WAY-OT (Re: Political Correctness and the Writer)

[Matt Ion <soundy -at- ROGERS -dot- WAVE -dot- CA>]

On Thu, 25 Sep 1997 11:49:41 -0400, Michelle Law wrote:

>This will always be true. Actually, some people who have these labels
>applied to them really don't care about the terminology. Any of the
>words you used in the first paragraph would be okay. My brother, who
>has a spinal cord injury, calls it like he sees it. He says he's
>crippled (and proud of it!). Take away the negative connotations,
>not the words. There's nothing wrong with being crippled, mentally
>retarded, handicapped, or disabled. Now if we can just get the rest
>of the human race to evolve..... ;)

There's a rock band in the Vancouver area that goes by the name of
Cripple.  Their CD cover consists of a slightly-modified version of the
common wheelchair symbol.

The night they played at the club I was doing sound at, the coatcheck
girl took a very irate phone call, along the lines of, "I'm a
quadripalegic and I saw your poster for this band you have there and I'm
very offended..." as he proceeded to chew her ear off for a while.

The fact is, the lead singer of this band is, technically, a "cripple"
himself.  He was in a car accident a few years ago.  Came out of it
paralyzed from the waist down.  Doctors told him he'd never walk again.
Today he walks, runs, jumps around the stage... A guy who thought all
musicians were bums and losers before, he gained a new appreciation and
started writing songs about his experiences while going through
rehabilitation (including one song, "Squish", which is about the accident
itself).  He took the money from the insurance settlement and put
together the band, and named that band "Cripple".

Of course, nobody else is allowed to call someone "crippled".  Nobody
seems to mind when one black person calls another (or even him/herself) a
"nigger", but let a white person use the word, and all hell breaks lose.
<sigh>  Talk about a double standard!




 Your friend and mine,
 Matt
 <insert standard disclaimer here>
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 To persevere in one's duty and be silent
 is the best answer to misrepresentation.
                                - George Washington

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