So, today two different British retailers (Tesco & Asda) pulled their "mental patient" Halloween costumes in response to criticism that they are perpetuating a negative stereotype and reinforcing the stigma against mental illness. (Link to news article [http://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/uk/432316/Tesco-and-Asda-remove-offensive-mental-Halloween-costumes-after-backlash])
There is a lot of backlash, however, from people who feel this is over-sensitive and "political correctness gone mad" (see comments of linked article).
I was just wondering what people on The Escapist thought about this.
Now, admittedly I may be a bit biased on this issue, because my brother currently is a mental patient. But then again, 'bias' is an easy way to write off the fact that I have direct experience of what it's actually like, and most of these detractors have only movies to go off. I've been visiting a maximum security psych ward; I have seen it all. And even the worst, most violent patients (my brother included) are less threatening/scary than your average wannabe hard-man out to prove how tough he is.
But it isn't the reinforcement of the "all mental patients are knife-wielding maniacs" stereotype that really hacks me off. That was ignorant and lazy on the part of Asda, but they swiftly apologised. It's the people saying "Oh look, here comes the PC brigade to spoil all our fun again. *eye-roll*"
Essentially what you're saying is:
"Alright, I'll accept that I shouldn't call black people niggers any more, or call gays faggots, because I'll get in trouble. But now I can't even dress up as a nutter? Who am I supposed to ridicule and dehumanise for fun now?! All I've got left is fat people and old people!"
I don't mean to poison the wells of a reasonable debate.
To be clear, I don't think political correctness is something that should be legally enforced. But if someone uses a lazy, ill-informed, damaging stereotype instead of actually researching what they are portraying (something that takes 5 minutes on Google these days), I think that's stupid of them. And defending that stupidity on the basis of "it's just a bit of fun" is downright despicable.
Another thing I feel I should make clear: using stereotypes ironically doesn't bother me, as long as the point of the joke/story element is intended to criticise the stereotype, rather than reinforce it. For example, Sarah Silverman's "I hate chinks" joke is different from her just unironically hating 'chinks'.
For artists/comedians, this can be a bit of a grey area (i.e. "how much should I try to 'wink' at the audience to show I'm not really racist/sexist/etc?").
But for commenters who say, "What's the big deal? I don't think it was so bad," despite having zero knowledge or experience on the matter... it drives me insane. No pun intended.
Edit:
For those who don't want to bother with the article, here is the original picture:
Note: bloody straight-jacket, knife, crazy mask = "mental patient".
Not even 'murderous' mental patient; apparently that's a given.
There is a lot of backlash, however, from people who feel this is over-sensitive and "political correctness gone mad" (see comments of linked article).
I was just wondering what people on The Escapist thought about this.
Now, admittedly I may be a bit biased on this issue, because my brother currently is a mental patient. But then again, 'bias' is an easy way to write off the fact that I have direct experience of what it's actually like, and most of these detractors have only movies to go off. I've been visiting a maximum security psych ward; I have seen it all. And even the worst, most violent patients (my brother included) are less threatening/scary than your average wannabe hard-man out to prove how tough he is.
But it isn't the reinforcement of the "all mental patients are knife-wielding maniacs" stereotype that really hacks me off. That was ignorant and lazy on the part of Asda, but they swiftly apologised. It's the people saying "Oh look, here comes the PC brigade to spoil all our fun again. *eye-roll*"
Essentially what you're saying is:
"Alright, I'll accept that I shouldn't call black people niggers any more, or call gays faggots, because I'll get in trouble. But now I can't even dress up as a nutter? Who am I supposed to ridicule and dehumanise for fun now?! All I've got left is fat people and old people!"
I don't mean to poison the wells of a reasonable debate.
To be clear, I don't think political correctness is something that should be legally enforced. But if someone uses a lazy, ill-informed, damaging stereotype instead of actually researching what they are portraying (something that takes 5 minutes on Google these days), I think that's stupid of them. And defending that stupidity on the basis of "it's just a bit of fun" is downright despicable.
Another thing I feel I should make clear: using stereotypes ironically doesn't bother me, as long as the point of the joke/story element is intended to criticise the stereotype, rather than reinforce it. For example, Sarah Silverman's "I hate chinks" joke is different from her just unironically hating 'chinks'.
For artists/comedians, this can be a bit of a grey area (i.e. "how much should I try to 'wink' at the audience to show I'm not really racist/sexist/etc?").
But for commenters who say, "What's the big deal? I don't think it was so bad," despite having zero knowledge or experience on the matter... it drives me insane. No pun intended.
Edit:
For those who don't want to bother with the article, here is the original picture:
Note: bloody straight-jacket, knife, crazy mask = "mental patient".
Not even 'murderous' mental patient; apparently that's a given.
