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SNL Skit Offensive to the Blind?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by rocketsjudoka, Dec 15, 2008.

  1. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    What do y'all think? Is this skit portraying NY Gov. Patterson as bumbling offensive to the blind and others with disabilities?

    http://www.startribune.com/entertai...QDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUZ

    Advocates for the blind, state officials fault TV skit about NY's Gov. Paterson
    Associated Press

    Last update: December 15, 2008 - 8:14 AM

    ALBANY, N.Y. - A "Saturday Night Live" skit portraying New York's blind governor as a bumbling leader didn't get a laugh from Gov. David Paterson.

    Paterson's office said the skit ridiculed people with physical disabilities and implied that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities.

    "The governor is sure that 'Saturday Night Live,' with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive," Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said in a statement Sunday. "Knowing the governor, he might even have some suggestions himself."

    The skit that aired Saturday featured SNL cast member Fred Armisen as Paterson, who must appoint someone to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton. Armisen said he has three criteria for filling the job: economic experience, upstate influence and someone who is disabled and unprepared for the job — like himself. He held up a chart illustrating the state's job losses upside down.

    National Federation of the Blind spokesman Chris Danielsen said the portrayal suggesting Paterson as befuddled and disoriented because of his blindness is "absolutely wrong."

    No one from NBC, which produces SNL, could be reached for comment early Monday morning.

    Here is the skit.
    param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/h14ZmnS_PNU5IMu6WEsQHA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" width="512" height="296"></embed></object>
     
  2. rhadamanthus

    rhadamanthus Contributing Member

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  3. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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    how would it be offensive if they couldn't see it?

    ...

    But, hey, if they win this, I'm suing Coach Hines and MADTV for all the pennies they have left. Retroactive racism. YAMINASHI!!!!!111
     
  4. weslinder

    weslinder Contributing Member

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    I can't watch it at work, which begs the question: How would any blind person be offended by something they can't see?
     
  5. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    I guess you can't see the post above yours either:p

    anyway, I think some of it was over the line, like him holding the chart upside
     
  6. Smokey

    Smokey Contributing Member

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    I didn't think it was offensive but I also didn't think it was funny...especially when Armisen kept getting in the way of the camera.
     
  7. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Contributing Member

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    Who cares if they can see it or not? Just because those that were alive at the time did not see Emmit Till's beating, does that make it unoffensive to those that were? What about the KKK's actions such as lynching? What about Nazi Germany's actions during WWII?

    I know that you may not like the comparisons but you get what I am saying.
     
  8. weslinder

    weslinder Contributing Member

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    Everyone, feel free to make fun of illiterate people. weslinder won't know any better.
     
  9. FLAGRANT1

    FLAGRANT1 Member

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    Don't do that.....really. That is an insult to those who were wronged and paid with their lives.

    SNL made a sketch about a former cokehead public official who happens to be blind. If you are in the public eye you get mocked occasionally. But if you of high character those instances are few and far between.
     
  10. cson

    cson Contributing Member

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  11. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost be kind. be brave.

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    anybody find it.... odd.. at someone being offended by something they can't see?
     
  12. cson

    cson Contributing Member

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    Yes, 20% of the people who posted before you actually stated as much Don.
     
  13. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    For those who haven't figured it out yet, blind people occasionally talk to people who can see. Probably some sighted traitor outed us to the blind people. Now, they are offended by something they know second-hand, just as my wife is often offended by the threads here I tell her about.
     
  14. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    tell her i'm sorry.
     
  15. Major

    Major Member

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    Do people really not know that being legally blind does not mean people can't see at all?
     
  16. thegary

    thegary Contributing Member

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    wow, i'm feeling the urge to purge. i just want to apologize to everyone on this bbs: thegary is sorry that he is a giant a-hole.
     
  17. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost be kind. be brave.

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    Awesome.

    Thanks to you, now I don't have to bother reading!
     
  18. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    I'll try, but she just shuts down when she hears your handle.
     
  19. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Does anyone else notice that either Europe is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or the Americas are gone in that skit? It's like everyone here is blind?
     
  20. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Contributing Member

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    SNL, since it's inception, has always been funny by being offensive.
     

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