I'm still in Massachusetts, and this depresses me slightly, but I'm still ahead of schedule- be in chi by halloween....well this time here has had me catching nightly television i'd only heard about before but never had the chance to catch, due to better things to do. Watching taped episodes with the fam of shows like "The West Wing" , and that geena davis show where shes the first woman president have gotten me asking questions about the reasons these shows even exist in the first place. There is a Washington, D.C. where this is really occurring, and altho no doubt similar backstabbing occurs in a similar fashion, the comparison between the leadership figures between these shows and reality is so lop-sided it's absurd. I watched an episode last night that had a character speaking on his beliefs between seperation of church and state/creationism vs. evolution/etc, and behold a well-spoken and articulate candidate that isn't cutting corners! I'm sorry but is that unplausible to anyone else? When's the last time a serious candidate for the office of president spoke like that?
We're looking to the television for a reality of our government that is less than a partial truth. People are being pacified with these images to forget how the government is actually being run.
I've been finishin up chp1 of the mix-movie, google video takes awhile to accept the upload so ill try to get that going before i leave, which will be weds/thurs im hoping!
3 comments:
I wish Bartlet was really our president, but I would have to say that West Wing does not have that effect on me. Actually it’s the opposite. It's a good contrast to what I hear about that is going on within the beltway every day. I haven't watched the gena davis show yet. I think that TV shows reflect/parallel/comment what is happening in society at this moment. The fact that one of the best shows on TV right now is about a Democratic president with a liberal agenda trying to balance what he believes against what is right for the country is in itself saying something about our present administration. That the general viewing population has a different view of government that what is being churned out of DC right now is a good thing.
yeah, im saying that the view on television shows about government aren't urging people to change the current administration, theyre just being placated into a false sense of how people act on the hill. No one on these shows acts remotely as dense as Bush.
i think they try as far as issues go to parallel current events, but the people running the show are so far from the fact its ridiculous and almost fantastical.
I have to agree with both of you. The shows do parrallel reality in the issues, but I do agree that people watch the shows thinking that's how Washington really is...that's how articulate our representatives really are... Well, fortunately we do have some representatives that are that articulate. If you've ever watched the congressional procedings on c-span, you know what I mean, but most of the folks in the White House are inarticulate, or on the wrong side. I read a book not too long ago by Ron Suskind called The Price of Loyalty that is the story of Paul O'Neill, the former Treasury Secretary for W. Not surprisingly Mr. O'Neill in the end realizes that all of the finance speak he is advising Bush about is going straight over W's head. He eventually resigned because he was fed up.
It's really fucked up that Clinton got impeached for having a sex act and then lying about it and everyone cared, they were up in arms, yet Bush and his administration has committed a hundred attrocities on our liberties, environment and the future of our nation while robbing us at the same time, and no one seems to care.
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