George, nice guy / Kramer and wheelchair

The repeat last week (the one where Jerry and Elain set George up) gave away more about George's character than any other episode.

Sure, he was a schmuck in his "ejaculation" about his sperm ("My boys can swim" or something like that). But, in the end, when he thought the woman was pregnant, he did the right thing.

To me, that's the great thing about this show. Sort of real, looney people all searching for love in all the wrong places. But they are all basically good people.

The wheelchair episode last night was classic for two reasons. Well, really one reason. The show made the handicapped lady a person without really making any "oh pity me" references. I mean, I actually didn't LIKE her! Who was she to say Kramer wasn't good looking! The bitch!

But seriously, this was great! Mocking a person for being shallow can be a funny topic. And so what if the woman was in a wheelchair? She was shallow and deserved to be made fun of!

And plus, she should have checked her batteries before she left her house, or at least made sure her brakes worked (would an electric wheelchair really roll backwards if the battery died? I don't think so).

But I ramble,

Later,

Gary

Interesting reaction. I'm reminded not to get upset the next time I get a hositle reaction when in public. Or when someone talks to someone I'm with as if I don't exist....

It's a good thing I have televison to remind me of just how little I count in the world. And I used to think I was still a real person.

How stupid could I be.

Thanks for being honest about how you feel about people who are different.

When I saw the episode, and after seeing comments like this, I often wonder what year it is. 1993- or 1933.

Well, while I didn't laugh at that, I really enjoyed the crowd trashing the car. Of course if I had been there I probably would have Molotoved the car after Seinfeld and friends had gotten in it.

Now, if there were trees around, I would have brought enough rope to deal with them.....

Some ramps are very steep, despite what the law might require. But I see that you are an expert on the subject.

Simon

I will not submit to the PC police.

I will re-iterate my positive reactions to "The Wheelchair" in a bullet list so as to remove the obviously negative connotations the previous poster found.

1) "Seinfeld" shows a woman in a wheelchair as a person who was shallow
2) I found the situation funny
3) I found it rather 1993, (not 1933) just for that reason; a beautiful woman
   in a wheelchair who SHOULD have known better not to judge someone based
   on looks did just that.  That made her MORE human (but still a bitch)

That's all i was trying to say. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

As for the wheelchair rolling backwards, I apologize for the tone you interpreted.

I should have said "Would an electric wheelchair roll backwards if the batteries died? In my limited experiences (2 kids I used to know who were in electric wheelchairs), I haven't found that to be true, although I am not an expert in these matters."

Friends now Simon? I found a lot of venom in your post... I was only trying to point out how I thought the show illustrated the forward movement of wheelchair-bound people.

I respect your right to object to my opinion, but don't make me out as a monster with snyde PC remarks like

Where did I say you shouldn't get upset when these things happen to you? In fact, I was trying to celebrate the fact that a TV show treated a woman in a wheelchair as a *real woman* foibles and all...

Or,

"Some ramps are very steep, despite what the law might require. But I see that you are an expert on the subject."

I see where my tone might have been wrong, but I cannot account for your PC sensitivity. I apologize.

See ya,

Gary

I'm not the PC police, just someone pointing out the lack of decency on TV.

But it was what appeared to be positive reactions to the assinine jokes on the show that got me irked.

Then of course, we didn't know much about her either.

It is obvious that I didn't. And it's not PC to be personally offended by a TV show.

It was a bad thing that she didn't want to go out with Kramer? So what?

Did you even understand what I meant by 1933?

They why didn't you say that at first? Just in case it might have been misinterpreted.

Perhaps my situation has caused me to see things differently. I didn't see the episode as positive. The only thing it illustrated for me was that it reminded me that there are ***holes in the world.

Again there is nothing PC in my reactions to the episode.

It might have been better if we had seen her and known a little more about her.

I repeat, I'm not being PC at all. You seem really suprised that I was offended by the episode. I really wished I could trade places with people for a day- perhaps then they would understand why I might be offended by things like the 5/13 Seinfeld episode

Imagine, every day, feeling like you're an astronaut on an alien planet, or perhaps a tourist stranded in a foreign country and you can't ever go home. Alone in the unknown.

