I am currently reading Artie Lange's book "Too Fat to Fish". I have been a Howard Stern listener for quite some time. Anyone who is a listener knows that Artie is an addict and deals with bouts of depression. Well, I thought that by reading his book, I would try to find connections between addiction, mental illness and/or trauma. Well, that and I am addicted to reading about tragic figures (Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, etc.) Artie's life story is chaotic so far but nothing really shocks me since I own a front row seat when it comes to irrationality. Today, I was searching for MAD TV clips since I never saw Artie's work on the show. The first video I stumbled upon was very ironic. I will let the subject matter speak for itself. I would love to hear what you all think. I am not for censorship but imagine if this clip stereotyped African American's or people with AIDS. I don't think the sketch would have seen the light of day. Of course, it took years to achieve this amount of respect. More reason to keep fighting for the dignity and respect of those who deal with mental illness. Above is a clip of "Schizophrenic Jeopardy" presented by Mad TV. Lastly, for those of you who may object to Howard Stern, you may find it interesting that his show is one of the few to discuss mental illness very openly and honestly. These discussions end up correcting many myths and stereotypes. What makes this powerful? Stern has about 20 million listeners.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Maybe it's because I grew up identifying with the book "Hey White Girl." I have never minded ribbings. You see in my school fourty perecent of us were African - Americans, another fourty were Hispanic - Americans, and there was twenty of us that were white. Now doesn't that seem prejudice right there? African - Americans, Hispanic - Americans, and just plan ol' white people? I withstood many white people jokes. I remember being in the seventh grade and a little boy said that there was no white crayon in his box because it had its butt kicked by the black crayon. However, there is something more serious. When I was in eighth grade one of my friends (who is no longer my friend) told everyone that I said why don't black people comb their hair. On the bus ride home, I was verbally attacked, I seriously thought they were going to jump me! So jokes. Yes I can take those, but out and out malice no. I can still close my eyes and see the faces of the children as the verbally went at me.
ReplyDeleteI get off my soap box now,
Amanda