The Rant that Almost Wasn't
Don't you hate when you make a mental note to rant about something, then forget about it?Beth and I were watching TV a couple of nights ago and one of our favourite guilty pleasures was on - 'Video on Trial' on MuchMusic. This confession shouldn't surprise you if you know me, because you know I pretty much thrive on making fun of things. Anyway. One of the videos they were 'critiquing' had a little person in it (is that still PC?). Only they weren't calling him a little person. They were calling him a midget.
Rather, they tried to call him a midget. MuchMusic actually used that little swearing *bleep* to censor the word right out of their broadcast.
Okay. So I know that 'midget' is not really that PC, but I thought it was more along the lines of calling someone 'handicapped' instead of 'disabled': you're not really supposed to, but people still do. (There was actually a push to start calling 'disabled' people 'differently abled' people... But that's another rant for another time.) At the end of the day, people still call it a handicapped parking spot. And - as a disabled person who actually refers to myself as a gimp or a cripple - I don't really care.
Back in the day, when I was a proud employee at Sears, we had two days a year when we raised money for a charity called 'Riding for the Disabled.' One of my co-workers got totally chewed out by someone who considered themselves to be a crusader for the 'differently abled' and threatened a lawsuit about our offensive behaviour toward these unfortunate people.
Aaron, this means we'll have to call him a 'little person child.' Or move to the US, where it's okay to use racial segregation for entertainment value (so I doubt they'd be offended by last year's PC word).
L
posted by Lindsay @ 8:50 AM
2 Comments:
Just a guess, but was the person lobbying for the "differently abled" tag even disabled/handicapped/etc? My guess is not. I love it when "the common person" jumps on those sorts of bandwagons to fight for other people's rights. Isn't that just as degrading? Like saying they can't fight the battle themselves so let The Common White Man of Abled Body and Mind do it for you, otherwise it's useless. ~sigh
Nope! Healthy as a horse.
And I totally agree. It's like those people who would jump out of their cars and run to yell obscenities at me when I tried using my parking permit at the mall. (Don't know how you can tell if I'm disabled or not before I've even parked...) And that superbitch who actually called and petitioned to have my permit revoked because she didn't think I 'looked disabled' - the icing on the cake of July 5, 2003, aka my Worst Birthday Ever. (And that little goat girl thought she had it bad.)
Otherwise... These people should just give their damn loonie, put a sticker on their shirt, and go home and enjoy the satisfying slumber of a good citizen.
L
Post a Comment
<< Home