Like I said earlier, everything is funny until its about you. Then when it happens to you, suddenly you feel like complaining. Funny..isn’t it.

My other thought is that this movie is a farce, a satire, a comedy. It is not mean spirited. Those who genuinely spit hate speech, I don’t like them anymore than you do, but they have a right to say it, like you have a right to speak your mind. But do not protest a movie you have not seen and satire you are seemingly unable to comprehend.

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Five years ago I had my first child and didn’t even know how to react when they told me she had down syndrome. Like so many other parents that have commented in this thread - I know that my daughter is amazing. I also have a 3 year old son and everyday since his birth I’ve watch with wonder how he has learned how to walk, talk, eat etc.. with seemingly no effort. I have had to spend the last 5 years teaching my daughter how to do all of those things that we normally take for granted. It has definitely given me a new insight into the world of the disabled. I’m sure if it was up to my daughter, she wouldn’t have chosen to be born with down syndrome. I doubt she likes the countless hours of speech, occupational and physical therapy she has to go to in order to learn things that come easily to the rest of us. I won’t go into details about the countless hours she spends at doctors appointments also. She takes it all in stride though and says thanks you at the end of every appointment.
Although I have no comment on the movie since I haven’t seen it for myself to judge - I am saddened by many of the remarks I have read in this thread of emails. I’m sure that not everyone on this thread has had to care for a disabled person or is disabled themselves but they have probably experienced some other kind of challenge in their lives. I hope that when you do face this challenge if you haven’t already - whether it be fighting for your own life against cancer, struggling to make ends meet, having a parent with alzheimers or maybe like my daughter - you will have to struggle just to complete the simplest of tasks because you were born with an extra chromosome - I hope no on laughs or makes fun of you.

I hate this lame discussion…

I just saw this movie and it was great. The movie is making fun of Hollywood..not the mentally disabled… or as I like to call them.. retards. My Uncle Eddie is retarded and it’s funny how everyone thinks that family members only say “mentally challenged” Nobody in my family says that.. they all say retarded, and nobody treats old Eddie with any disdain or malice.. they just say it as a word for what it means. Plus my family is all Armenian and don’t give a rats butt about being PC. They are old school.. and it’s refreshing to hear them talk after being surrounded all the time by PC whiners.

Now all you buck up and go drink some BOOTY SWEAT! YEYAH!

And the point about “educating” people on a site like this? That has as much chance as China winning a gold medal. Or a silver. Or a bronze. Or even showing up for the rowing competition and being disqualified. I sure hope that dude got on the first plane out of Beijing. Communist countries do not have to dig holes in the desert in the middle of the night, you dig?

“When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside,” said Special Olympics global messenger Dustin Plunkett. “I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It’s not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don’t like the word retard. We are people. We’re just like any other people out there. We want to be ourselves and not be discriminated against.”

It’s not about satire. Here is a direct quote from the movie:

In a scene where an actor is discussing adoption of a child, Matthew McConaughey retorts, “at least you get to pick your kid, I’m stuck with mine, indicating a photo with a retarded son.

“I’m stuck with mine”………….it almost makes my stomach turn.

Imagine sitting in the movie and hearing those words as the parent of a child with Down Syndrome.

I don’t have to imagine; I have such a child. And you know what, he is the greatest gift God could have ever given us. They know nothing but unconditional love. They do not know how to hate. They were put here in our presence, I believe, for that very purpose. If you asked me, if we could go back and change this, my answer would be
no. It is so disheartening to read that 90% of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. The parents have no idea what they have done, the gift they have refused.

Anyone who wants to see this movie, has that right, I would never argue against that. But don’t tell me I do not have the right to “try” and educate others that this is hurtful to those who do not have the capacity to defend themselves.

For those on this forum to go so far as to taunt them and attack them, yes, shame on you.

And in this case, unlike the movie, that language is not used in the context of a “satire of Hollywood,” it is used by individuals trying to make themselves appear bigger by criticizing someone else. This is exactly the concern which people with disabilities have over the phrases being used in this film: they will be quoted outside of the “context” of the film as genuinely hurtful, bullying words directed at real people with real feelings.

I am writing both as someone who initially thought this might be a funny movie to see—I’m always up for a critique of Hollywood, and I’ve found much of Ben Stiller’s work hilarious. But I’m also writing as the parent of a 5-year-old boy with Down syndrome, who is just as vibrant and full of potential as any other complex human being, and deserves better than being limited to a one-word identity.

Let’s maintain freedom of speech and expression for all kinds of people and all kinds of opinions. But let’s maintain some kind of level of “intelligent debate” which the site claims to promote.

Thanks.

Andrew Ryder
Lynnwood, WA

The only “R” word that is acceptable is “respect” and this is what you need to learn to have for others.