I recently had the chance to see 'Tropic Thunder', and I was left mixed about whether or not I liked it. I thought it was a really funny story, but the foul language and 'retarded jokes' I found very distracting and soured my experience.
Now, I had heard rumors of people boycotting the movie for offending people with intellectual disabilities. I usually take talk like this with a grain of salt. What offends one person may not offend me, or vice versa. Also, I try to keep in mind the spirit of the joke. If you are making fun of everyone, in a way that is meant to shock get a cheap laugh, then I don't usually see something wrong with that.
However, I have always had a funny feeling about the use of 'that's so gay' or 'that's so retarded' in everyday vernacular. I have not always had the words to describe why these bother me so much, but I think it has to do with associating something perfectly fine in a person and making it a negative. What's so wrong with something being 'gay' anyway? It's a very broad and negative generalization. And I firmly believe that supporting such negatives makes it ok, and I don't want to be a part of that.
Enter my friend, Bev. She, like me, had lived her whole life with a disability. She and I have probably heard it all. We both chose to chose our battles. We both have decided that living your whole life with a chip on your shoulder or looking for discrimination can be exhausting.
Her blog is witty and well spoken, and recently addressed the issue of Tropic Thunder. She put into words alot of what I was thinking, but was unable to express.
Read it here: AspergerSquare8. And take a minute to form your own opinion.
Now, I had heard rumors of people boycotting the movie for offending people with intellectual disabilities. I usually take talk like this with a grain of salt. What offends one person may not offend me, or vice versa. Also, I try to keep in mind the spirit of the joke. If you are making fun of everyone, in a way that is meant to shock get a cheap laugh, then I don't usually see something wrong with that.
However, I have always had a funny feeling about the use of 'that's so gay' or 'that's so retarded' in everyday vernacular. I have not always had the words to describe why these bother me so much, but I think it has to do with associating something perfectly fine in a person and making it a negative. What's so wrong with something being 'gay' anyway? It's a very broad and negative generalization. And I firmly believe that supporting such negatives makes it ok, and I don't want to be a part of that.
Enter my friend, Bev. She, like me, had lived her whole life with a disability. She and I have probably heard it all. We both chose to chose our battles. We both have decided that living your whole life with a chip on your shoulder or looking for discrimination can be exhausting.
Her blog is witty and well spoken, and recently addressed the issue of Tropic Thunder. She put into words alot of what I was thinking, but was unable to express.
Read it here: AspergerSquare8. And take a minute to form your own opinion.