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By materialtruth415 • 14 years ago

Disability on Glee

Folks have already pointed out the problem of having Glee’s paraplegic character, Artie, played by a TAB actor, Kevin McHale. Glee has followed up that by casting a paraplegic actor to play a sort of "Magical Handicapable" type for a single episode, teaching main character (and TAB) Rachel a lesson about how she’s more than just her singing voice. Finally, in this latest episode, Glee had a storyline for Artie (the regular character who is in a wheelchair) where his only dream was to dance. It involved a dream sequence in which Artie danced (which he can do, of course, since the actor is not paraplegic. Now there’s a reason not to hire disabled actors!) and him finally deciding dancing was impossible and watching his girlfriend dance with someone else.

It was, of course, wildly offensive. I don’t presume to speak for disabled folks, since I am not disabled (other than a serious hearing impairment), but I have to figure that portraying a disabled character as having only the ONE DREAM that he can’t achieve, making him seem "stupid" because he believes he can, and then showing how tragic it is that he can’t dance with his girlfriend (have these people no IMAGINATION? They did an entire number with wheelchairs. Artie could dance if they just thought about it a little. People do practically everything in wheelchairs) is pretty darn offensive.

Now what I can’t figure out is WHY Glee is so freaking tone deaf ...
By materialtruth415 • 15 years ago

Catcalling, Race, Class, and Guilt

Tonight I got catcalled on my way home from school. The man yelled (this might not have been all of it, but it’s the part I could hear) “Hey little girl! I saw you walking by today!” It was quite loud and seemed aggressive, although he wasn’t very close to me. He also catcalled me this morning and once before, last summer, with “Hey pretty lady” both times.

I realize this is minute cataloguing of relatively minor catcalling, but the thing is, I don’t get catcalled very much, because I often dress in more androgynous clothing. On the above occasions, I happened to be wearing a dress. Maybe because it doesn’t happen very often, or because I don’t expect attention from ...

Tonight I got catcalled on my way home from school. The man yelled (this might not have been all of it, but it’s the part I could hear) “Hey little girl! I saw you walking by today!” ...
By materialtruth415 • 15 years ago

Scott Brown’s Daughters are Available

As if the loss in Massachusetts weren’t devastating enough, we’ve also got this lovely tidbit from the winner’s acceptance speech to consider:

For those of us who are hearing impaired,  he basically says, "For those of you who might be watching, yes, they’re both available." One daughter, Arianna, corrects him, so he adds, "Arianna’s not available. But Ayla’s available." Then he introduces them.

So apparently, daughters are property to be offered up on live TV. Terrific.

In a bizarre twist, our friend Glenn Beck offered surprisingly appropriate commentary before digressing into vague pronouncements on the safety of Brown’s future interns. From boston.com:

"On his syndicated radio talk show yesterday, right-winger Glenn Beck …said he was shocked that Brown would make such a statement ...

As if the loss in Massachusetts weren’t devastating enough, we’ve also got this lovely tidbit from the winner’s acceptance speech to consider:

For those of us who are hearing impaired,  he basically says, "For those of you who ...
By materialtruth415 • 15 years ago

Looks like Ben Nelson got his way…

From the New York Times:

Mr. Reid’s amendment includes major restrictions on abortion that were intended to win support for the bill from Mr. Nelson. Under Mr. Reid’s proposal, health insurance plans are not required or forbidden to cover abortion services, but there is a major exemption that would give states power to prohibit abortion coverage in the insurance markets, or exchanges, where most health plans would be sold.

Ugh.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Reid’s amendment includes major restrictions on abortion that were intended to win support for the bill from Mr. Nelson. Under Mr. Reid’s proposal, health insurance plans are not required or forbidden ...