It appears that some have been offended by literature ridiculing our children (or anybody else’s) who for one reason or another are not ‘mainstream.’
Please allow me to set the record straight.
I want you to open and read stupid e-mails, I want you to laugh at those less fortunate than yourselves, I want you to laugh at jokes in the pub, I want in any way possible to remind all of you that ‘there but for the grace of God go I”
The denigration and classification as ‘non-PC’ burns my arse, please, read them, laugh at the jokes, and then let your conscience lead you.
We were not offended !
The day that we can’t talk about it, is the day that we have lost the fight.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Do my jokes offend?
Tochy, we find very little offensive, the fact that your jokes aren’t very funny is another story altogether!
🙂
Fook it then, I’m off to the pub to drown my sorrows.
😦
Of course not,Tocino. But I must confess that I just want to chop it off… the hair, that is ; )
Tocino; you make me laugh, actually. And that takes a bit of doing at Wrong Time Of… 😉
Tochy, Claire
Which part of my post made the two of you think that it could be a platform for light hearted drivel.?
It may surprise you, but those short sentences above took almost an hour to compose, with a large input from Mrs. Soutie.
Souts: is this some sort of reaction to Ike’s post or mine? I’m more than happy to discuss the subject. My post was just inspired by Bravo’s mention of horses. Nothing more.
Evening Ara
I read yours, yours was the one that got me thinking, thought about some of the reaction to Ike’s, got my wife to read both, discussed it and then published.
Soutie, was it you or Mrs Soutie who came up with the phrase, ‘as ‘non-PC’ burns my arse’? Please tell me it was you.
Sipu
It’s a phrase we both use, quite often.
I wrote the post, she chopped lots of it out and made changes, I suppose we could say it was co-authored!
SOrry Soutie; my brain is mush tonight. But yes, we should take ourselves less seriously, with less PC and whatnot. Speaking of which, Corrie is calling… ; )
Well done the Souties, more power to your voics, at our local redneck meeting place, Dover Downs Speedway (Dover, Delaware) we get two NASCAR races per year, this year for the second year running the first race of the season will be “The Autism Speaks 400” Each lap of the track all 250,000 attendees and the TV audience get to see the banner and hear the name.
http://www.doverspeedway.com/track/press/article.php?dir=201001&id=3343
Soutie – is this an attack on Claire and Tocino? It certainly reads like it. If it is, why?
Who, in which post, said anything about something being “non-PC”? I should like to read it before going any further in this discussion.
Perhaps I’m not fully awake yet this morning, so pander to the old guy if you would by providing some references or links? Thanks mate. 🙂
I said that I did not find it funny, I have never found ridiculing people funny, and I have never found the sight of people hurting themselves funny. This is not a Politically Correct attitude – it is simply to quote you “There but for the Grace of God go I”.
I rather suspect that you, and others who agree with you, were one of those grotty little children who made life hell for a quiet, little, freckled, red headed, dumpling of a child who was totally inept on the sports field. I know all about being ridiculed, and it may be fun for those who laugh – it is extremely painful for those on the receiving end.
That my attitude, which was instilled into me by my mother, her mother, and her mother, towards this sort of humour has now become Politically Correct is neither here nor there. I very carefully refrained from expressing my opinion about people who find amusement in the misfortunes of others – I do not appreciate the attempt to denigrate those of us who do not.
Oh, now I am very confused. I didn’t think that was Soutie’s stance at all, Boadicea.
I thought his point was that any discussion of Special Needs was better than trying to pretend it didn’t exist. Maybe we have all misunderstood.
..although, I have to say that I find the expression “Special Needs ” a bit PC, but I’m not sure why.
Araminta – if that is what Soutie meant then it is not very clearly stated. How else would one read:
I’m the first to say that no subject should be ‘off-limits’ for discussion, but ridicule is not, in my mind, discussion.
I have to confess that my comment was my interpretation, Boadicea, so I assumed that the sentence you quote above was ironic. God knows, how difficult is this means of communication? I think it best left to Soutie to clarify, if he so chooses.
Yes, it is very easy to misinterpret what’s said in this medium. I work on the principle that if something is meant to be taken as a joke, then it is followed by a smiley thing. If it is not followed by a smiley – then it is meant to be serious.
Soutie works with autistic kids. He is a warm, sympathetic and broadminded man. A good man. I have met him.
Sipu – I know that he does, that is why what this blog seems to say surprises me.
I agree with you Sipu; I know how much time and effort he and his family spend on this.
It would appear that I may have caused some offense on this blog. If that is the case, I apologize unreservedly as it was not my intention.
Not to me you haven’t Tocino! Keep going with the jokes – they start my day with a laugh 🙂
Well, all I can say is that if Soutie is going to post (what appears to be) an aggressive and angry article, but then bugger off without answering anyone’s questions, it’s a bit of a poor show.
Bravo’s comment was excellent, Araminta’s blog on horses was excellent, the site was chattering along merrily and now it’s ground to a halt with Tocino and Claire told not to comment frivolously. As far as I’m concerned, I like their humour and it’s unpleasant to see them ticked off.
