Ep. 51: How 'The West Wing' Poisoned the Liberal Mind
Added 2018-09-26 15:55:42 +0000 UTCPost-Cold War liberal chauvinism knew no better ideological conduit than the hit NBC series The West Wing. Foreign policy was imperial, staffers were self-satisfied, and Serious Democrats fended off radical leftists and made the Tough Choices needed to run a benevolent superpower.
The West Wing, created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin, heavily influenced the politics of dozens of high-status Obama-era liberals. By their own admission, we know it had among its superfans Obama staffers Sam Graham-Felsen and Eric Lesser, Vox founders Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias, The New Statesman’s Helen Lewis, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell (who produced and wrote for the show), Democratic party hacks Meredith Shiner and Micah Lasher, and many more. Indeed, it’s fair to say anyone under 40 who came up through the ranks of liberal public relations and politics during the Obama years was either directly impacted by The West Wing or, indirectly, by those under its comforting, Starbucks-color-palette worldview.
On this week's episode, we discuss how this Sorkinized worldview both informed and reflected prevailing thought in the Democratic Party, promoted smugness as the highest virtue, and––more generally––how ideology is spread through seemingly benign cultural products like schlocky television dramas.
We are joined by Toronto-based writer and co-host of the Michael and Us podcast Luke Savage.
**
Guest
Luke Savage is a writer based in Toronto. His work has appeared in Jacobin, The Guardian, Canadaland, Current Affairs, and elsewhere. Luke is also the co-host of the Michael and Us podcast.
***
Show Notes
How Liberals Fell In Love With The West Wing
Luke Savage | June 7, 2017 | Current Affairs
Juli Weiner | April 2012 | Vanity Fair
Alex Pareene | July 19, 2002 | Salon
David Sims | May 10, 2016 | The Atlantic
Here's Who the West Wing Cast Thinks President Bartlet Would Endorse in 2016
Cady Lang | June 22, 2016 | TIME
From West Wing to the real thing
Jonathan Freedland | February 21, 2008 | The Guardian
****
Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here.
*****
Comments
Independent news is hear to stay get use to it NSM. This show makes my Wednesday a trillion times better than the BBC who are colonialist shite. Who is Adam Johnson
2018-10-01 23:54:49 +0000 UTCHow did we miss this??
Citations Needed
2018-09-29 05:32:03 +0000 UTCGreat show! In their final years the Obama administration did their own “Big Block of Cheese Day” inspired by the West Wing episode, taking questions from the unwashed masses over social media. So there you go. <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/01/16/big-block-cheese-day-back-and-its-feta-ever" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/01/16/big-block-cheese-day-back-and-its-feta-ever</a>
Keith Grennan
2018-09-29 04:53:58 +0000 UTCThanks guys that was a great show
2018-09-26 23:08:19 +0000 UTCwhat is with that inconsistent audience during the "liberal is not a bad word" scene?
Brian Kelleher
2018-09-26 18:17:40 +0000 UTC
