Thread debates whether Seinfeld's portrayal of an African American character as a homosexual predator represents racist stereotyping, with other posters arguing the show satirizes all groups equally.
Here we have yet another portrayal of a negative stereotype: I was told to view an episode in which there would be an African American with an actual speaking part; sure enough, it was a homosexual predator for this jewish "George" character....
Please. Crooked lawyers, homosexuals...can't you people just admit that the producers hate blacks?
In article ,
stereotype: I was told
American with an
predator for this
just admit that
Yeah, okay. Blacks, Jews, Irish, gays, lesbians, postmen, Yankee owners, soup proprietors....Seinfeld hates them all. Happy?
As long as we're making a list......
Don't forget bald guys, face painters, and Native Americans (remember Kramer with the wooden Indian??).
-Tim
In , "Timothy E. Raborn" writes:
And Communists!! Can't forget the Communists!!!
RB.
Oh and lest we forget, the show is constantly making fun of us honkies and jews and women and dentists and lawyers and soup chefs and bakers and fat people and ugly people and postal workers and comedians and dogs and kids and old people and hair and movies and..... hey! I just figured this out! This show is a COMEDY! Jeez... do I feel like a moron ;)
Why don't we just agree by consensus that African-Americans are treated quite nicely by Seinfeld. The only thing is that there are hardly any of them on the show aside from the rare appearance in minor roles.
What is a LITTLE disturbing on this newsgroup is the FLAWED reasoning that "a show isn't racist because there are white characters that are laughed at as well as black charactrs". That's stupid, moronic reasoning that the country hicks use to brush off any kind of racial charge.
What makes a show racist is if it ONLY shows stereotypes of a certain racial group. So if just about EVERY black character on the show was ridiculed, that would be racist. But this is far far from the case. Not all the black characters are made fun of, and not all the white characters are made fun of. The show is not racist against either whites or blacks. Simple as that.
On the same vein, a person who denies the show is racist can't legitimately use the MORONIC argument: "the show makes fun of everybody. What? Is it prejudiced against Soup Nazis or Postmen too?!?"
The answer is, IF there were LOTS Of Soup Proprietors and Postmen on the show, and ALL of them being ridiculed, then yes, a case for discrimination could be made. BUT we see only ONE postman (Newman) and ONE soup Proprietor (soup nazi) being made fun of, so it's probably ridiculing the one character.
A better case for discrimination against Asians on the show can be made...all but one character (the Lawyer) were idiots, buffoons, or portrayed in a "chinky" way. The waiter/worker at Hop Sing's restaurant ("She named names") was so blatantly racist I couldn't believe it. It was as bad as any old SAMBO portrayal by blacks on film during the 40's and 50's...except that we saw the "chinky-chinaman" portray on Seinfeld in the 90's.
In article , [email] says...
Well NOW who's prejudiced? I am DEEPLY offended on the behalf of southern-rural-genetically-challenged-Americans! Why don't you just call them "Banjo's" next! I'm calling James Carville on you!
In "Timothy E. Raborn" writes:
The show makes fun of a lot of characters. if it never made fun of a black characters that would be racist. the other night I saw a rerun where kramer was about to get robbed on the subway and was saved by a black undercover cop. this certainly was not a negative characterazation. and I don't think because someone is gay thats negative unless you are homophobic. there have been white and hispanic homosexual characters also. big deal.
On Sat, 25 Jan 1997 08:24:35 -0800, Timothy Hall wrote:
ok-they hate blacks.....
Don't be an idiot ... lighten up and get a life.
[email] wrote:
What about Jackie? He apparently is a successful lawyer. He got a settlement for Kramer against the coffee company.
[email] (Marc Mandell) wrote:
told
this
that
I felt that this lawyer character was based on Johnnie Cochran. They were making fun of Cochran.
Yeah. And... ?
Yea they were spoofing Cochran, it was hilarious. billfd10
On 26 Jan 1997 05:06:16 GMT, [email] (Trudy495) wrote:
So what i seem to recal they even made a sterotype story about a pakistani guy named buboo how ome nobody said anything about that?
On Sat, 08 Feb 1997 04:14:13 GMT, [email] (F Jabbar) wrote:
Can't people make fun of Johnnie Cochran?
Just wondering.
First of all George is Italian. Second it sounds like you are racist the way you talk about Italians , Jews , And homosexuals. You are a loser.
What a fucking idiot! Did you complain when you watched Cosby, Martin, Moesha? Any white people in those shows? No! They are making shows based on their own everyday lives, and in any of these cases, these people hang around their own race. So shutup and quit crying about nothing. Besides, Jackie Chiles is black. And yes they're making fun of Cochran because he's also an idiot if he thinks OJ is innocent. The family who rented 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' was black, a man in John Jermaine's band was black(who talked to Jerry and Kramer). Damn whiners!
Nice troll..
[email] wrote:
I don't know about how nice it is. This is a pretty silly effort. On the troll scale from one to ten, I give it a three!
<<Please. Crooked lawyers, homosexuals...can't you people just admit that the producers hate blacks?>>
oh, puhleez. this is so stupid. the crooked lawyer is obviously a parody of johnny cochran(i know i'm stating the obvious, but this guy might not know it). now if you're saying that a show can't make fun of someone because they're black, well, that's just silly. i hardly think that was the point of the civil rights movement. i thought the point was *equality*. now equality also means an equal right to be made fun of. you're just being oversensitive.
Timothy Hall wrote in article ...
Oh Please!!! If you have forgotten, when George worked for the Yankees, his boss was black
Well, that doesn't constitute racism. If you make fun and parody someone like, uhhhh, Sammy Davis Jr., or Martin Lawrence, does that necessarily make you racist? What about them satirizing George Steinbrenner, I guess they hate whites too?
In article Timothy Hall writes:
What exactly made him a homesexual PREDATOR. When presented with some racy pictures from a supposed (yet mistaken) admirer, he resonded. Sounds to me like YOU characterize homosexuals as somehow evil of intention. To paraphrase the immortal Costanza ... your little man is an idiot
If you watch more than one episode with anything resembling an open mind, you'll see that virtually every single character in the show (especially the stars) are crazy, strange, dumb, selfish, whiney, arrogant, etc, etc...
And what's this about homosexuals? Are you prejudice against homosexuals?
Would you be happier if George was black? How about Kramer? On the show the Fresh Prince (I think that's what it's called), the nerdy black people in the show are those that have stereo-typical white traits. IOW to be white is to be nerdy, unhip, uncool. It appears to be the whole premise of the comedy (such as it is). Can you imagine a show like this with the roles reversed?
The group that gets lampooned a lot, that surprises me are disabled people. I've never seen it anywhere else. And I bet most disabled people are glad to be included with the rest of the world for a change, instead of being "protected" by being ignored.
Ron
I said it before, I'll say it again...If you don't like what you're watching, turn off the TV.
[email] writes:
No shit! Thank you very much. Or, I guess we could just sit here and microanalyze everything to bleedin' death.