The Gospel according to Ross.

"You study dinosaurs or something" Joey told Ross, "No, I study paleontology" Ross exclaimed. Ross Gellar was probably the smartest dumb person of the show. He earned a Ph.D in dinos and was a professor at NYU. Pretty serious stuff. However, when he interacted in every show, he was lost for words, had a blank stare on his face, and a joke was always ready to be made about him (especially his three marriages).

The gospel according to Ross was simple...find love (although always in the wrong places). He was known to be the only one that got married, even if it was three times. He married Rachel while drunk in Las Vegas, married Carol that end up being a lesbian, and Emily when he said "Rachel" during the wedding service. He also dated every girl under the sun, even one of his students at NYU (whose dad was Bruce Willis!). He always desired to be with his Rachel Green, his high school crush. He did end up having a child with Rachel (Emma), yet, they did not officially get together in any formal way.

Ross' character had an impact on our society by almost encouraging a emotional, undirected pursuit of love. When Ross would try to find a mate there were no discussions on morals, interests, or faith, but focused on his inner feelings. We see this in society where people simply search for love based on what is inside and not the reality of the moment. This is what I would call the Ross affect.

He also increased the downplaying of men. He was the smartest one of the whole Friends show, however, his identity was on the same line as Joey (village idiot). In our society, men are to be the funny ones, not intelligent. If they are, they better not look like they have it together. They better not be will be a stable force for women and (gasp)! the head of the family.

I just admit that I liked Ross more than all of the characters, but he was by no means good for us and others.