Trying to adjust but the rules keep changing.

I've rambled enough.

Simon 'The future is a distant memory'

I've noticed that some of the responses to my criticism of the 5/13 episode seem to be in the style of the classsic 'Why, I don't hate (fill in the group here), in fact some of my best friends are (fill in the group).'

Most disturbing.....

Simon 'The future is a distant memory'

Simon E. Booth ([email]) wrote:

Why? Why is this disturbing? If you don't believe such responses are sincere then why should we believe you are sincere in your offense to the show in question and not just creating so much "flame bait"?

hmmmmmm?

Why cant you be open-minded to our responses to this episode? Is the only way to "make friends" (to use an early respondents words) to agree with you?

In article [email] writes:

Look, my offense at the show was sincere. It was not just flame bait.

I really was upset by what I saw from a personal standpoint. If I wasn't

Look, I've apologized for my flaming about it and my overreacting to the episode. What more do I have to do to convince people that my comments, both my obejctions and apologies are for real?

I am sorry for attacking everyone. I'm trying to defuse this.

Simon 'The future is a distant memory'

I haven't noticed this at all. For the record, I thought the whole show was funny, period. Was it politically incorrect? Yeah, and I don't care. Nothing anyone has said about this topic so far has answered the basic question here: where is it written that a person in a wheelchair is to be only pitied/honored/treated with 900 times the respect we give anyone else? I couldn't care less WHAT sort of disability a given person may or may not have; if he/she is a jerk, I'm going to treat him/her accordingly. NOBODY is perfect, and we ALL have our strong and weak points. I'm overweight, and because of that I've been denied jobs, hundreds of dates, and suffered in many other ways because of it. And yet I don't get self-righteous and indignant when they make fat jokes about George or whenever Newman shows up. I LAUGH, and laugh heartily. I will continue to do so. We've got to stop setting all these silly, arbitrary limits on what is and is not "allowable" in life, or we're all going to stop HAVING lives.

--Aaron

Alright already! I said I was sorry. What more do I need to do?

Look, the episode struck a nerve with me, I thought it was in bad taste. I how sometimes because of my situation I might get upset at things like the 5/13 episode.

I'm doing my best to turn this flamewar off.

I am truly sorry for my initial remarks. It was way out of line to make the Nazi comparisons I made. I got carried away.

I had calmed down after a day or two but it was too late to do anything.

My apology is sincere.

Simon 'The future is a distant memory'

I took it personally, I overreacted, I have apologized and explained why

I will not submit to the PC police.

I will re-iterate my positive reactions to "The Wheelchair" in a bullet list so as to remove the obviously negative connotations the previous poster found.

1) "Seinfeld" shows a woman in a wheelchair as a person who was shallow
2) I found the situation funny
3) I found it rather 1993, (not 1933) just for that reason; a beautiful woman
   in a wheelchair who SHOULD have known better not to judge someone based
   on looks did just that.  That made her MORE human (but still a bitch)

That's all i was trying to say. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

As for the wheelchair rolling backwards, I apologize for the tone you interpreted.

I should have said "Would an electric wheelchair roll backwards if the batteries died? In my limited experiences (2 kids I used to know who were in electric wheelchairs), I haven't found that to be true, although I am not an expert in these matters."

Friends now Simon? I found a lot of venom in your post... I was only trying to point out how I thought the show illustrated the forward movement of wheelchair-bound people.

I respect your right to object to my opinion, but don't make me out as a monster with snyde PC remarks like

Where did I say you shouldn't get upset when these things happen to you? In fact, I was trying to celebrate the fact that a TV show treated a woman in a wheelchair as a *real woman* foibles and all...

Or,

"Some ramps are very steep, despite what the law might require. But I see that you are an expert on the subject."

I see where my tone might have been wrong, but I cannot account for your PC sensitivity. I apologize.

See ya,

Gary