# Does "The West Wing" piss anyone else off? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 13, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358 "2002-04-13T01:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/61 "2002-04-16T09:37:35Z")
> [@](#): > > …to my unflinching certainty that Thomas Jefferson was the only US president who may not have been guilty of treason. Do you mean the same Jefferson who made an end run around Congress and illegally and unconstitutionally bought Louisiana? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/62 "2002-04-16T12:09:25Z")
I hadn’t thought a broadcast show could be more repugnant and less worthy of attention than even _The Practice_. I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/63 "2002-04-16T14:05:29Z")
2 words: Murphy Brown. Oh, yeah. And Designing Women. This is nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/64 "2002-04-16T14:13:21Z")
I remember the episode of _Designing Women_ where Julia Sugarbaker is all pissed off because her son wants to go hunting, so she spends a half hour ranting about testosterone freaks who want to murder Bambi. Real entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/65 "2002-04-16T15:05:27Z")
So what if a TV show has a slant? It is really enough to make some people _angry_? Do you really feel that your views have to be represented all the time in every _private_ venue or do you simply detest liberalism so much that you can’t stand the sight of it? I simply do not understand. It doesn’t bother me that Rush is polluting the airwaves. Nor does Bill O’Reilly’s idiotic TV show get me all that pissed off. So what’s the deal? For my part, I would _love_ to see a right-wing survivalist comedy produced by and for wingnuts. I bet it would be very educational. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/66 "2002-04-16T15:28:29Z")
It doesn’t piss me off that they have liberal slant, but it is boring to be bombarded with the same tired message constantly. So when I’ve had enough, I just stop watching. I wish there were more shows that had both views, because I think the sparks from well written arguments between the two would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/67 "2002-04-16T15:39:56Z")
I agree that it is quite boring. Like liberal views need to be any more trite and banal than they already are. I wasn’t really trying to call you out, as you do not seem particularly pissed off about it. And definitely, it would be amazing to watch TV shows that actually communicate with each other the way books and other forms of art do. I suspect they already do, in the form of moronic sitcoms with in-jokes, but political dramas that fire back and forth on interesting issues would be amazing. Now to go and find some rich and talented people… ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/68 "2002-04-16T15:46:37Z")
I didn’t figure you were, just letting you know why I posted what I did so there was no miscommunication. And hell, I don’t care if they’re rich. How about some poor, talented people? ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/69 "2002-04-16T15:50:05Z")
The talented people to act, the rich people to produce. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/70 "2002-04-16T17:48:56Z")
Hmm, I could act. As long as the media types could get past the fact that I don’t have Gwenyth Paltrow or Calista Flockhart’s figure and not cast me in the ‘token fat chick’ role. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/71 "2002-04-16T20:17:14Z")
I’m just curious when **Senor Beef** will have a corresponding counter-rant against the strongly conservative tilt of talk radio these days. Oh, I shouldn’t hold my breath? ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/72 "2002-04-16T21:56:37Z")
Ugh, most of talk radio sucks. There are one or two interesting items a week coming out of the major ‘talk radio’, 90% of the rest of it is rehash of those 2 things, and the other 10% is just so freakin crazy I have to turn it off. I swear to god if I hear one more time, ‘Who cares if we can save born people, all those little embryos are gonna get damned to hell if you athiest cretins aren’t absolutely sure they don’t have souls’ I’m going to put up a Rush Limbaugh type dartboard right next to my Bill Maher dartboard and my Sarah Brady gun rack. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/73 "2002-04-17T00:21:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > Law & Order. Law & Order Criminal Intent. Law & Order: SVU. JAG. NYPD Blue. The District. Are you implying The District is right wing? Jack is not only liberal, he’s one of the most smug, overbearing, and conceited liberals I have ever seen. > [@](#): > > Apparently we’re watching totally different shows here. I like L&O, but every other show is a rant that if it weren’t for those pesky search and seizure and rights of the accused laws, all criminals would go to jail The thing, though, that is often the cops that screw up the search warrent, and allow the criminal to have the evidence thrown out. So there’s also a strong “If the cops repected people’s rights more, they wouldn’t have their cases thrown out.” feel. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/74 "2002-04-17T00:24:55Z")
Oh, and in case anyone thinks I only dislike this sort of thing in liberals, I also hate Pat Buchanon and I think that any bookstore that carries his latest rant is displaying a lack of respect for many of its patrons. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/75 "2002-04-17T03:35:45Z")
I suppose my rant is probably based on the fact that “The West Wing” exemplifies society as a whole - but especially the entertainment and news industry - getting more and more liberal. Kids grow up submersed in liberalism and never really encounter much of anything else. _I_ was one of those. I was never exposed to conservative views, I just took most of what I was fed, because I had nothing at all to counter it - and I think I’m a fairly bright person. Of course, due to circumstance, I met the right people to guide me on my way to becoming a Crazy Right Wing Extremist ™, and I realized the views I held were pretty much default because it was all I’d ever been exposed to - but I never quite felt comfortable with them, and went through a _huge_ change in my political outlook once I was (by chance) exposed to more conservative views. As time goes by, and liberalism continues to dominate entertainment, news, etc, more and more people will end up like me - not truly believing in anything liberal, but holding those views because they were never exposed to anything else. Kids are being turned liberal by default these days, and the trend only seems to be increasing. I guess my frustration, as a whole, with that tendency makes me come down hard on one of the more flagrant examples of all this. Hence, most of my frustration towards society as a whole is turned against “The West Wing”. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358/76 "2002-04-17T10:48:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Big Kahuna Burger \* > \*\*[Peggy Noonan disagrees](http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=105001705) \*\* I like this paragraph she writes in there… > [@](#): > > A note on Aaron’s art. If he screened out the propaganda on his own it would not only make it easier on a lot of us, it would put him that much closer to being a dramatist of the stature of a William Inge or Tennessee Williams or Paddy Chayevsky. Taking time to bash the opposition, or publicizing your own political views drags the work down. That being said, I hate watching Television. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-west-wing-piss-anyone-else-off/103358.md?page=3)