My opinion on a Foundation for a Better Life commercial

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I saw a Foundation for a Better Life commercial on TV last night that I think could never happen. Here is a YouTube vid of said commercial.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD5FDf5CGz4[/youtube]

Like that would ever happen. The commercial said it was based on a true story, I think not. If it ever did happen, someone probaly did it as a joke.

We all know that NT teenage preppy rich girls and the guys they hang around are violent amorphus blobs that only care how they look and how to be mean to everyone else. We know this because at least 95% of the members of this site were bullied by them at some point in our school life.

I have prsented my opinion on this commercial,what's your opinion?

Uh, yeah.

This is my cynical reply, so take it with a grain of salt.

Now all the beautiful people can feel good about themselves. Where will they all be in ten years? The Homecoming Queen will still be in need of assistance. They will all move on to something else. This is the easy stuff. Give the disabled girl a crown. Fluff up her pillow. Be nice to her. Then forget her. Don't actually find out what she NEEDS. Don't actually sacrifice time and effort.

This feeds right into miss-applied CBT and making autistics into NT wannabes. Listen first, before you decide what is best for me. Don't tell me what I am supposed to be. Find out what I am, what I want, what I can do. Help me be me.

I think that this 'True Story' situation must have happened at a small school. When I was in a 20 kids per grade school, I wasn't bullied nearly as much as I was when I went to a 200 kid per grade junior high school. It's a lot easier for this situation to occur if there aren't as many kids to choose from to be homecoming queen as well.

There's no way this story happens in a medium to large sized public school.

No offense intended here.

Perhaps your cynicism has overtaken your ability to have a little faith that things like this can and DO happen from time to time.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=6025166&page=1

Last edited by MrXxx on 23 Jan 2011, 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Actually, no "we" don't "all" know this. Quite a few of the kids i knew in school that fell into this category were not like that at all. A lot of them were however, quite silent whilst the bullying, which DID happen to me, was going on, but not all. There were also several who did speak up and condemn those who were doing the bullying.

Perhaps. Can you show me anything that tells es what things are like 10 years after the fact? Can you show me anything that would indicate this is not just pandering?

And why shouldn't I be cynical when time and time again I have seen people "being nice" to my face, or to the face of others with "differences" to later find out they WERE just pandering?

My point is that people with Down's Syndrome, autism or any other condition don't deserve to be treated like crap, but neither are we objects upon which to "do good works". I don't exist to justify the existence of someone else, to assuage the guilt of previous meanness, or give point towards a merit badge.

I may have been stereotyping, but I find that alot of stereotypes prove to be true while others do not. It all depends on the person. Bullying happens to any one that does not adhere to the dictated "norm".

I will give you that what happened at that school is certainly NOT typical of most schools.

Also didn't mean to imply that you are generally cynical either. I certainly have my cynical periods. Jekyll and Hyde I am.

I was just on a "don't let the negativity get to me" kick when I posted those comments.

I'm not quite as cynical as I might seem. Or maybe I am. The video that started this thread is produced to invoke a outsized emotional response. It creates a feel good moment that belies the complexity of life and the pushes aside the real issues faced by the disabled. It feels like it was made by a bunch of advertising experts to push buttons of potential donors. It tells me nothing about the Foundation For A Better Life and doesn't make me want to find out anything about it. It's an "awe ... look at the cute puppy ..." fluff piece.

I hated the commercial when I first saw it, still do.

However, lets not throw all "normal" people under the band wagon.
They're all not the same just like anyone on the spectrum or any kind of spectrum is not the same. Some NT's are well intentioned and do not have alter motives.

I call it like I see it, and sometimes that can be viewed as pessimistic.

Ahhhh! But remember, you are on the spectrum, and though I might be called to the carpet for saying this (maybe not though), I'm pretty certain that almost all of us are hard to please when it comes to advertising. I know I certainly am, and it seems you are too.

My favorite pet peeves are those ads for cheap "gizmos" that show people doing things as we've all always done, but screwing it up royally (as the announcer shouts, "No more [fill in the blank]! !). I'm sure you know the ones I'm talking about. They annoy the hell out of me!

But, people respond to the stupid things. Those are extreme examples of the kind of thing that so many people respond to that I dare say reinforces the belief of many on the spectrum that most NT people are total idiots.

And that's the thing with ads like that. They probably don't do much for people like you and I. I don't get what it means either, and it doesn't say much to me about who they are and what they're about. But the ad was most likely created by people who study what the public responds to, and "The Public" ISN'T us on the spectrum.

Know what I mean? You and I don't get it, but probably enough other people do to make the ad effective. I don't know that I've ever seen an ad that seemed to be directed at me as a person on the spectrum. There are some that I like, and am entertained by, but none of them cause me to go, "Oh man! I GOTTA have some of THAT!"

And that, in part, is BECAUSE I'm Autistic. I've never viewed ads as anything BUT a tool of persuasion. Propaganda! Usually with the sole aim of getting me to part with my money.

I'm not sure an ad that were written in a way that "speaks" to us on the spectrum in a way that would cause us to go, "Yeah! That's what I've been wishing somebody would say!" would have much of an effect on enough people NOT on the spectrum to be very effective.

Whew. That was a mouthful. Hope it makes sense?

It's only pessimism if it's ALWAYS there and if what you're complaining about DOESN'T really suck.

Sometimes everything ALWAYS sucks!

Wavefreak, the fact that the above was not even directed at you not withstanding:



Of course not. I'm not a prophet. The relevance of the question escapes me.



Can you show any evidence that it is? Negatives are impossible to prove. Just because I can't prove it isn't, doesn't mean it is mere pandering



You are free too. No one is telling you you don't have the right to. I haven't lived your life and wouldn't presume to draw any conclusions about it. The cynicism I was seeing here seemed to be directed at whether the story was really true. It is true. My comment was about cynicism possibly overtaking the ability (or maybe "desire" would be a better word), to check out the accuracy of the claim. My comment had nothing to do with anyone's right to be cynical.

I can be just as cynical and pessimistic as anyone on earth. I would never presume to challenge your, or anyone elses right to it as I feel I have myself.



Fair enough. No argument here. These were not the issues I was addressing anyway.

EDIT: I grew up with an Aunt only one year older than I with Down's Syndrome. She's now fifty one. Her intellectual development never got past the age of eight. What was done for the real girl the video is about never would have occurred to anyone with Down's Syndrome back then. What the motivations were of the people that did this were, I can't say, nor do I care. What I do care about is how my aunt would have felt had the people in her school ever done anything like that for her. That girl will remember that day for the rest of her life, and I'm sure not in a negative light. And that, no matter WHY it was done, is a wonderful thing.

'Nuff said.

Maybe that girl is able to make it in the real world. Just because somebody had a developmental disability doesn't mean that they have a life sentence, and that they will rely on their parents and the system for the rest of their life. There are people with Down Syndrome who are completely independent.

I have to give you this one. I hate advertisements for the most part.



Makes sense.

But that doesn't really say much about the video and the reality of disabilities. Selling gizmos through clever advertising isn't the same as parading a Down's Syndrome person in a contrived setting to invoke over the top emotions.