Jed and Abbey Bartlet Isaac and Ishmael scenes

[@jonnnyren6245]

Joshua and the rest of the adoptive Bartlet kids just watching their adoptive Mom Abbey some of the best written scenes in this fantastic TV series.

[@TheAudioman15]

30 seconds to spend with them, and Jed Bartlet just owns the whole thing.

[@BehindTheHarleyShop]

I love Abbey's speech... perfect way to explain it!

[@Sergigrinkovvolponyfan]

Stockard Channing is pure gold as Abbey!

[@douglassauvageau7262]

"A martyr would die for his beliefs, but a hero would live for them".

[@justincase7848]

So many good lines!

[@michaelvidal1971]

They certainly had some good stories when they went back to school.

[@0prayus]

Isn't it something how many quiet words of wisdom in this episode of a television series can live on long after the TV show ended?

[@starryeyedstatic]

1:33 is the beginning of the most important moment in Television history. I swear

[@phillipevonpoon1179]

This episode of the west wing should be shown in every high school across the country.

[@robertcowan7610]

How very true. And how wonderful it would be if it had the intended impact and more American youths of all and any background(s) fell in love with intellect, knowledge, striving and commitment for and to the greater good, etc. Imagine how much more difficult it would be for portions of the population to be misled and how much less likely it would be for anything like the 6th of January 2021 to occur and to so litter the landscape of this democratic republic if we had the kind of education system that we deserve and desperately need, the thirst for knowledge and achievement and the reaching for the common cause and the common good amongst all it's students who'd inherited it's existence and it's gifts courtesy of the founding documents that bequeathed it and so much more - imagine a unified society prospering due to those documents and how grand it would be to experience their struggles to gain all that it promises rather than to see some of them so willing to trample it so unmindfully and reprehensibly believing their doing so in it's very name.

[@TheZorginator1]

What the fuck are you talking about? Half this video is just some crazy lady saying that christians are the product of god and muslims came because some fairy-tale figure told her husband to go out and rape their slave. It's madness, if my child was shown this episode in school I'd be as furious as if they showed them creationist propaganda because it makes about as much sense.

[@thinkpad20]

It should be shown, and subsequently analyzed to piece apart all of the ridiculous lies, distortions, chauvinism, Islamophobia and chest-thumping jingoism...

[@krypticunlimited6925]

@@thinkpad20 can you elaborate?

[@thinkpad20]

@@krypticunlimited6925 sure, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it but a few things I remember: - Josh claims that the only chant allowed at soccer matches in Arab countries is “allahu akbar” and goes on to state that the reason there’s anti-American sentiment in the Middle East is because the USA has a pluralistic society - Toby claims that terrorism was invented by Arabs in the form of the order of assassins & implies that it’s uniquely associated with Islam - CJ goes on a long monologue talking about how amazing and underfunded the CIA is and how civil liberties are overrated - Leo McGarry’s face goes ashy white when he finds out there’s a person working at the White House who might be connected to a terrorist plot, says “well it was only a matter of time.” He goes on to inexplicably interrogate the suspect and when said suspect is angry he’s being profiled, McGarry says “well that’s the price you pay” - none of the whiz kids visiting the White House nor the eggheads working there seem to have anything resembling knowledge of the actual culture of Islamic countries or the history of American intervention in the Middle East or the actions of Israel there Abby’s boiling down of the situation as a millennia-old religious feud between Jews and Muslims is really the icing on the cake. I’m sure there’s plenty I missed but there’s some of it…

[@valmid5069]

Israel and Palestine/Arab conflicts are often seen on the news. Bible’s given origins of why: Ishmael being ancestor of many Arabs, and Issac being ancestor of Israel. Then I will always remember what she says: Genesis 25:9 whereas Ishmael and Issac bury their same father. Very echoing.

[@lancer525]

Sort of makes even less sense when you realize all those stories were written down by people who didn't know where the sun went at night, or understand that stars were suns around which other worlds orbited...

[@Matt-cz6ti]

What's a good price for my youngest daughter? Can college football teams still play even though touching the skin of a dead animal makes them unclean? Must the whole town gather to stone a farmer for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing clothes made of two different materials?

