Frankie Boyle's offensive joke about autistic boy

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No one I have ever met uses that term... Well except bullies... to me... I've heard elderly people say some pretty shocking things though... But that's another story.

My opinion, and that of most of the people I know (not on the internet), is that Frankie Boyle is just an adult who is a bully. He's no better than school yard bullies and therefore is condoning this behaviour by doing it on TV. I think he sucks, plus he has yet to tell a joke.

I do enjoy comedy, but there's a difference between funny and offensive. Poking fun at a disabled individual should not be tolerated by ANYONE, regardless of age, race or whether they like Frankie Boyle. It is just bullying.

Were we talking about someone making a serious statement about another, your point would be valid. However, we're talking about a comedian making a joke. No one will take the comment seriously. I therefore don't understand the fuss. In fact, it may very well be a PR stunt to drum up publicity for the new show.



No, they aren't old.



No, bullying is when you constantly harass someone every day and make their lives miserable. Making one joke about one person isn't bullying.

Okay, maybe bullying is the wrong word, but it's still encourageing bullying behaviour. On one hand people are trying to raise awareness about disabilities and then we've got some jerk telling people it's okay to make fun of the same group of people. It's wrong. Unfortunately, people ARE like sheep and they will copy what he is doing when they meet disabled people in public/work settings.

Oh yeah, because a comedian says something about someone, I'm gonna live my life by it...

People aren't that stupid, and if you think they are, and they are indeed now out terrorising disabled people because of Frankie Boyle, I'd like to see some evidence.

From a BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11976410

This is coming from a campaign manager, Esther Foreman who works for MENCAP:

"Ignorant views like this help to fuel the verbal and physical abuse that people with a disability, and their families, are regularly subjected to. Comedy like this takes us back to the dark ages."

She said: "How can we eradicate negative stereotypes and expect the general public to treat people with a disability with the respect they deserve when such vile jokes are aired on national television?"

I myself was put through a living hell at school because of 'comedians' making fun of 'ret*ds' and Tourettes sufferers, and the bullies copying them. This isn't the 'evidence' you need, however it makes a good point. I have LIVED in the evidence.

An opinion of a biased source isn't evidence.

Bullies pick on anyone who's different, they do what they do for their own enjoyment, and they do so with or without TV. On the other hand, those who wouldn't bully others won't suddenly start doing it because of TV. So the only people this really "effects" are those who would bully people anyway - they'd just say and/or do slightly different things if they have no one to copy.

While I am aware of how horrible bullying can be from my own personal experience, you can't go blaming those who poke fun at situations for the situations themselves. Sadly, bullying is something that always has been, and always will be, around, no matter what's said about it on TV.

No, people really can be that stupid and that cruel.

Edit because I think it really does need stressing: Not every person who is childish is a child, but all children are children, and eventually act as such.

Last edited by Macbeth on 17 Dec 2010, 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Heaven forbid that a comedian make fun of my minority.

Also. Boyle is only supporting and propagating the current media and Government trend for selling the disabled as unsustainable, a drain on society, useless job-shy scroungers, liars, objects of fun and derision, and he's helping to set back society 30 odd years.

You still haven't explained who all these people are who still use the quaint term "spastic" yet either.

I'm sure they can, people are sadistic by nature. But will masses start discriminating against people because of a comedian? No. As I explained to Jellybean, people who will do that will do it anyway whether or not some comedian jokes about it.



No he isn't. As I already said, joking about something isn't the same as supporting it at all, and people don't take jokes made by comedians seriously.

Many of my peers use the word spastic. It's far from a "quaint term".

I do not support the attack on Boyle, for a number of reasons.

1) Freedom of expression is not simply a matter of preventing the government from stifling expression. It is also a matter of preventing individuals from stifling each others expression. By bringing pressure to bear on Channel 4, Boyle's opponents seek to use private coercive force to stifle him. And if Boyle can be silenced today by the mob, who will be silenced tomorrow?

2) Silencing bullies does not make bullies go away. In fact, it empowers them because it reinforces that they are important enough to merit being silenced.

3) Offensive attitudes towards all manner of people exist regardless of whether a public figure utters them. But when a public figure utters them, that is a stimulus to debate. And perhaps some people who have held offensive attitudes might recognize the offensiveness of their attitudes, and perhaps even mitigate them. I suppose it is possible that people who did not previously hold offensive attitudes might choose to adopt them as a result of Boyle's performance. But of those two scenarios, I think the former is more likely. I think the only people who are impressed by Boyle's performance are people who already held such attitudes.

There is a definite shift in the view of society towards the disabled community that there are two kinds of disabled. One is the "real" kind, who are essentially meat-sacks with no opinion who should be grateful they get anything from the state at all, and are still an unsustainable drain on the economy, and the ones who MUST be faking it because they have opinions, wants, desires, capabilities and needs beyond their disability. Boyle IS helping to propagate antiquated and insulting stereotypes. He may well think he's just being funny or clever or controversial without any greater agenda. He may have no desire beyond getting a laugh. But nevertheless he IS providing support for the opinions that Daily Mail-reading a**holes already hold, and helping propagate such views.

Besides, how many of the people who see that joke will actually know anything about the disabilities of Harvey Price? Or give a s**t enough to understand what they actually entail? They will simply assimilate it as "Oh yeah, he's that mong kid who might rape his mother."

Your peers? There is a reason the sp****cs Society changed their name y'know. If your peers regularly referred to black people as n****rs, would you think that acceptable too?

Exactly. Opinions that people already hold. And people do not already hold these opinions won't suddenly take them up because of a joke. So what's the issue?



They may very well be ignorant of his actual disability, but that won't cause them to take a joke as gospel.



Two things here:
1) I never said I thought it was acceptable, I merely said that the term is still used.
2) I think you'll find that if more people did start using the N word, it'd lose it's power to offend anyway, which can only be a good thing, so n****r n****r n****r n****r n****r. STOP BEING OFFENSIVE YOU SILLY WORD, BLARGGGGHHHHH!

Ahem. Yes. I believe I have made my point

Speaking of sp****cs. I found this a rather hillarious routine from an aussie comedian I find mildly amusing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifr4zLZ9lvM[/youtube]

Or made yourself look like a child. You think it a good thing that your "peers" still bandy around the term spastic? Or you just don't care? Either way, welcome to helping Boyle propagate ignorance, and helping people believe that everybody disabled is a ret*d mongoloid potential rapist (as opposed to a card-counting ret*d savant, which is another stereotype constantly bounced around by people too stupid to look beyond the first popular culture that hits them in the face.)

Clearly you utterly fail to understand the influence that the media has on the minds of the ignorant. Enjoy your blissful ignorance whilst it lasts.