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Really? They never end that way on the Dope. Hence my earlier post. It becomes a politically correct "how dare anyone say anything about someone's weight/gender/disability/whatever".
So maybe you see that other places, maybe you're just repeating your contrary behavior in hopes of stirring more shit on this board. In either event, this is my last post on the subject.
So you assume that because someone represents an "anti-PC" attitude they haven't ever thought about things "in a serious way" before. How un-PC of you. I'm fucking OUTRAGED.Quote:
Originally posted by Excalibre
Confirmed.Quote:
Originally posted by garygnu
====================
President Barack Obama apologized to Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver for making a joke about the organization during last night’s taping of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
Shriver, appearing today on ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” said Obama’s apology was “very moving.” The president called Shriver from Air Force One before departing for Washington and said that he “didn’t want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain and suffering.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 0&refer=us
I don't know what the hell your childish issue with me is, and I don't really care. Just go away. Why do you even care about me?Quote:
Originally posted by Chimera
I think when someone joins in the chorus of people who are OUTRAGED because someone, somewhere may have been offended by something (that was, in fact, somewhat offensive) then yes, it's a pretty clear sign they haven't thought seriously about the matter, yes.Quote:
Originally posted by Rigamarole
Now I think it's you that needs to go back and read the thread. Who here is DEEPLY OUTRAGED?Quote:
Originally posted by Excalibre
Eh. I may exaggerate a little, but the whole thread is basically the Great Big Anti-PC Echo Chamber.Quote:
Originally posted by WhyNot
It's a new board, how about some reconsideration of some of this instead of just rehashing the same opinions as at the other place?
I winced when I heard about the comment. I didn't think it was a horrible, no-good, ghastly thing to say, but I think it was the type of thing that really can hurt a person who has already got a lot of boots kicking at his head. I think Special Olympics is a great program, and I'd bet Obama does as well. But the fact that these sorts of jokes just roll off our tongues even when we're highly educated and probably being very careful about what we say, shows, I think, that we have a cultural contempt for the weak. We individually feel empathy (well, most of us), but culturally feel a sort of disgusted superiority.
Is that really a problem? In nature the weak don't get coddled, they get eaten by wolves. By comparison we're way nicer.Quote:
Originally posted by Julie
"Most of us are better than wolves!"Quote:
Originally posted by Rigamarole
Harumph.
It all depends upon how you define "weak."Quote:
Originally posted by Rigamarole
I think Obama should go bowling with some Special Olympics people, and they should kick his ass. (Judging by what that kid apparently said, it shouldn't be hard.)
Remember: if you have really low expectations, you're always pleasantly surprised!Quote:
Originally posted by Julie
Today I refrained from slaughtering the children of a social rival.
Once, in about 6th grade, in response to an adventure into a department store with an older salesman I said to my giggling friend: I can't wait until I'm old enough to fart in public and not care. Which, really, is a bold thing to admit for a 6th grade girl. I wonder if part of Obama says to hell with it - "Like me or don't. You know what I mean."Quote:
Originally posted by featherlou
You bleeding heart you.Quote:
Originally posted by Caerie
I don't think this is as big a deal as some people in the media are making it, but I thought one of the nice things about having Obama as president instead of W was that our hallowed leader wouldn't make jackass statements in public anymore.
Should he have said "I bowl like a little girly"? Should he have deliberated long and hard over the exact comparison he wanted to make? Was his comment part of a litany against individuals of potentially lesser ability?
What he said may have been casually cruel - and surely most humans have made that mistake? - but it wasn't intended to attack a specific individual or even a group of them. IMO.
Surely most humans have made plenty of gaffes in speech that are lightly skimmed over by their audience. When you're the leader of the greatest country in the world, you have an obligation to be somewhat flawless in your public speech, as you're bound to have it criticized.Quote:
Originally posted by ivan astikov
Making a gaffe that's easily perceived as being markedly insensitive to one group doesn't mean that Obama's a jerk, or even prejudiced against the mentally handicapped. But it's disappointing, just as if he'd inadvertantly referred to something that he thought was lame* as 'gay', or if a white president had thoughtlessly referred to brazil nuts as niggertoes.
*no offense intended to the physically handicapped. Then again, I'm not the President, and nobody expects me to speak intelligently. So catch me if you can, gimps!
