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Teaching the Coddled Mind
Providing a platform for fools to speak, even in our venomous political climate, is essential to revealing their foolishness.
As a kid, I loved watching NBC’s Seinfeld–in fact, I still do. But no episode made me laugh more than the 116th, “The Soup Nazi,” which aired in 1995 during the show’s seventh season, when I was in middle school.
In one scene, George (played by Jason Alexander) is trying his best to follow a bizarre, authoritarian ordering system at a popular new soup kitchen, run by someone with a thick accent who appears to be an immigrant. When George doesn’t receive complimentary bread, he politely asks for some. This ignites the wrath of the titular Soup Nazi, who, after George demurs at an extra charge for his request, snaps his fingers. In one fell swoop, the cashier grabs George’s order and returns his money.
“No soup for you,” the Soup Nazi says, as George stands dumbfounded, while his friend Jerry urges him to leave, lest he ruin things for him as well.
The episode garnered rave reviews, and it remains cemented in pop-culture lore. Still, I wonder how the episode’s premiere would be received today, and if, as a middle-schooler in 2018, I would laugh as hard or cringe, taking offense at how the episode makes light of a gruesome period, which included the murder of six-million Jews, for the sake of mere humor. Would I call for the sitcom’s immediate cancellation, while supporting Iranian-born Ali “Al” Yeganeh, who ran a soup kitchen in New York, provided the episode’s premise, and, as a 2005 New York Times article explains, was angry over his fictional portrayal?
I don’t know. And that’s worrisome, especially for an educator, tasked with fostering resilient…
