Seinfeld!

Every so often I get sucked into the world of Seinfeld. It is far and away my favorite show of all time and as such I have the entire series on DVD. When these spells hit me I will just rip through episodes and eventually find myself watching the entire series. I think the writing is clever and quite ingenious. Since I the semester has started I have tried to look at things with a more analytical eye, specifically dealing with diversity and race. This mindset jogged my memory to about a year ago. I was watching Pardon the Interruption (PTI) on ESPN. Tony Kornheiser (who is white) made a reference to Seinfeld to which Michael Wilbon (who is black) said "I don't know what you're talking about, black people don't watch Seinfeld". I thought it was a bit off-color at the time but now it really makes me question it. This is a rather "iffy" thing to say. Wilbon didn't receive any "talking to" about what he said. I feel though that if Kornheiser said "You know white people don't watch Cosby Show", I feel that he would be hit with an onslaught on scrutiny. I'm not suggesting that Wilbon is racist or was even saying it in a defaming way I just think it was a questionable thing to say. I realize that the things white people say are subjected to much higher magnified scrutiny than any other race. I think it's a double-standard but at the say time I can certainly understand why. My other problem with this is that Seinfeld is just plain funny I don't understand why black people wouldn't like it. I have heard this argument before that Seinfeld is geared for specifically white people. I can understand the audience being predominantly white but there is no reason why black people wouldn't enjoy the show as well. It just makes me mad because there is a viewpoint that Seinfeld is racist, which couldn't be further from the truth. I've been a fan since I was 8 years old and seen every episode an obscene amount of times, not to mention I'm just in the process of watching them as we speak. This show is completely harmless. The show actually pokes fun at the situation when George has to prove to his boss who is black that he black friends. George doesn't have any black friends, not on purpose, it just never worked out for him. Seeing George scramble to find a friend who is black is funny and an interesting commentary about the world we live in. I like George don't really have any black friends. This is not because I choose not to but rather by coincidence and circumstance it just so happens that I don't have any black friends. I'm sure that there are black people who don't have any white friends. This is not because of any racial preference, it is just the way it worked out. I think Seinfeld was, and still is, light years ahead of itself. The show was such a perfect vehicle for social commentary and pinpointing the human condition. Seinfeld touched on some many areas of human's everyday lives, it is really quite amazing. The show was anything but racist, and I say that as not a casual fan but an extremely hardcore enthusiast. I think what Wilbon said was certainly questionable, but I don't think he meant it in a racist way. I still love PTI and Wilbon...I just gotta defend my Seinfeld! Viva la Seinfeld!!!