[@nakedfaves]

"They'll like us when we win"...........(8^(

[@MrBraddles3128]

If you absolutely insist on writing a quote, make sure it’s an accurate one.

[@travisjohnson6676]

That's childish at best. First off, footballs are nor made of pigskin. As for the rest, those OT legal restrictions were done away with by Jesus in the NT and there are multiple scores of books written by brilliant scholars and theologians on the topic

[@davidbpearson2]

Travis Johnson And so was the gay thing.

[@TheAudioman15]

Travis Johnson it isn’t childish at all when his diatribe was directed at someone pretending to preach the OT - based on her “I don’t say homosexuality is a sin sir, the Bible does” nonsense.

[@UberZackson1]

I would amend Bartlet's comment about martyrs to be "a martyr dies to enact change while a hero fights to see the change put into effect." In other words, "a martyr brings change with his death, but a hero lives to see it." There are many different ways to express the same thought, but that's what they all boil down to in the end.

[@daverhoden445]

It's a little sad to see the number of people choosing to take the things said in this episode literally instead of listening to the messages therein.

[@mohamedaminekantar9278]

Despite the fact that we muslims believe the opposite, and that both ladies are wives to our prophet Ibraham and none of them was a slave, i agree with you Dave, that both sons burried their father, and gave a very deep message to all of us....

[@walstib4945]

Briliant!

[@yusuflegere494]

It is also important to remember that, according to jewish law, Ishmael was the rightful heir

[@michaelwesthafer7362]

Despite being the "rightful" heir, God had a tendency in the Old Testament in using the younger son over the over the older rightful heir. - after Ishmael and Issac, there was Jacob over Esau, Judah (and Joseph) over Ruben and Ephraim over Manasseh.

[@paulc5333]

nice succinct description of the spiritual root of the problem ... now we need to discuss the schisms between the various factions on both sides and the socioeconomic and political issues.... but still pure gold as the root cause.

[@mrobvious1100]

73 million years ago I seriously doubt that

[@JustSomeCanadianGuy]

I would have preferred this episode had been Jed talking to the kids the whole episode.

[@consuellamccoy5217]

U tellem Arizona🥰🥰🥰🧐🧐🥰🥰

[@arielg7000]

😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

[@AvgeekJoe]

1:17 is heady stuff

[@jjp3515]

Sorkin = G.O.A.T.

[@ViVi-ew2gh]

What episode and seasons is this?

[@michaelmusich809]

Can anyone imagine Donald and Melania being able to have this conversation?? Yes, I know, it is a TV program and not real. But the Obamas, Bushes (second version), Clinton's, and Bushes (first version) would have been able to engage with these kids. We live in sad and scary times.

[@michaelbabella9012]

heres a better question, imagine joe and jill even having a conversation about something other than depends

[@lancer525]

@@michaelbabella9012 Really? That's all you have? Every conservitard accusation is a confession. The only one who needs to worry about "depends" is Comrade Pumpkinfuhrer von Shitzhispantz. And every rational, thinking person knows it. Guess that leaves you out.

[@robertheinrichvonseyfenste267]

nice book, the bible.. so clean, no sex, no murders.....

[@mrobvious1100]

Yes I am a man of principle I am a devout Catholic who took a role where I get to be praising high taxes and abortion but hey the money was right and what Catholic does it like money just ask the Pope

[@ericmiller93]

They both came together to bury their father. I wish explaining that to the extremists made a damn bit of difference.

[@AkJosh98]

Wasn't this made to talk about the 9/11 attacks without actually mentioning it?

[@KamsPoliticalPredictions]

I believe so.

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

This story pushes a false narrative that conflict between Jews and Arabs comes from religious and familial tensions dating back thousands of years. That's not true though, if it were both groups would have been in enteral conflict for all of recorded history. But they haven't been and have historically gotten along more than they have fought. The modern Israeli-Palestinina conflict and War on Terror between the "West" and religious fundamentalist groups only emerged in the last 100 years and 50 years respectively. They were the result of modern neo-colonialist and political practices. It's was never about Jews vs Muslims or America vs the Middle East. It was about oil and who would control it. It was about global influence and who would control their neighbor. But it's so much easier for a nation or group of people to blame all your conflicts on something that happened thousands of years ago, instead of taking responsibility for your own actions. The conflict did not start thousands of years ago, it started recently (by relative historical terms) and it's not going to get solved until you recognize that.

