Friday, April 9, 2010

Frank-ly Speaking

I first heard of this from Nick's blog (cheers Nick) and it has made the national press in the UK with the Guardian and the Daily Mail taking it by the horns. I commented on the Daily Mail website with the following:

"General theme for the Frankie supporters seems to be "you know what he's like so don't complain". I disagree completely. In my opinion the biggest gripe here and where it all stemmed from is not that he made jokes about people who have Down Syndrome, but rather he just rehashed tired old and outdated stereotypes in which to do so.

My baby son has Down Syndrome and I would have no issue if I saw a comedian making new original jokes about it as frankly would give me something to laugh about, I know others in my boat who would feel the same. What I would and do find offensive is, as the original blog states, lame jokes about people with DS having bad hair and talking funny, bad fashion etc. Frankly it's unoriginal and shows a lack of talent on behalf of the 'comic'. As some have stated here, it's just the playground bully mentality which has no place in the public adult arena. For such a 'risqué', 'intelligent' and 'edgy' comedian, you would think he could do better than this. no?"

At last look, I had an 'up' rating of 135, not too shabby I suppose but am frankly appalled by some of the attitudes of people. Whilst fully realising that the Daily Mail online message board is hardly a true reflection of our society as a whole, some people just really grind my gears with their blasé-ness. Incidentally, the above comment was my second attempt to get on the board, my first unpublished comment made criticism of the Daily Mail and its use of the terms "Vitcims" and "Sufferers" of Down Syndrome, I wonder why I wasn't published? Thankfully I have seen some people manage to force this issue through the moderators, they obviously know a way in that I don't.

I'd be interested to hear your take on the subject so let me know your thoughts...