If Soutie’s such a good chap, Sipu, then it’s high time he came out and said what he’s on about instead of talking in riddles and vanishing.
Ah well; I’ve been flitting about and causing bother on MyT and here, it seems! Well, sorry… I might just change my avatar on both to a giant Sorry, actually, just to simplify matters.
No Claire, please don’t apologise! You’re very welcome. Je vous en prie.
We need a ‘tone of voice’ symbol.
Yes, that would be good, Nym. It’s so much easier to communicate face to face, but that would be slightly impractical. Even then there are misunderstandings!
Morning all
Once again the time differences we have on here limited my ability to reply timeously. It was a particularly long day yesterday.
It is perhaps difficult for fellow members here to understand the difficulties of life for those less fortunate than ourselves here in Southern Africa.
There simply is no state infrastructure!
15 years ago there was not one doctor in Port Elizabeth (population 1 million) who could identify Autism never mind correctly diagnose it, there was no nursery/ school catering for their specific needs and learning programmes, there was no Association for concerned family members to consult and gain advice.
15 years ago, the children who now attend our school would have been hidden away at home, become the ‘village idiot’, left to tend the family goats or diagnosed ADT (attention deficit disorder) prescribed Ritalin and left to become more and more insular in a mainstream school.
We’ve managed to change all of that by doing whatever it takes. I’m pretty sure that we’ve offended some peoples mores along the way and will probably continue to do so in the future.
Perhaps living in a stone age environment on welfare matters and having to work and communicate with stone age mentalities is the huge difference that my fellow members living in the 1st world are unable to grasp.
My apologies to those that I offended, I wanted this to be a serious post to discuss a serious issue.
G’day Soutie,
That’s a great comment, many thanks for taking the time to prepare it. There are a couple of things that I don’t understand, but I’m sure you’ll be able to put me straight.
1. How have you, or how do you think you have offended anyone by your admirable efforts in bringing schooling to those who would otherwise not receive it? I cannot see that anyone could possibly be offended by your actions.
2. How does this correlate with your (perceived) anger at some of us for –
(a) Our dislike of Ike’s so-called “joke”,
(b) Araminta’s post on bringing the pleasures of equine friendship to some of her local unfortunates, or
(c) Carrying on a flippant off-topic discussion?
Or have I utterly misunderstood? 😕
Please note that I have not chosen my words with care, for the semantic overtones differ from country to country. If any word I have employed is distasteful to you, please substitute your locally preferred euphemism.
PS – Where or what is the origin of this statement of yours –
Who denigrated and/or classified what as non-PC?
I feel sure that there must be a misunderstanding floating around somewhere.
Thanks Soutie. I hope you can see how what you wrote could be interpreted in a different way… For which, now I have your answer, I apologise.
You may not have picked up elsewhere that I taught children with Special Needs for some years. Believe me, I may have worked in 1st world countries where the problems are at least recognised, but I’ve certainly encountered some of the attitudes you describe.
Howzit Bearsy and Boadicea
This is not the easiest of mediums for me to explain, far easier over a cup of coffee or a beer.
I think that my overall point is that we will do whatever it takes (obviously within the law) to obtain a benefit be it goods, services or financial for the school or association.
Fundraising is a very difficult thing down here, the mainstream beneficiaries (AIDS. Heart, Cancer) continue to get the lions share of both government and business attention.
Our priority is and always has been awareness, the more people that know about us the easier it is to spread our message.
I’ll try and answer Bearsy’s other points a bit later.
No rush, mate, I know you have work to do. 🙂
I can only speak for the UK. But all the disabled, both physically and mentally people I know personally, which are quite a few through my son and stepdaughter, have the most terrible gallows humour. The jokes are terrible and would make the PC brigade blench, the terms monger and spas are casually used.
The thing that they complain about most is the public seeing through them as if they weren’t there and speaking to them in the usual syrupy, oleaginous, unctuous, PC tones reserved for Bishops and the village idiots! I note it being used above, even talking about them!
I would far rather have the company of a monger any day than the bunch of psychos walking round and treated as ‘normal’ in the general population as a whole. At least their inconsistencies are consistent.
Christina!
First: Did you see the item that sparked this debate?
Second – and more important: I am quite certain that you can tell the difference between shared gallows humour and cruel ridicule. Moreover, I’m absolutely positive that, despite your efforts to portray yourself as heartless and insensitive*, you would never step over that delicate line between the two.
*I’ve been reading your comments for far too long now to be taken in… 😉
No I didn’t see any previous.
but it is a subject that annoys me greatly the way the PC brigade go wall eyed and refuse to see or communicate with them.
Even worse in the muslim culture, they regard them as a total embarrassment in the family and hope they die asap! Seen it with my own eyes more than once in QEII hospital and the Royal Orthopaedic Brum.
Terribly sad.
At least cruel ridicule gives the chance to have a shot back at the so called ablebodied and minded, most of whom are morons anyway!
Tina: had you read the previous, you would have seen that you are preaching to the converted. That was the whole point, and yes the gallows humour is OK, between friends and family, but not from the insensitive or the plain ignorant.