It's exactly the casual cruelty that I find disheartening in the comment. It's just such a common thought or statement that we fall right into it without thinking it through.Quote:
Originally posted by ivan astikov
I saw no "casual cruelty" myself. Not the least speck of it. Mr. Obama was, at worst, thoughtless. He's paying pretty dearly for it. But at least he didn't swear to God that there were WMD's hidden in the desert, or even lift his dog up by the ears. Can we put it in perspective?
Right here and other the other board (and many other places) a lot of people use the word "retard" or "retarded" in a casually cruel way to mean "stupid", and while I am in general no big fan of PCness, I do think that using the word "retard" in that fashion is at best unkind. A lot of retarded people know perfectly well that "retard" is a big insult and if someone's feelings are really hurt, in the real world, then a kind person ought to refrain from using it in that way. If a black person wants to be called a black person rather than a Negro, if a woman of colour wants to be called a woman of colour instead of a coloured woman, if a native Indian wants to be called a First Nations person instead of an Indian, then I will do so. It doesn't hurt me and it makes the wheels of social intercourse run more smoothly.
I belong to an oppressed group myself: I am a fat old lady with grey hair. I am getting touchy in my old age, and understand more and more clearly how labels, when misused, can be hurtful.
Quote:
Originally posted by Rigamarole
You know what? You're right. Next time I'm at the mall and I see someone that's mentally disabled I'll snicker and laugh. It'll... you know, condition them to realize that they're not as good as everyone else. They might as well figure that out before we all pretend they're normal and do all sorts of fake things to make them think they're good at life or to help them, you know, feel good about themselves.
God gave us the mentally disabled for my amusement when I'm stuck in line at Wal-Mart. Gotcha.
Again, I'll quote: "Never been able to see the humor in any of it"
You're a horrible human being.
Sorry was away from computer access for the last couple days, havn't been able to participate in the thread. And the "off taste" title? My brain just had the biggest fart.. I didn't catch that until you mentioned it.
Who hasn't put it in perspective?Quote:
Originally posted by vison
Lots of people, but I wasn't referring to you. Sorry.
The sort of people who didn't put it in perspective probably don't post here. I should keep that in mind.
Ah, gotcha.Quote:
Originally posted by vison
So where's the outrage in the national media about the stupid cunt, Arizona State Senator Linda Gray, who actually did insult a specific special-needs child in a nasty, hateful email response to the young woman's inquiry about school budget cuts?Bitch.Quote:
Originally posted by Cunt Gray
I can imagine being that snarky on a messageboard. I can't imagine saying it as a part of my job.
If I say that we're probably not that outraged in this case because the senator in question is a Republican, am I guilty of the soft bigotry of low expectations? :lol:Quote:
Originally posted by Jill
The Girl Scouts would have been up in arms over that one. I doubt the White House would get Thin Mints and Do-See-Dos ever again.Quote:
Originally posted by ivan astikov
My niece is an independent living, mentally disabled person of about 45 years of age. I've watched her lifelong struggles and her family's struggles to cope with her in the early years (and even now). But I wasn't offended, and I'm sure that my sister and her family weren't offended, even though they are to the right of almost anybody on the planet and would have voted for Bush for a third term. I was somewhat surprised by his lack of awareness of where he was, and Leno seemed embarrassed by the comment. But the man says so many right things that it's difficult to take him to task too awfully hard for being woefully human once in awhile. It's much ado about nothing.
Well, I guess I may have been a bit overly angry, he is human and probably doesn't actually mean it as a point and laugh at the disabled, just a "oops, wasn't thinking, hey, that might offend a few people" type comment. Its bound to happen, every word he says is quoted.
The possibility of people thinking of "humor" being a disabled person is what I can't get. Not a misspoken word that might be offending to some by accident, but the idea that the mentally disabled are a joke is pretty sad.
"Who cares?" and "I'm getting twitters saying this is nothing.."
The people that are saying this is nothing and twittering that it is nothing are only saying that it is nothing TO THEM and that THEY don't care. Chefguy, I'm pointing this jab in the direction of people that see the "humor", not in the president, if someone isn't perfect and just like you it's the PC police when someone says "dude... that's low" after you laugh maybe its because laughing at someone because of the way they talk or that they are so disabled they can't do anything on their own? Or maybe, just maybe, its really because its fucking despicable to laugh at someone because they're disabled.
So I learned something, don't take every little quote as a direct representation of how someone thinks of a group. I just hope people understand its not the PC police swinging through but just common decency to other people when someone gets a little angry about it.
And yes, my first post in the thread and even the title was horribly mangled... I suck. :P