#8: What do you call a race car driver? A racist!

As an international student it is justifiable to state that the lack of geographic knowledge amongst today's generation of teenagers in America is pretty sad. Ignorance I think is the best word to describe how race is percieved in today's society, followed by intimidation, I've come to an alarming realisation that whilst during my freshman year, people would turn around towards me in shock after hearing me respond to a question in class or simply participating in a discussion, after all how can a dark- skinned individual who looks asian speak perfect english with an english accent?

"The Wizard" perfectly defines this countless attitude I've been accustomed to, how do you address an individual if you're unsure of which race is he from? Is it polite to assume which nationality he/she originates from just from external appearances? Is it rude to inquire, and what if we as an indivdual inquire inappropriately? Elaine's uncertainty to identify the guy she is dating fuels her anxiety to get to know where he is from. Jerry presumes he is African America just by looking at the skin colour, so does Elaine after hearing the loud hip/hop music coming out of his room. However the audience and Elaine find out that that isn't the case, and she becomes overwhelmingly curious to find out her dates race. Elaine's uncertainty and fear to approach the topic of race and ethnicity is representative of the majority of Americans in todays generation.

History and society, especially in America has rendered such topics as socially inappropriate, due to perhaps social norms passed on from the previous generation to the current generation This could perhaps answer where Elaine's uncertainty derives from, and the rest of the characters as they overtip the waitress due to guilt. The fear is possibly explainable due to the lack of knowledge that the X- generation acquires, where the inability to identify an individual's nationality, race, or ethnicity doesn't bode well as it challenges everything they're accustomed to. Both fear and uncertainty are interlinked and Seinfeld best portrays this in "The Wizard" where race and ethnicity becomes a major issue amongst the four friends, to the point where eve ntalking about is portrayed as taboo.