[@PHOTOGRAPHYBYDEREK1]

No Josh, the important thing to remember is that it took place.

[@AegisNova]

Derek Hansin Maaaybe...

[@blastermasterguy]

(rolls eyes) Of course it did Derek. A woman is responsible for the schism between the Jews and the Arabs, just like women are responsible for every single other sin ever listed in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam combined. BULLSHIT! The old testament is so historically and scientifically inaccurate it is not even FUNNY!

[@fallingasleepaswespeak]

would yall take a minute and realize the majority of this story is a metaphor?? jesus christ

[@kenqv3481]

It wasnt 73 mil yrs ago.. but still, not bad

[@pqzmfj]

73 million years ago...really!!!!!!!?????????

[@tzovlask]

...well 74 million now

[@fallingasleepaswespeak]

it was a joke please 😭😭

[@intrestedinallthings]

Abbey left out the part of the story in which includes why Sarah sent away Hagar and Ishmael: he was shooting arrows at Issac.

[@michaelwesthafer7362]

I think the bible left that part out as well.

[@bubbah671]

this episode helped me at the time before I became athiest. 911 killed any belief of God for me. it showed me the path of reason and science.

[@blastermasterguy]

The multiverse may not have a kind, just, and loving god like many Catholics will claim it has but that doesn't mean you can't "hope" for something better in existance after death. That hope that death is not the end gives us a reason to better ourselves and our race. It's when that hope is turned into belief and religious dogma that things get out of hand. At least that's my take on hope, faith, and religion. ;) :D

[@mohamedaminekantar9278]

well, science is the way to GOD, thats an islamic belief....if there is no God then make one, Albert Einstein said, i cant believe that this whole univers came by accident, 911 shows how man can be cruel, but not God, we are not supposed to kill each other, we are not supposed to invade each other, we are not supposed to oppress each other... look at this pandemic, instead of working to go this ship out of storm together, we are runing through out the strom individually, Mankind is not at its best, not GOD...

[@walterarchibald1318]

73 million years ago?

[@chrisbudesa]

Crap which started 4 thousand years ago.

[@tadious9415]

The human race has been around about 200,000 years. 73 million years is during the cretaceous period. I get exaggeration but that's so oddly specific exaggeration lol.

[@michaelwesthafer7362]

Issac and Ishmael lived about 4 thousand years ago, but what's a few hundred thousand more years?

[@SpydeyDan]

They key to a comedic exaggeration is to also make it absurdly specific so as to lend it a sense of illogical credibility.

[@jeff12210]

So this whole thing got started because a woman got pissed her husband did something she told him go out and do. Imagine that. Good to know it has been happening so long and the troubles it causes.

[@travisjohnson6676]

It actually in a similar scene where a man did something a woman said. ...and Eve gave Adam the apple and said "Eat".

[@scarletfluerr]

Yes, because it comes as a complete surprise that the Bible... a group of books written by men and gathered together by a committee of men, used by a Church headed by men would blame a woman for something.

[@tkefan29]

Jeff, it seems you have missed that Sarah told Abraham to kick out Hagar and Ishmael, she didn't kick out her husband, Abraham.

[@RandallSavage]

This level of dogma, along with the confusion over the origins of the terms Assassin and Terrorist, make this "special" a very uncomfortable episode for me to watch. It was made at a very dark time and it's fine but, uncomfortable.

[@HLWilliams]

perhaps it would have been better if you had watched it as a TV show and not a historical documentary it would not have been so uncomfortable.

[@williammassey8514]

You can always go to your safe space. It's TV.

[@celticlofts]

Well things did change in Northern Ireland - The Unionists didn't have their Jerrymandering anymore, each person now had one vote - The ten votes for him and none for you was ended. Money was distributed equitably among both communities, people who once had no voice in how Northern Ireland was governed were listened to and their concerns acted upon. Equal housing became the norm. The sectarian police force was ended and a reconstituted police force which would serve all the people of Northern Ireland was established. The hated B-Specials were gone and so were the RUC. And no matter what anybody says none of those changes would have taken place had it not been for the armed conflict in Northern Ireland. Sam forgot to say that one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter and terrorism doesn't always have a 100% failure rate.

