Dear Internets, I have one plea.
Sep. 15th, 2013 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ofearthandstarsI read a blog post today that, for all intents and purposes, would have been an awesome post deconstructing the sexism, body shaming, and unhealthy attitudes in "fitspiration" photos. However, I got sidetracked at the beginning when the author decided his first attempt at humor would be to draw a comparison between the absurdities spouted in the meme he was deconstructing with the image of a mentally ill homeless individual.
I haven't linked to the article here because it's really not my intent to write about this particular author or his post. He's just one fish in a very big, big pond of otherwise informed and awesome fish, looking to make a few waves by pointing out the hypocrisy and ugliness that lies beneath society's (ever-thinning) veil of politeness/encouragement. It feels like a lot of would-be-great (often oppression- or ignorance- fighting) posts I've read lately have fallen into the same trap - that you need to write humorously to be heard, and that it's perfectly acceptable to poke fun/randomly rope in an example of mental illness to get a cheap laugh. It pops up in academic posts deconstructing racism, sexism, homophobia. It pops up in amazing geekgasmic posts outlining the fine details of an amazing cosplay costume. It pops up in fandom. It pops up in recipe threads and thoughtful book discussions. It's incessant, infuriating. It's the off-the-cuff remark comparing a set of actions to the stereotypically-perceived actions of an individual suffering from bipolar/schizophrenia/tourette's. It's the side joke that says your topic is crazier than the neighborhood bag-lady.
I understand and enjoy the sort of dark humor that people affected by mental illness often use to put the illness in its place, and that doesn't bother me. I'll eagerly engage in that in a safe space, because goodness, am I well acquainted with mental illness. What bothers me is when a healthy, usually privileged individual makes a clueless remark about it in an attempt to draw a cheap laugh. There's a difference: one's a coping mechanism, the other is being an insensitive twatwaffle. I don't pretend to be able to automatically ascertain whether an author is using self-referential dark humor or not in every case. But most of the time, such remarks appear to have been put out due to lack of thought, and not because of an excess.
Last I checked, the mental health care system in the United States is in a state of chaos. Federal and state funding are continuously slashed, which for some individuals involves the closing of their group homes, and for others means the inability to access psychiatric care. Because many of these individuals don't have any other place to go, this means they are out on the streets, where they don't have access to the proper shelter and food, much less the appropriate care/medicine/therapy. Maybe I'm the spoil sport here, but I fail to see the funny in that. If you have to get your laughs by bringing up the homeless hobo who talks to himself in the back of your building, then I have to think you're just not very funny on your own. Not to mention, you're only adding to the stigma of shame and isolation surrounding mental illness - and why would you want to do that?
Which is what is so absolutely aggravating about these remarks - they occur in posts by otherwise enlightened people, who are surely creative enough to find something funnier to say. Which is why I am pleading with you, Internets: if you're writing a post to try to pick apart some of the warped views of society and you need to lighten the mood, be aware that using a vulnerable and already stigmatized population of individuals as your icebreaker will... well...maybe you should turn that magnifying glass on yourself. Surely you've got something wittier, more original, more chuckle-worthy up your sleeve?
I haven't linked to the article here because it's really not my intent to write about this particular author or his post. He's just one fish in a very big, big pond of otherwise informed and awesome fish, looking to make a few waves by pointing out the hypocrisy and ugliness that lies beneath society's (ever-thinning) veil of politeness/encouragement. It feels like a lot of would-be-great (often oppression- or ignorance- fighting) posts I've read lately have fallen into the same trap - that you need to write humorously to be heard, and that it's perfectly acceptable to poke fun/randomly rope in an example of mental illness to get a cheap laugh. It pops up in academic posts deconstructing racism, sexism, homophobia. It pops up in amazing geekgasmic posts outlining the fine details of an amazing cosplay costume. It pops up in fandom. It pops up in recipe threads and thoughtful book discussions. It's incessant, infuriating. It's the off-the-cuff remark comparing a set of actions to the stereotypically-perceived actions of an individual suffering from bipolar/schizophrenia/tourette's. It's the side joke that says your topic is crazier than the neighborhood bag-lady.
I understand and enjoy the sort of dark humor that people affected by mental illness often use to put the illness in its place, and that doesn't bother me. I'll eagerly engage in that in a safe space, because goodness, am I well acquainted with mental illness. What bothers me is when a healthy, usually privileged individual makes a clueless remark about it in an attempt to draw a cheap laugh. There's a difference: one's a coping mechanism, the other is being an insensitive twatwaffle. I don't pretend to be able to automatically ascertain whether an author is using self-referential dark humor or not in every case. But most of the time, such remarks appear to have been put out due to lack of thought, and not because of an excess.
Last I checked, the mental health care system in the United States is in a state of chaos. Federal and state funding are continuously slashed, which for some individuals involves the closing of their group homes, and for others means the inability to access psychiatric care. Because many of these individuals don't have any other place to go, this means they are out on the streets, where they don't have access to the proper shelter and food, much less the appropriate care/medicine/therapy. Maybe I'm the spoil sport here, but I fail to see the funny in that. If you have to get your laughs by bringing up the homeless hobo who talks to himself in the back of your building, then I have to think you're just not very funny on your own. Not to mention, you're only adding to the stigma of shame and isolation surrounding mental illness - and why would you want to do that?
Which is what is so absolutely aggravating about these remarks - they occur in posts by otherwise enlightened people, who are surely creative enough to find something funnier to say. Which is why I am pleading with you, Internets: if you're writing a post to try to pick apart some of the warped views of society and you need to lighten the mood, be aware that using a vulnerable and already stigmatized population of individuals as your icebreaker will... well...maybe you should turn that magnifying glass on yourself. Surely you've got something wittier, more original, more chuckle-worthy up your sleeve?
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Date: 2013-09-16 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-16 02:51 pm (UTC)YES.
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Date: 2013-09-17 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-17 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-17 11:34 am (UTC)