THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: kemon on 23 Oct 2009, 16:24
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ok, i'm sure many of you have heard about this already and i just had a lengthy discussion about this with some family members.
chewbacca seeking c3po (http://i.imgur.com/cKc4n.gif)
my question is, why are people so offended by it? i've known a few amputees in my life. i can't imagine that they'd be offended by something like this. most amputees continue to live their life is spite of their limitations. to do something like this that actually takes advantage of something that people see as a severe disadvantage seems like a perfect chance to express their desire to overcome that disadvantage and fun anyway.
maybe it's just the star wars fan in me that can see the cool factor of doing something like this. to me, this is an imaginative costume idea. maybe craigslist wasn't the way to go. but does it really deserve so much negative attention as it's received?
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Man I wish I had thought of that. I might cut my legs off just to get in on it.
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Why not just make a paper mache C3P0?
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It doesn't move and talk.
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My only problem with it is the fact that the dude doesn't care about anything else but using the amputee as an accessory. He doesn't directly say "hey, we can go to whatever events you want to too." but I doubt that'd be much of a problem. Overall i am not offended either.
Also, this has inspired a new costume idea for my boyfriend and I. He could go as a guy dressed as Chewie, and I could be an angry amputee!
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If I were an amputee I would be like "DUDE YES BEST IDEA EVER" and I would totally reply to that.
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Yes but that is because you will do anything for attention, Elizabeth.
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Not anything, David.
Just most things.
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... Curse my legs.
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Anything that specifically references a disability or race automatically generates outrage in middle aged white people.
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People are offended by this idea because we're no longer allowed to point out differences between individuals. Somewhere along the line we got waylaid into the absurd notion that difference=inferiority, and now we're encouraged to regard and to treat all people as equal in ability and potential even though people quite clearly and quite naturally vary tremendously in their physical and mental attributes. It has become offensive to draw attention to the ways in which people differ from each-other: we have become unable to separate observations of fact ("That man has darker skin than me"; "That woman has had both of her legs amputated") from a value judgements.
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On the other hand, the issue isn't as simple as saying the PC police are overreacting though. After all, in human communication it is pretty typical for there to be a lot of unspoken meanings behind statements which, taken at face value, would be quite innocent. It's like when someone is being passive-aggressive and commenting about how messy something is when they really mean "you are a lazy fuck and I hate you."
Ultimately, it's better for people who aren't sure of the exact boundaries (and let's face it, that is the majority of people) to err on the side of caution. To put it another way, it's very hard for social norms to land anywhere close to a fine* distinction, so it's better for people to be pushed to be oversensitive rather than totally careless.
*in societal terms, a "fine" distinction is anything more nuanced than simply GOOD/EVIL
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Finally my relentless focus-group testing pays off! I was reluctant at first to change the original ending of that post from "Now let's all laugh at the people with no legs", but the studio were adamant.
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This wouldve been cooler if it was an amputee looking for a very tall (and/or hairy?) man.