Mideast tragedy is the result of a lack of communication, and that it could be solved by a good-hearted if hard-headed mediator. But it reveals the visceral worldview of the Hollywood left.
Last month, on September 15, I posted this item:
Non-mis-communication
Those who accept the assumptions of the political/social left tend to presume that they live in a world mired in noncommunication, and they think--no, they feel--that it is the underlying cause of almost every problem, whether interpersonal, or social, or economic, or political, or etc. This misapprehension is fundamental and profound; it infects almost everything that they think, that they say, and that they do.
In fact, there is very little non- or miscommunication. Most disputes occur when clearly-articulated, tangible interests collide. Opposing sides understand each other perfectly, but their interests conflict and they govern their actions accordingly. Soon-to-be-ex-spouses; Hatfields and McCoys; Democrats and Republicans; unions and management; Arabs and Israelis; Islamists and Western Civilization; the US and Old Europe--in each instance both sides know precisely where the other stands. They understand each other. Communication can be flawless even when it is hostile.
--
The observation stands.
posted by S.Y. Silverstein at 7:15 PM
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