kramer, what's going on in there?
it's a newsletter, jerry!
this week’s meme format du jour was from seinfeld, which was cool. i love seinfeld, it’s one of my favourite shows of all time, i’ve been watching since i was a kid, even though it was cancelled a year after i was born.
but i feel like the internet has a weird relationship with seinfeld. we have the iconic @seinfeld2000 account, the internet collectively loves george costanza because a whole generation of sad, distressed and desperate people find him relatable, and once in a while someone brings up the massive issues the show has in retrospect, or the bad things the stars of the show have done.
i’m really interested in the way we revisit seinfeld and how we deal with the message of the show today. a lot of people seem to think the characters’ lack of empathy was supposed to be just surface-level funny, when really it makes more sense to view it as a “this is what happens when you have no filter for your selfishness.” nobody wants to be jerry, george, elaine, kramer or any other character, really. they’re awful! and that’s the point!
it’s like complaining that jordan belfort in the wolf of wall street is too aggressive and selfish, or that rick from rick and morty is too rude, or that tyler durden from fight club is too testosterone-filled and chaotic. like, that’s the fucking point. you’re not supposed to sympathize with these characters. the same goes for seinfeld.
nevertheless, i took the 5000 characters quiz and george costanza was one of my top matches. i will admit, i am a terrible person in many ways, so this makes sense.
but another aspect of seinfeld people revisit cyclically is the general bigotry within the show and its cast (warning, the article linked contains multiple mentions of the slur michael richards yelled), and jerry seinfeld’s relationship with a 17-year-old when he was 39. i think it’s perfectly reasonable to look back at these things and understand that these people have done bad things. there are no excuses for the racism and sexism the show contains and no excuses for the actions of richards and seinfeld.
i think it’s important to remember these things and view the offending episodes critically, just as i think every episode should be viewed critically. some people think the negatives of the show make it unwatchable, and that’s fine, you don’t have to enjoy it. i just don’t think it’s right to say empathetic people don’t enjoy seinfeld. it’s a weird, roundabout way of labelling seinfeld-enjoyers psychopaths. it’s not a snuff film, it’s a show about nothing.
crush of the week
i think i’m going to make this a recurring thing in this newsletter. i have parasocial crushes on so many celebrities, and i love to embarrass myself online!
so this week’s crush of the week is joseph gordon-levitt.
he has the same birthday as me, has dreamy eyes, is in so many movies i love, and i feel like everyone has moved on from liking him. but i never have!
track of the week
this week’s track is anthem part two, the first track on blink-182’s 2001 album take off your pants and jacket. not only is this a great track to begin an album with, but it’s never ever aged. we still all feel this way. it gets stuck in my head really often, i was thinking about it all day today. this whole album is great, really. give it a listen.
the signs as conspiracy theories
aries - RFID chips
taurus - new coke
gemini - finland doesn’t exist
cancer - chemtrails
leo - fluoridation
virgo - ancient astronauts
libra - illuminati
scorpio - epstein didn’t kill himself (this one is real)
sagittarius - flat earth
capricorn - HAARP weather control
aquarius - alien abductions (this is real too)
pisces - MKUltra (not a conspiracy theory)