Curtis Lyman vs. Marsh & The Media

In The West Wing the theoretical line between religion and politics was crossed when an over zealous leader of a religious sect was “attacked” by a member of the presidents cabinet. Josh Lyman, the Deputy Chief of Staff, is a level headed man with well thought out values. The political issue of religion having power in the government was brought to his attention when the host and leader of a religiously driven show, Mary Marsh, provoked Lyman during a debate on national television, prompting him to insult and upset Mary, the followers of her specific sect of Christianity and, apparently, the media. Honestly, I feel the biggest political issue in the pilot of The West Wing is the use of the media as a tool for manipulation. Mary Marsh was clearly aware she would be eliciting such a volatile response from Josh Lyman as, “Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud.”; she was aware that the interview would be shown on national television; she was aware that such a comment from Lyman would send him to the gallows and yet she did what she did to get him to break so she could have her way. The media, always used as a tool to prompt and/or illuminate our political ideals, was used in this particular episode to demonize Josh Lyman, thus making the American public think poorly of him, thus making the President deeply consider removing Josh from his position. Lyman made an honest mistake, and Mary Marsh used her knowledge of how readily the media will skew information to exploit his gaffe and gain compensation from the President and his staff. If the media did not have such a large influence over the decisions of the American public, Mary Marsh most likely would not have even had a television show to begin with and Josh Lyman’s position as the Deputy Chief of Staff would have never been threatened.