SERIOUS issues dealt with in Seinfeld

I was watching the sponge last night and it got me thinking....

in the ep when kramer won't wear the aids ribbon he's turned on by the other walkers because of his refusal to "support the fight against aids". Is it just me or is this a very clever way of getting at the bigotry and ignorance of people who do not feel that supporting aids research is a good thing? Then i got to thinking were there any other epsiodes like that... The chinese woman - maybe a dig at preconceptions people have of various racial sterotypes? The outing - well, not that there's anything wrong with that....

anyone agree with me or think of any more?

Once it got successful, the show Seinfeld seemed to revel in tweaking political correctness and pretentiousness. For example- Jerrys parents were mortified that jerry disrespected "Schindlers List" as if seeing that movie was some sort of Bilically ordained religious duty- when it s really just a movie. The same for the line " I like chinese girls.... if its a race I LIKE- how can that be racist?" or when Jerry gets offended at a Jewish converts jokes. I love that ribbon episode with the ribbon. Kramer is literally and physically supporting the AIDS movement but he declines the follwo the PC fashion statement of the red ribbon. There are folks who wear red rbbons but who never DO anything to help, and Kramer is helping but making a personal decision not to follow the PC rules about ribbons.

"matt" wrote in message news:[email]...

That was exactly *my* take on the ribbon affair. It was a jab at PC tyranny as Kramer saw it. Then the fur frenzy. Elaine was asked about her fur furor and said something like "who has the time anymore?" When in The Stranded she really lit into George's date for wearing fur. I like this, as you say, tweaking :)

Frank refusing to celebrate Christmas my creating Festivus?

Didn't MADD have the red ribbon before AIDS?

I remember getting a red ribbon on a card from MADD.

That's Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

[email] (matt) wrote in message news:...

I feel the exact same way about ribbons in general (red, pink, etc.). The ribbons don't help anything. Frankly, I don't even see how they're supposed to help. It's more affective monetarily to donate the dollar as opposed to buying a ribbon. Besides, I don't need a ribbon to say I'm against AIDS. No one likes AIDS. We haven't forgotten AIDS is a problem. Hollywood PC types don't understand that though.

"David Sibley" wrote

I don't think the ribbons are a cure. They symbolize that you care.

ribbon.

More effective, why? Is the cost of manufacturing ribbons prohibitive? (Does 90% of your donation go directly to the evil 'ribbon-barons'? Does Halliburton make ribbons now?).

Absolutely.

Most people don't care.

Most people have.

As I understand it, 'Hollywood PC types' put more effort into AIDS awareness than your average couch potato.

To summarize:

I agree that you shouldn't wear a ribbon if you don't want to (I never have).

I disagree that anyone is forcing you to. I don't think Seinfeld is making a serious point here.

"Vince" wrote in message news:...

I don't think I made myself clear (which I'm commonly known to do). I meant that ribbons (for all causes) don't really help because they are seen so often that they seem to have lost effectiveness. Wearing ribbons, to me, hardly bring any awareness (especially since there are so many ribbon causes out there).

I've worked at a place which sold buttons for some child related cause (not AIDS). My understanding is that only some of the money actually went to the advertised causes. Think of the many telemarketing agencies that claim to have volunteers but actually pay employees. Some of these agencies actually have volunteers, but many of them blatantly lie to the people they are calling

Many people I've met, like the two men on Seinfeld, genuinely feel that if you don't wear a ribbon; you don't care. Or that you aren't trying to help the cause which is how I personally feel many people have come to think thanks to so many celebrities taking up ribbon causes.

Do I think Seinfeld was attempting to make a serious case? I don't know and I don't really care. Sometimes an extreme parody can actually help put it into perspective. Maybe I'm being a bit cynical, but that's how I see it.

"David Sibley" wrote in message news:[email]...

You were perfectly clear. Believe me. I thought that episode was wonderful for what it said. Just because I don't wear ridiculous ribbons does not mean I do or do not support some cause.

I don't like wearing my politics on my sleeve, or on my lapel I guess.

Dave

Lest we forget 'A Woman's Right to Chose."

That was a funny episode where Jerry bates Elaine with the continual questions until she finds out that her boyfriend is not pro choice. (This is not a thread on the merits of either approach, thank you.) Not that there is anything wrong with THAT!

Don Boring and Rosie Glendora, CA USA

"And pleeeeeaze, No Flash Photography."

Buck Strickland, "King of the Hill"

In article , "Ian Law" wrote:

That it would make little sense to stockpile Sponges given the fact that products using nonoxynol-nine as an active spermicide don't have an indefinite shelf life?

Oh yeah, _The Cigar Store Indian_ is brilliant writing. Also, the debate between Poppie and Kramer as to when a pie becomes a pizza in _The Couch_:

<http://membres.lycos.fr/tnguym/Scripts/TheCouch.html>

POPPIE: Yes, but we cannot give the people the right to choose any topping they want! Now on this issue there can be no debate!

KRAMER: What gives you the right to tell me how I would make my pie?

POPPIE: Because it's a pizza!

KRAMER: It's not a pizza until it comes out of the oven!

POPPIE: It's a pizza the moment you put your fists in the dough!

KRAMER: No, it isn't!

POPPIE: Yes, it is!

• Mark

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 00:09:48 -0700, Mark Mellin wrote:

Yes, it was a great metaphor, and i always wondered if everybody appreciated it. I think lots of people couldn't see what certain events symbolized, so they equated what they didn't understand to it being stupid and silly.