I was spending my usual Tuesday night sprawled out on the couch in front of the TV. I was watching “Boston Legal” and the episode was about a woman suing the United States over loosing her child in an inadequately supplied clinic in Nepal. The lawyer Alan Shore (James Spader), an ethically challenged man who tries to do what is morally right, gave his closing argument voicing his
concern for the impoverished people in America over foreign aid.
He won the case, and here is where a piece of wit the writers snuck into the show shines through. Alan is talking with his good friend and fellow lawyer Denny Crane (William Shatner), and speaks of how the country has changed. He longs for the days when people thought about issues and chose the rational argument instead of simply standing on one side or the other, blue state or red state, Democrat or Republican. We enjoy the security of being in a “group” and simply taking up the opinion that the group carries. When did we stop thinking about what was right?
This is what stood out to me the most. With the constant bombardment of political activism we see every day, it’s easy to grab a pre-formed opinion and spit it back out. Nobody cares who you’re affiliated with and what they have to say. What do you think is morally right? That is the real question we should be asking ourselves. See? TV isn’t all bad.
Aaron Bogle
University student