Spoonful of sugar

I don't normally watch The West Wing, so I am not familiar with all the
characters. Still, after a long run on Wednesday night, I had to sit down
and ice my weary knees, and nothing else looked appealing in the 9p.m.
time slot. Plus, I'd heard lots about how they delayed the season
premiere one week to air this special episode, pulled together by
Aaron Sorkin and company in the wake of Sept. 11.
My opinion? It was like a well-done liberal after-school special.
I was reminded of the ending of G.I. Joe cartoons
"Now you know, kids."
"And knowing is half the battle!"
Seriously, who were these school kids? They were not normal.
Of course, the Arab they hold for questioning early on was
going to be innocent, despite having protested against the
U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and acknowledged the Arab oppression
of women. And at the end of the show, he shrugs off his
inquisition and heads back to work, and Leo comes by and
apologizes. The easy way out, intended to make us feel
as if the moral balance has been re-established and it's
safe for Arabs and others to work and play together again.
The real world is not nearly so clean.
Rob Lowe: "Terrorism never succeeds. It only strengthens
that which it attacks." It sounds good, but that's not how
I feel. The world is a scary place. I'm waiting for biological
weapons to fall, the next terrorist attack. I don't want to travel
to the Middle East any more. Sure, the U.S. is not going
away. But I do think I had greater peace of mind before
all this happened, and watching the West Wing did not
change any of that.
I admire the acting on the show, though. The characters
are smooth, glib. The Islamic extremists are to Islam as
KKK are to Christianity bit was clever. The whole episode
struck me as a sugar-coated, pompous weigh-in on the
whole matter. We are the West Wing, and the nation needs
to hear our opinion about Sept. 11, because we are that
culturally important. I say, just post some phone numbers
that people can call to contribute to the relief efforts, and
go on with your show.