The West Wing

Episode H Con – 172, of The West Wing, season three, dealt with many important issues and ideas of morality. Some major characters in this episode were misleading and deceiving fellow peers and friends in an attempt to achieve goals and hide facts and emotions. While others were discovering the power of truth and fighting the urge of turning to lies and fantasy. Some were even dealing with the pulls of duty and desire. The issues being addressed were those dealing with the morality of the characters, whether to lie and deceive to attain our goals or to tell the truth but possibly fail, to give into our personal desirers or to follow our sense duty.

In the tenth episode of The West Wing, the characters were dealing with inner conflict, as deception was a tactic used to achieve goals and hide the truth and feelings. Josh claims “I’m a straight shooter” yet he feels it necessary to “come in under the cover of business” when the issue of asking out Amy, an attractive women’s rights leader arises. Josh feels that in the case of asking Amy to meet socially with him “there’s a potential she will say no” and then evidently Josh would “have to move someplace where it’ll never be spoken of again”. Josh is afraid of exposing himself to humiliation, and understands that to deceive Amy with “the bad news” of the fact that the government will only be paying “$20 million-five hundred thousand” when Amy and her group “wanted $21 million” he would be able to conceal himself from the mortification that a �no’ would result in. Josh feels the need to “construct some nonsense problem” to “have an excuse to see” Amy. He can not face the truth of his feelings or reveal them to Amy. He is fighting an inner battle between honesty and dishonesty. Despite his past history of being a “straight shooter” he can not even use a thread of truth or directness when it comes to his feeling about her.

Sam, as well, throughout this episode deceives his peers of his feelings. Sam displays that he is focused purely on the new �kiss and tell’ book, “’The Camera Doesn’t Lie: What I Saw at the Bartlett White House’ by Ron Burkhalt”. Josh even asks him if he is taking this issue “a little too seriously” as the author was a “White House photographer” who “was fired” and by Josh’s recollection “was a buffoon”. While Sam’s peers are joking and taking the issue of the book lightly Sam is hounding them to uncover the truth. He deceives others into thinking that he is solely concerned about truth and detail, while later in the episode we discover that Sam “hired the guy” and therefore feels partially guilty for the publication of all the misquotes, misidentifies and mistakes, but more importantly that fact that Sam is “fixating on the knuckleheaded stuff we think we can fix in the meantime” while �obviously, there’s a problem” in the Oval. Sam is confused about what he should be doing to help solve the bigger problem that is out off his control and even though he knows inside that focusing on the “knuckleheaded stuff” will not in anyway help, that is what he feels he is obligated to be doing.

In the tenth episode of The West Wing, the characters were dealing with inner conflict, as they fought to reveal the truth and not stray from fact and reality. At the start of the episode Charlie, the president’s aid, gives him a “map of the Holy land that was drawn in 1709”. Although president Bartlet doesn’t see a problem with his map, and instantly declares that he is “going to have it framed” and that it “is great” other members of the government point out a small problem with the map. When Bartlet tells Toby that he is planning “to put it (the map) in the outer office”, Toby asks “this outer office?” Toby points out that “some people are going to find it offensive” as “it doesn’t recognize Israel”. Bartlet is not ready to face the reality and the fact of what others will think of him, and his ideas, but continues to protest. President Bartlet persists that “it was drawn in 1709’ and that at the time “there was no Israel”, “Israel wouldn’t happen for another 250 years”. Although both legitimate arguments it makes no difference to where Toby stands on the issue. As more of his staff proclaims that the map will be taken offensive the President still insists that it be hung in his office. When C.J. echoes Toby’s speech of the reasons it can not be hung in the outer office, the President counters that,

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