DISQUS

amc · 1 year ago

Neil-
You have gone out of your way to create one of the most rediculous straw man arguments I have ever read. Your argument that people have a right to be offended but shouldn't take action when they are offended is equally absurd.

Marsovac · 1 year ago

I've just reed Miller's commentary on CNN and I agree with "Real intolerance is bred in homes, where parents fail to provide proper direction for their children, fail to place such things into the context of everyday life and fail to show their children the difference between right and wrong." The problem is that Hollywood, (in this case Ben Stiller) openly flirt with that "real Intolerance" exploiting it and trying to make a buck on it. Stiller is no stranger to that. Ever since "Something About Marry" that note is presented and exploited in his movies, in order to get easy laughs. Combined with toilet humor, that is always "winning" combination.
Problem is psychological. Americans like to see that someone is less intelligent then them (I call it Seinfeld Syndrome) , so they go as low as possible to find them, and make fun of them. In this Idiocracy, level of intelligence is very low, and it is very hard to understand any jokes not connected to basic bodily functions and absence of "normal" way of doing and perceiving things. Disabled people are perfect target, since we can't do that openly with women, children and blacks anymore.
Making a few bucks on account of someone who has no voice of their own might be OK for an average American. But, what about people who live with disabled, giving them care, time, their life? Are those "jokes" funny for them? Can you explain those "jokes" to those people, who know how hard is the life of disabled person, and who know haw kind and gentle those "disabled" are?
Here is the old luck of compassion, empathy in life of an average American. I won't call their mothers "bitch", their friends "Negros" or their children "stupid". They probably do that themselves. Being repressed by their bosses, TVs, presidents, they spread that repression to the ones they consider weaker then themselves. And they get away with that, on daily bases. Laughing all the way.

Robert Fure · 1 year ago

"who know haw kind and gentle those “disabled” are?"

Marsovac, you're guilty of making a gross generalization. Everyone is human. All humans are different. Tom Leykis, on his radio show, addressed the fact that Hollywood and people in general seem to believe that the mentally handicapped are all "kind and gentle" and need to be treated with kids gloves. Leykis, who has a mentally retarded (his term and a correct medical term) Uncle, said that it's not true. They're just humans. Some are great people, some are not nice.

Yes, they may have specific needs, but they are still people, each with their own personality that may or may not be "sweet and gentle." Treating them as if they're so different from us perhaps may be the greatest insult of all.

John Cook · 1 year ago

uh... isn't this the same Timothy Shriver who was Executive Producer of The Ringer, a comedy about the special olympics with Johnny Knoxville pretending to be "special"? Aside from being a bad movie, the word "retard" is used numerous times and while many actual disabled people are in the movie, it can hardly be called sensitive or uplifting. And don't Executive Producers take a cut of these movies? Perhaps the editorial would be more effective if he wasn't already exploiting the disabled for financial profit?

Kevin Carr · 1 year ago

Neil, you just lost all your credibility by having your bio picture appear in front of a Bad Boys poster

Marsovac · 1 year ago

Sure, as everywhere, denial has its points. I happen to be one of those "retarded", by the way, not that I am "kind and gentle", but have experiences with my kind. And they ARE better people then "normal" ones, if only for not going through complete drill reserved for "normal" people by this society. And that drill means disabling humanity, killing empathy, amputating compassion.

And not everyone is human. Humans are suppose to be gentle, kind and caring toward other beings, but most of us are not. Our egocentric, egoistic lives made us blind for anything that does not make us profit of some kind. And we are all grouping with people like us, and everybody else, anybody different is not important, is dispensable, jokable.

Yes, I am making "gross generalization" but what else I can do to defend myself from those who will do and say anything just to make a buck or two?

We always find an excuse to stay in denial. And for most selfish reasons.

And I don't give a damn for "political correctness". What hurts the most is insensitivity that surrounds us. It is not "names calling", it is the concept that is wrong. Words like "bitch" "negro" "stupid" "retard" "fag" can't do any harm if they don't carry the whole concept of hate, exploration and humiliation. And in this society, they still do, and will for as long as we refuse to take care of people the way we are taking care of our possessions. But many of us love they car or iPod more then any live being.

Being “simple” has its advantages, is all I’m saying. But putting it in the movie just to make people laugh, and therefore, make money on it, it is wrong. Fact that the whole campaign for the movie was based on that says a lot: that is what makes people laugh, that is what makes them buy tickets. That and white man playing black man. In complicated political situation we are in now, that sais a lot.

So, go on and accuse me of anything you want, democracy is based on mediocrity, and what truth is accepted by most people will be official version. What is forgotten is the fact that “truth has no versions”. Just try to see my point, badly presented here, that making fun of, and cashing on account of, different people is not nice. By doing that, we are just compensating for humiliation at work, supermarket, gas station. And Hollywood just uses that urge of ours to make big profit.