[@PeterSedesse]

The first lady was wrong. God promised Abraham, he did not promise Sarah. Also God never said anything about his descendants being in charge of anything.. he just said he would have a lot of descendents and they would spread all over the world. There is nothing that god said that even hinted at the two sides being at competition with each other.

[@BobWilson-c6c]

Your arguing about a misinterpretation about a man made history. It doesn't matter who said what to who. So long as these nonsenses keep brain washing our children, then there will never be peace in the middle east. The greatest injustice done was when the most fertile section of Palestine was annexed of, and given to a "trbe" of people, who thought that area was thiers by right. Because of what was written in a book, known by Atheist as "the greatest story ever SOLD"

[@anticarrrot]

This has not aged as well as some other parts of the show.

[@chrism3845]

As a direct result of God being late to hold his promise to Abraham.....well here we are. Tens of thousands of dead innocent men, women and children. Go figure that one out.

[@PeterSedesse]

and god knows all, so he purposefully created ambiguity so that for 2000 years children and innocents were killed because he waited to give sarah a child..

[@adamvanhart3198]

The problem with Sorkin is that he is very good with words, it helps mask his ideas are stupid. Arab and Islamic areas had been pluralistic societies for more than a thousand years before Europeans began to take power and meddle. Pluralistic in ways that Europe was not and still struggles to be even to this day. The Jews and Arabs have not been fighting each other for thousands of years. In places where Muslims were majority, Jews were freer than they could be in Christian countries. Recent history is the breaking of that tradition. Saying that the feud goes back to the Torah and it has always been that way is cheap and easy to claim. It allows white people to hide from the fact that most of what is wrong with this world is actually their fault. It is insane for a Christian in this story to say we have always been at war with each other. European christianity is actually the problem.

[@Jpdt19]

I hear your point, but recall that earlier in this episode they specifically state they are referring to fundamentalists and how distinct they are from the majority of followers of Islam.

[@lancer525]

Cool story, bro...

[@gheller2261]

Fabulous. The first lady who is a doctor believes that fairy tales set the world on its path.

[@rachaelmorgan4025]

She is also catholic as is her husband. That is never hidden. A lot of Dr's happen to believe in scripture. Be they catholic or protestant. Or jewish

[@robwest6231]

She never said she believed it, but knows for sure the Arabic and Jewish peoples do.

[@arvinbuenaagua5161]

it's a myth, and myths convey truths facts can't.

[@sarahmueller335]

It's sad when we take advantage of a child's question by filling their head with religious rhetoric. As a high school physics teacher for the passed 15 years I have always told my students to challenge (question me) me. We did experiments to find evidence. I taught them to research, ask questions, and not to blindly follow the crowd. I taught them to search for the evidence that supports the truth. I taught them to be opened minded, to read, listen, analyz, and evaluate. In essence, I taught them to think for themselves.

[@xypaddy1]

"passed 15 years" ? and you are a teacher ?

[@williammassey8514]

SHHHHHHHHH!

[@scarletfluerr]

And yet you're too ignorant to see the truth behind the "religious rhetoric" or just too busy patting yourself on the back.

[@lancer525]

Didn't teach them how to spell or write a coherent sentence either...

[@CorsetLebelle]

I hate to tell you this but she’s not teaching religion but history

[@douglassauvageau7262]

In the end, the legitimate son was spared by the will of God.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

Yehweh honors promises.

[@ReaverLordTonus]

Wait, so you're telling me centuries of senseless bloodshed all started because some guy's wife gave her man a hallpass to knock up another woman and then got pissed when he actually did it?

[@LnPPersonified]

"73 million years ago." Um...no it didn't.

[@blastermasterguy]

Prove to me it happened AT ALL! :P

[@bbofun]

*Foghorn Leghorn voice* It's a joke, son! Went right over yuh head! Ya got tuh stop slouchin' so much!

