teddy

i want to preface with: i am a very white australian, so please understand that i have no qualifications to be discussing this, no personal experiences. i have never experienced prejudice for my nationality or ethnicity, so please take what i say with a grain of salt.

this train of thought specifically came from interacting with The Pitt fandom, in which i have seen both praise and criticism for the writing, particularly for Noah Wyle.

Dr. Robby is a Jewish character - this is a known, canon fact of his character. Noah Wyle has Jewish heritage.

i have noticed something of a fine line between what is genuine criticism of Robby’s character, the writing and Israeli influences on this show - and then what begins to teeter into anti-semitism

again, i’m australian. so i am not at all well-versed in the nuances of US TV, and the influences from higher up.

that being said, i can understand with the current state of the world and the US government, that there would be worries when it comes to deciphering the difference between genuine representation, and propaganda.

Dr Robby is ethnically Jewish, and is portrayed as the wise, gentle leader that the show wants you to root for. these are two separate facts of the character, but who knows how intrinsically linked these two facts are?

thats where the anxiety and concerns for the shows writing comes in. which is justified, especially when you factor in the addition of Dr Al-Hashimi, a character with Arabic heritage, as the hard-headed opposite and rival of Dr Robby.

this isn’t to say Al-Hashimi is a particularly unlikeable character. she is objectively good at her job, good with patients and has a genuine interest in improving the short-comings of the medical system.

but its hard to ignore the glaringly obvious set up: an Arabian character comes into a Jewish characters place of work, and attempts to “take over” his way of doing things. it reads like a very strange, very politically charged take on ‘a horse walks into a bar’.

once again,i do not know, and will not pretend to understand the systematic influences in modern American TV. but with the state of the world, it seems like no mistake was made in the writing of these characters.

so, again, the criticism is justified. how much is truly diversity and how much is propaganda from israeli influences?

however, to be instantly critical of any diversity is a slippery slope. there is nothing wrong with Dr Robby being Jewish - and good representation could be extremely helpful in the state of the world.

being automatically critical of The Pitt simply because Dr Robby is Jewish will turn into a lack of good representation; if every single ethnically Jewish character is now seen as nothing but propaganda. (Same for any Arabian character)

not every person with jewish and israeli heritage supports genocide. if we weed out every bit of diversity in modern TV we are moving backwards.

so, with the state of the world and political climate right now, there is such a fine line between these two points.

this is not to say that either point of view is wrong. like i said, it is more than fair to be critical of The Pitt’s writing.

i’ve heard accusations against Noah Wyle. i won’t stand here and doubt them.

and i know that acknowledging current turmoil in the world in the media comes with many caveats and dilemmas that i am unable to comprehend or know. however, The Pitt has not shied away from acknowledging ethnic discrimination (think to the burn victim who was revealed to be a Tree of Life shooting survivor). (even in this, it’s telling that the platform they choose to talk about discrimination on is with a Jewish character)

so, it would be nice to see The Pitt acknowledge more. maybe that’s wishful thinking. i genuinely enjoy this show and know many people did! and i know that to see every little thing from a political standpoint will usually call for criticism regardless of the standpoint, but there is no more room for ignorance in our world. to not see the political influences in the media is to be wearing a blindfold.