Seinfeld and Road Rage

I can't belive tonight's epiksode of Seinfeld til I saw it with my own eyes. Seinfeld encourages Rorad Rage, by allowing his passengers to moon someone giving him the finger and then calling someone a "jackass" just because he got cut off. It isn't just typical to New York, but all over. People want to curb Road rage by not giving in to the anger and the outbursts of the other drivers, but to remain calm, not to take it personal, and to keep focused on your own driving habits.

Yet Jerry does the exact opposit, he gives in to the road rage. That isn't exactly what should be going on in real life.

Yeah that would have been the REAL humorous thing to do...."Hey guys, don't get all angry now."

[email] wrote:

I don't think Seinfeld was encouraging road rage, but rather laughing at the absurdity of it (as he always does). I for one can relate to the "box out" and that jack-ass who accelerates and then has the nerve to think he's "cut off" (although I haven't encountered Orange Golf myself, hee hee.) And I f-ing hate the "stare-ahead." Those are the worst!!!! The joke at the Hyndenberg movie was obviously a comment on the success of the Titanic. The only thing I didn't really get was the laser pen. I haven't seen them and have no idea why someone would want one.

On Thu, 07 May 1998 21:31:12 -0700, Skyler Livezey wrote:

"Busted once again, but I'll show them one day when I can buy and sell the world." - eels

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No, the humurous thing to do would have been to come up with a more creative way to respond to a perceived slight by another driver. The lame way they responded was not funny, IMO. Since when is name-calling funny?

Jerry

[email] wrote:

part of comedy since before even the Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields.

[email] writes:

What a prig.

Its not the name calling thats funny. Its the fact that they are so childish. "By the way, that was the 'Im not sorry wave'." COme on would a grown man say that?

On Thu, 7 May 1998 [email] wrote:

Shut up - its a television show

[email] wrote:

If you want real role models, don't look at TV, look at our elected officials!

hP

[email] wrote in message ...

isn't

That's right. But Seinfeld is a TV show, so it's not real life.

[email] wrote:

But this isn't real life; it's a TV show.

Come on down to DC, we'll show you road rage. Last week a woman was involved in a rush hour accident and was thrown from her car. A good samaritan -- in an Army uniform -- stopped to protect her until help arrived. People were driving within inches of the helpless injured woman, giving the good samaritan the bird, and screaming "get that garbage out of the way."

Another guy is going on trial for attacking other drivers with jacks.

Now that's real life. These jerks don't need Seinfeld to learn how to act like that.

Bob Wells

On Thu, 7 May 1998 20:29:16 -0700, [email] wrote:

Try JayJay the Jet Plane; his videos educate, *not* overstimulate.

I feel sorry for any adult who would let a TV show dictate how to live their life. Out of all the things Seinfeld has been "inpolitically correct" about you choose this to protest. Gimme a break. I love Seinfeld because the writers aren't afraid to poke fun at any subject.

Youngblood

Hence an episode. Perfect response, Mary. Now spelling rage, that's another story�

[email] wrote:

No shit, sherlock. That's why Seinfeld is a SITCOM. It's not real life.

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This is disingenuous. The appeal of Seinfeld is that it is based on real life, in a way that other TV shows are not.

Jerry

Anyone want a free bumpersticker? Send me a SASE and I will send you your choice of:

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The last two are small static stickers for your car.

If you cannot decide on one, e-mail me for the address and you will get the whoe set for $10 - I will pay postage.

Cheers,

Donna

isn't

Isn't this like saying Seinfeld encouraged date rape when he drugged a woman to play with her toys?

*Guy*

The "pressed ham under glass" is one of the oldest comedy standards, going back at _least_ to Chaucer.

Guy Bozlinski wrote in article ...

Geez, this is comedy, please lighten up and stop taking every little thing so seriously. That really sucks April

[email] (GrnIdgurl) wrote:

The panties that your mother laid out for you?

Both Mary's and Steve's points are valid. Road rage (as Mary points out) shouldn't be encouraged) But as Steve points out it's just a TV show. At worse such an episode wouldn't cause road rage but merely reenforce it by validating it. However the boorish behavoir is safe because it isn't real. The same thing applied to the antics of Eddie Haskel on "Leave it to Beaver." Because we knew it wasn't real it was safe to idolize a person whom in real life we'd think of as being a punk.

The edge that Seinfeld has isn't that it shows people at their worse but at their actual. This, and not the dark side of Seinfeld was what made the show most appealing. Remember that the driver of the other car was black but at no time did Race enter the picture. By doing so it made the show a tad less real but enabled the episode to concentrate on macho guy car games.

But te thing is that Road Rage is a real thing and that TV sanctions it. Some people, by watching it seem to thing that just because it happens on tv, that it justifies behaving that way. Remember the Exorcist? After a lot of people saw that movie and other related flicks, started justifying their behaviour accordingly. Note, that I said "some people" and also "a Lot". I didn't say everyone. This proves that TV and movies do have that kind of influence, even though it's just a tv show, some people will think it's cool to behave that way.

On 9 May 1998, David A. Tharp wrote:

[email] wrote in message ...

Oh, I thought I was watching a comedy and not a public service announcement.

Seinfeld is comedy entertainment not sober driving instruction nor is it intended as any kind of Public Service Announcement. Most of us can tell the difference. After I saw The French Connection I didn't try to imitate the driving I saw. I have never entertained the notion of swimming in the East River either.

On Thu, 7 May 1998 20:29:16 -0700, [email] wrote:

Just be happy George wasn't driving in a rage. He would have yelled, "George is getting angry!" before running Maroon Golf off the road into a telephone pole causing severe internal bleeding to Mario Joyner. He then would have driven off yelling "Serenity Now!"

Or he could do what he did in "The Pledge Drive" - trail the guy and confront him as a gas station.

"Road Rage" is indeed a reality but give the show credit for the antiseptic manner in which they handled the topic. They lovingly reduced it to mere pranksterism. Two grown men were indulging in a form of male bonding almost. Yes, there was winners and losers but this was in the context of "Guy Stuff." This way a line could be drawn between the action on TV (meant for laughs) and the real thing, which as we know from reading the newspapers can be real nasty.

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This is exactly why I object to it. They made it seem antiseptic and like it was a form of male bonding. Real road rage is nothing like that. It's a cancer on society.

Jerry Weaver