Seinfeld Liberals

The American Thinker ^ | 6/26/05 | Ed Lasky

[A_perfect_lady]

It took me a while to get to where I could watch it. My boyfriend loves it, so I get exposed to it constantly. The first episode I ever watched featured the joke about a guy who left his cat alone in a locked apartment until it starved to death. Not at all funny to me.

I saw it again some months later, where George's fiancee dies from licking envelopes... again, I thought "and this is funny why?"

Barney Miller was the only sitcom I ever watched because I loved the characters. There's never been another like it.

[k omalley]

I loved Seinfeld because it was totally un-pc. They didn't pick certain groups to make fun of, they made fun of everybody!

[kevkrom]

They didn't pick certain groups to make fun of, they made fun of everybody!

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[altura]

Perfect Seinfeld people would never bother to go to the trouble of actually reading the article, as obviously most posters on this thread didn't.

He wasn't talking about politics per se, but about a general attitude about life--eerily similar to that of many liberals.

[MotleyGirl70]

Elaine was way overboard in her PETA feminism.

Towards the end of the series Jerry asks her:

"What about the fur?"

To which she shrugs her shoulders and replies: "Uh know, who has the strength anymore {to object to people wearing fur}."

[A_perfect_lady]

I agree, the essay (I read about 2/3 of it) didn't seem to suggest that the show was propaganda for the DNC or anything, just that the characters displayed a lot of the same attitudes as real life liberals: selfish, picky, shallow, without direction, reactionary...

[rabidralph]

Here it is.

[BallyBill]

The whole point of the show was that they were so self absorbed and shallow. I loved the show, but wouldn't want to be or know any of them in real life. I guess it was a Liberals Show!!

[Kirkwood]

Ha! I think George would lie and say he voted and then his girlfriend would ask him what he thought about such and such an amendment and then he would go into a panic attack. Don't forget, he lied about the contest and never admitted it until the last episode when the plane was going down.

[BullDog108]

While occasional feints towards marriage were made (noticeably George’s relationship with Susan – which ended in George killing her)

That's not what happened in the show. This writer is not responsible.

He killed her accidentally by purchasing the cheapest wedding cards available, and they contained a poisoned gum, if I recall the episode correctly. She died because she had to lick all of them, (instead of using a sponge or whatever....)

[Bossy Gillis]

I agree with you, for some reason, the sitcoms of today totally rub me the wrong way. I prefer Leave it to Beaver, still think that's funny after all these years. My very favorite is Dallas til that got stupid with that dream business.

[nosofar]

Maybe the Seinfeld characters realized something about themselves and swore off marriage for a reason.

Yeah. They realized they didn't want to propogate their inferior genes.

[dsc]

I first saw Seinfeld this year, when a cow-orker loaned me some DVDs.

I've been a Michael Richards fan since around 1980 when Fridays debuted, but frankly, I just don't like the other three characters. Wouldn't want to be friends with them.

[oxlongm]

The "thesis" has the smell of a graduate-school dissertation . . .

Absolutely, and a pretty weak one at that. Seinfeld is as apolitical a show as I've seen. Rural America, religion, and family life were mined for humor because... the show was a comedy! Urban America, secularism, and single life were mined for humor much more often and at least as scathingly. The series itself depicts all of the main characters unsympathetically and ends by putting them in jail, yet the author tries to use the characters and the creators interchangeably to represent the same political views.

[KosmicKitty]

Don't forget, Kramer was a Union man. Well, it was the bagel maker's union and he was on strike for 12 years

The beauty of Sienfeld is that it never preached, no messages, no personal growth. And the final episode was perfect, showed the prison that each of characters was in.

I would never want to trade my life for any of the Seinfeld characters. The point of their exisistance, in my opinion, was to show us the worse aspects of our own character.

[dsc]

Portrait.

Now *that's* funny.

[rbg81]

The writer is confused or deluted if he thinks that the Seinfeld characters consititue role models that any sane person would want to emulate. Indeed, as the show went it, it became more and more obvious that the ideosyncracies and personal flaws made it impossible for any of the main characters to lead happy, fullfilling lives. This was especially hammered home in the last episode where E,G,J,& K are sent to jail, not so much for the minor offense for which they are charged, but for their behavior over the past decad--very Camus-eske! If some Liberals indeed display this behavior, I would say that Seinfeld parodied it, rather than promoted it.

The style and themes of Seinfeld are being repeated in the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" series on HBO (Larry David). I enjoy them both, but don't think anyone in their right mind would claim these are role models.

[Paul_B]

Saw the show once. Pure drivel with a strong approbation of immorality. Exactly what's wrong with TV in America. Never watched it again.

[Tanniker Smith]

Barney Miller was the only sitcom I ever watched because I loved the characters. There's never been another like it.

Well, sure, if you want a sitcom where people can actually act instead of pose and read banal dialogue.

[bwteim]

"The Gum" is one of the funniest episodes, IMO

Kramer eating the 60+ year old hot dog
George and his John Voigt car
George's missing $20
Elaine's blouse buttons
Jerry's glasses
post-institutionalized Lloyd Braun
George convincing his former girl friend he's not nuts