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Why do some find it funny to joke about mental retardation??

#41
Absentia said:
Sir, I have yet to meet, work or care for a person with a mental handicap, but I'm offended by your statement.
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That's your problem. I know a few people who have mental handicaps and they are not offended by the word when it's not used as an offense (calling the thread ******** is not meant to offend a person but calling a person a dufus is).

That said, the video in the OP is not funny.
 
#42
I think the short answer is that people can be cruel.
folks can pick out anything different from themselves- color, language, religion, fat, short, gay, mentally or physically handicapped/challenged, ugly, hairy, gassy, glasses wearing, wimpy, skinny, clumsy, tall, speech impediment, shy.... whatever.
Some folks will always try to elevate themselves by stepping on someone else.... if they can get away with it. Unfortunately, this seems to run deep into our nature and it's an uphill battle to leave this stuff behind.
 
#43
MakiSupaStar said:
Still, as far as causes to rally behind, I would say there are a lot more important and relevant things to worry about, rather than the political correct policing of an outdated derogatory term.
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Exactly this.

It often seems to me that people are becoming "offended" for the sake of it, and seem to care more about political incorrectness than the actual victims of it. How many of you can truly say you are deeply "offended" by these remarks? Maybe you should be "offended" by the far greater injustices in the world.
 
#45
HogieWan said:
That's your problem. I know a few people who have mental handicaps and they are not offended by the word when it's not used as an offense (calling the thread ******** is not meant to offend a person but calling a person a dufus is).

That said, the video in the OP is not funny.
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It was a sarcastic comment, I work in a 100% title 1 school, 90% of our students have some sort of learning disability, though they will pretty much diagnose anyone with anything these days...

All I'm saying is people need to mind their own business and stop getting offended for the sake of other people to give themselves the illusion of being on a higher plane.
 
#48
metdistortion said:
Exactly this.

It often seems to me that people are becoming "offended" for the sake of it, and seem to care more about political incorrectness than the actual victims of it. How many of you can truly say you are deeply "offended" by these remarks? Maybe you should be "offended" by the far greater injustices in the world.
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Agreed. It's not actually the words, but the thoughts and attitudes behind the words that are important. I think at the root of this discussion is a complete lack of empathy for our fellow humans- which is the root of many evils.
 
#49
I'm going to tell you as someone who is legally blind and has cerebral palsy that a lot of people give lip service to not liking things said about other people but they don't do anything to change that person's life. It is the PC thing to do right now to put up a verbal fight when someone makes fun of the handicapped. But these same people don't spend anytime with the handicapped.

Some people can also take it too seriously. My ex singer said she didnt' like a certain school because they discrimante against the handicapped. I said "oh really, I guess since I work there then I discriminate against myself. And the math savant Martin who works over in statistics, is this school discriminating against him?" She was so bad that I finally had to tell her "As someone who's handicapped, I'm telling you back off." But if I needed a ride somewhere she never offered.

I love Dennis Leary. One of the funniest lines in any song is "I park in handicapped spaces while handicapped people make handicapped faces."

My best friend jokingly referred to me as the gimp. He was the same one who asked "doesn't it bother you that people stare at you walking down the street? It bothers me." I replied "I can't see them."

I make fun of myself all the time.
 
#50
Again the guys at south park have covered this sort of thing...There is a difference between saying "That's ********" or "That's gay" and making fun of someone who is actually ******** or gay...

I say both on occasion and it has nothing to do with hating anyone and is usual directed at the government, work, some other stupid policy...a stupid product, the person double parked in my left turn lane on the way home...
 
#51
Absentia said:
Sorry about 7, my mistake.

Watch me misspell grammer, you can make fun of that too.
You do see that you just did what you condemned in this thread right?
I have no doubt that people look at many of my posts and think "man what a dufus" making this whole superiority humanitarian crusader thread invalid.

Yes you are so much better than everyone else.
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As with pretty much everything, there are varying levels of criticism. It's not just black and white. So, had I said "hahaha, you're a total dufus, you fail at numbers, kill yourself" then your criticism of my might be apt. But I didn't.

I don't feel as though I'm better than anyone else. I just think that, if you're going to go on a mini-tirade, telling people what to do, and said tirade is to include a fact or two, you should probably spot check those facts. A glaringly incorrect fact might crush your momentum, and nullify and credence your rant may have had otherwise.
 
#55
Stingray19 said:
I've never understood where people get the funny in this. I actually got into a fight one day at school ovr someone making jokes about the Down Syndrome kids downstairs....it infuriates me.:mad:

I came across this video, apparently its a series or something....anyway, I dont think people that do these types of things should be considered serious, good members of society.


Agree??
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I'd never heard of that web series before, and thought it was hilarious! Thanks for the tip!

By the way, while being an Internet White Knight for the handicapped, and railing against the bad members of society that would make such a video, did it occur to you that the star of that series actually has Down Syndrome? How's that cognitive dissonance working out for ya?
 
#57
Stingray19 said:
I've never understood where people get the funny in this. I actually got into a fight one day at school ovr someone making jokes about the Down Syndrome kids downstairs....it infuriates me.:mad:

I came across this video, apparently its a series or something....anyway, I dont think people that do these types of things should be considered serious, good members of society.


I give him and guys like Josh Blue props for having the guts to get out and try to fulfill their dreams.
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