[@tkefan29]

@@bbofun Lol

[@firstnamelastname7473]

Crazy how you can be president of the united states and still literally believe in something as silly as religion. The first lady’s speech is literally her telling the creation story of spiderman and everyone is in awe like what the hell??!?! Haha i get the moral and message but its just silly.

[@florinivan6907]

What's more awkward is in assuming that you're going to heaven as a politician. I'd have more respect for the character and the show if the president said 'I believe in God but I don't think there's room for me up there with all the things I've done.' At least in that case it would make him into a jaded character.

[@Jpdt19]

​@@florinivan6907 he does say on a couple of occasions he knows he is going to hell.

[@kellykitkat40]

Why do many assume that arabs are the sons of Ishmael, and not the Romans?

[@MrTreefoz]

I find it interesting that you suggest the sons of Ishmael are the Romans, as despite my study into the places and peoples of Genesis, I've never come across such a theory.

[@MrBraddles3128]

That’s ridiculous. When compared to all the years of human existence, the Romans are still an extremely new society. Arabs have been around far longer.

[@mirotuska5873]

Because at the time of Abraham, Rome was a swamp and the Romans but little tadpoles swimming in it.

[@YouTubeKnight]

This distinction between Jews and Arabs is a proper reflection of how the American imperialism is justified in the media, especially when it comes to the middle East. There are Jewish Arabs, Christian Arabs and certainly Muslim Arabs; not to mention other tribal and religious minorities. Arab is an ethnicity, not a religion; likewise, Judaism is a religion, it does not represent a whole ethnicity. This is the narrative that has been propelled by Israel for decades to continue their oppression of Palestinians. I'm a big fan of Sorkin, but this show is miles off when it deals with the tension in the middle-East. It tries to show that Israel and Palestine are on the equal ground of what they call a "conflict", while Israel gets over 3 billion dollars of military aide from the US to support their already advanced arsenal and Palestinians are fighting with sticks and stones compared to what their oppressors have.

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

Exactly. Instead of acknowledging that that the modern conflicts were caused by modern political and neocolonialist practices, it falsely places the blame on something that happened 1000 years ago. Middle eastern conflicts are not about Ishmael and Issac, they are like any other conflict in the world. They are about who gets to control oil, who gets to draw modern boarders, and who gets to politically influences their neighbor.

[@salam344]

This show seems a little racist.

[@kellykitkat40]

... 2:00 .. umm, no, not exactly... Sarah had stopped having sex in her old age. In those years she did not have sex with Abraham, yet she conceived : see, gen 21 : 1-2, kjv. I think God sealed the wombs of the women in the household of king animelech, in part, so that when Sarah was with child, Abraham would not doubt that Isaac was his, and accuse Sarah of infidelity. Because Sarah and Abraham had married , had had sex, in their youth, her bowels were his bowels, her body his body, for they had been made one flesh in their youth. So, one does not refer to the birth of Isaac as a Virgin Birth, but he is called, the child of promise. As are many others, and that is what is meant by, "IN Isaac shall thy seed be called". And being called, being chosen, is not enough - you have to prove yourself - be a jacob, and not an esau - be spiritually minded. It is a two step process.

[@marinvojkovic8415]

Lol, while I love WW and it's plurarity of views, this scene was always so stupid for me. I mean, are you serious in explaining the modern day political and terrorist issues by fairytales from the Bible? Like wtf Abby, go read a book or something, don't make kids into idiots.

[@mirotuska5873]

Right? Because, how could a family squabble turn into global terrorism thousands of years later?

[@brochan11]

There is no god so it's all nonsense.

[@rickyd0821]

+brochan11 It doesn't matter if there is no God, the belief in God is real to those that believe, and the positives and negatives that occur because of that belief are still reality.

[@DuckPin2011]

+samaritan 2012 yup.

[@bubbah671]

brochan11 we know that but 80% of humans don't.

[@tadious9415]

Regardless of whether there is a God or not most likely most of the people in the Bible really existed. And some were well known enough we can verify they really existed. So even if there weren't a God their belief may have been true, and the story with abraham and the slave woman and his wife very well may have been true.