Aug 11 2008
Why it matters: Boycotting Tropic Thunder
I received a comment today on my blog concerning the boycott of Tropic Thunder. This is what Sherry said:
There are more atrocities in life than a couple of adjectives used impolitely. There have been movies upon movies with wording that wasn’t very popular. Why are you targeting this one? It’s not going to work, and you’ll just look like fools in the end. People have a right to choose what they want to watch. The mainstream media displays worse things than this! All of you need a sense of humor!
Sherry, I am so glad that you don’t ‘get’ this. I am so glad that you don’t understand why so many people are upset about this! I am so glad that you plan to go to the movie and watch it!
The reason I am glad is because this means that you have never in your life been ridiculed. You have never been bullied by someone else. You have never been called a name and you have NEVER had your feelings hurt by hurtful words. You either do not have children yet, or the ones you do have never come home from school crying their eyes out because someone called them a retard and pushed them in the mud. Perhaps you have never in your life come in contact with someone with a disability. For that, I am sad for you. Because you have surrounded yourself in a comfort zone that disables you from seeing what I can see. You are unable to see the beauty in those who you call ‘retard’. Retarded means slow going. Its on its way, but just not there yet.
I hope you eventually get there.
Diane Grover gets it as well as the rest of the disability community. Which, if you think about it, this is a very LARGE community!
According to statistics there are 350,000 people in America with Down syndrome today.
Add that number to the 1.5 million Americans with Autism. Then sprinkle in those with undiagnosed syndromes, cerebral palsy, physical disabilities, deafness, blindness, Apraxia, Dyslexia, and every other learning, developmental and physical disability and you have a VERY LARGE POPULATION!
Yes, this movie, Tropic Thunder, is ‘just making fun’. And, yes you can choose to see it or not see it! However, THAT is not the point!
The point is, those who are going to see it (which the majority will be 17-25) hear those hate words and because they find it funny and BECAUSE the movie makes their tag line “go full retard”, these individuals who DO choose to see the movie think this is an acceptable form of language and so they WILL use the word and it WILL offend those around them and more than likely it WILL be used to bully the individuals with disabilities.
I AM SHOCKED at the types of comments I have read over the past several days from individuals who think this is ‘no big deal’ and in fact, not only do they think it is ‘no big deal’ I have read things that are so very hurtful and upsetting and down right scary to imagine that a human being would have such a disregard for another human being’s feelings.
I know that many think just because a person has delays that they don’t ‘get’ what you are saying to them. That is completely wrong! They ‘get’ everything you say to them! They may have trouble communicating back to you what they think of you for saying those things, but they DO get it and it DOES hurt.
So, before you “Go Full Stiller” think about those you are hurting. Think about their feelings. Think about their lives! They are just like everyone else and they do deserve the dignity that everyone else deserves.
THE ONLY HANDICAP A PERSON HAS ARE THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM! TM
To see Diane’s news interview and understand WHY it matters, watch the video below
