General Discussion

mentalsolstice

(4,659 posts)

63. Look folks, I'm not grave dancing!

Mon Aug 21, 2017, 12:06 PM

Aug 2017

I recognize the man had his fans. And as I said in the OP, I hope he rests in peace. However, his death brings an opportunity to dispel a myth. The discussion about JL and his treatment of PWDs has been going on for decades, but because there is very little attention paid to disability issues by those outside of the community, most people were unaware of it.

I am also using the opportunity to start a discussion about the broader issues. Pity can be a soft form of bigotry. It definitely damages the fight for equality. And while I'm all for fundraising for medical research, can you imagine being a child and seeing some of these telethons and being made to feel your very existence isn't a good thing. Imagine if we had telethons for research to make black babies skin lighter, or looking for a medical cure for homosexuality.

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Jerry Lewis was never a hero to the disabled community [View all] mentalsolstice Aug 2017 OP

I don't see many posts here about disabilities leftstreet Aug 2017 #1

That might be why you don't see them kcr Aug 2017 #44

The only reason this one has stayed up is because it hit a sore spot mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #45

He raised over a billion dollars for the MDA oberliner Aug 2017 #2

Hear, hear. n/t secondwind Aug 2017 #3

... cwydro Aug 2017 #22

That doesn't negate what the OP said obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #29

Yes it does oberliner Aug 2017 #34

It does suck being called 1/2 person mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #49

Were those camps segregated? mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #60

Jerry Lewis mocked people with disabilities in almost every film he made cyclonefence Aug 2017 #77

Yes he did. It would be nice if he actually listened to PWD Adrahil Aug 2017 #85

Except for the billion or so he raised for MD. Other than that Dreamer Tatum Aug 2017 #4

+1 rock Aug 2017 #6

He was a dick to them, the OP is correct obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #31

Someone left the bot on repeat Loki Liesmith Aug 2017 #33

Yes calendargirl Aug 2017 #42

Years ago my cousin (who was disabled) invited me attend a protest at the local Labor Day telethon dflprincess Aug 2017 #5

Well screw Jerry GulfCoast66 Aug 2017 #10

There is no group of people quite so pure Dreamer Tatum Aug 2017 #12

Yeah GulfCoast66 Aug 2017 #13

I know. cwydro Aug 2017 #23

Damn! I wish I'd said that. Grave dancing tends to be a sport around here. WillowTree Aug 2017 #54

I look at it this way Dreamer Tatum Aug 2017 #56

It's not about purity. Lewis was sometimes a dick. Adrahil Aug 2017 #86

Jerry Lewis could have evolved but continued to aggrandize himself delisen Aug 2017 #36

Perhaps because we had been kids together I never treated my cousin as different dflprincess Aug 2017 #75

I'm not sure you speak for the entire disabled community. My late friend Linda lived with MD... Hekate Aug 2017 #7

Not going to say how I feel. Too soon Bladewire Aug 2017 #8

I never liked Jerry Lewis. 3catwoman3 Aug 2017 #9

John Lennon used to mock people with handicaps oberliner Aug 2017 #15

I did not know that about John Lennon. 3catwoman3 Aug 2017 #18

John Lennon was sort of a dick, actually. nt Dreamer Tatum Aug 2017 #19

It was his go-to schtick in the early days oberliner Aug 2017 #35

Sure... but like Jerry, that doesn't mean he wasn't an asshole sometimes. NT Adrahil Aug 2017 #87

The kids he said would soon die without your donations often grew up to be Jerry's orphans loyalsister Aug 2017 #11

I doubt that you, or any one individual or group, speaks for the entire disabled community onenote Aug 2017 #14

Would you like to be called half a person? lunamagica Aug 2017 #68

Is that supposed to be a response to my post? onenote Aug 2017 #78

He made everyone laugh, except those without a sense of humor. demosincebirth Aug 2017 #16

I have a terrific sense of humor, and he wasn't funny obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #32

As a teacher, administrator, psychological examiner for forty years the three kids I worked with MD gordianot Aug 2017 #17

Thanks for speaking up. This OP is deplorably expressed. Hortensis Aug 2017 #88

Pity? (If) you dont want to be pitied because youre a cripple in a wheelchair, stay in ya house! lunamagica Aug 2017 #20

a cripple? Skittles Aug 2017 #21

While not PC now 'cripple' was WePurrsevere Aug 2017 #30

Lewis made that comment in 2001 not the 70s. And based on the background of the comment he SweetieD Aug 2017 #59

It's a Lewis quote Bradical79 Aug 2017 #40

Read the whole post d_r Aug 2017 #41

I've seen this quote all over DU. cwydro Aug 2017 #24

Here you go: lunamagica Aug 2017 #26

And you assert this on what basis? Hey, maybe then the MDA can return the $2 billion. WinkyDink Aug 2017 #25

Thanks for posting it -- am disgusted with all the praise obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #27

A bigot against the disabled? oberliner Aug 2017 #46

If not a bigot, he was totally misguided. mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #51

I love how people are attacking you about this, and dismissing YOUR feelings and concerns obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #53

Oh, I don't mind, I understand the man had his fans. mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #55

I think it's the absolute nature of the OP... aikoaiko Aug 2017 #83

Yes, he was obamanut2012 Aug 2017 #52

"I never even thought so when I was a kid." 3catwoman3 Aug 2017 #80

You clearly... Mike Nelson Aug 2017 #28

MDA is a terrible mostly fatal disease...he raised tons of money...and that was his goal. Demsrule86 Aug 2017 #37

No good dead goes unpunished. tavernier Aug 2017 #38

He knew how to get folks to open their wallets. That was his product. He was very good at it dembotoz Aug 2017 #39

You can't please some people, especially negative people. FLPanhandle Aug 2017 #43

Some liked him and think he did good, others did not joeybee12 Aug 2017 #47

Times change. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #48

Has there been any polling done on this? BannonsLiver Aug 2017 #50

Lewis came from a time that wasn't quite so politically correct. hamsterjill Aug 2017 #57

He made his hateful remarks about PWDs in 2001 mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #61

So we should just discredit all of the good that Lewis did because he made some stupid remarks? hamsterjill Aug 2017 #62

Would you like to be called half a person? lunamagica Aug 2017 #69

No but I don't think that is what Lewis did. hamsterjill Aug 2017 #70

"I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person. I may be a full human being in lunamagica Aug 2017 #71

Do you honestly define yourself by one person's comments? hamsterjill Aug 2017 #72

I just think that if someone had said that about blacks, or LGTBs DU would explode lunamagica Aug 2017 #74

I dunno, because if he raised the money, treestar Aug 2017 #58

Look folks, I'm not grave dancing! mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #63

Don't most kids with MD know it's a bad situation? BannonsLiver Aug 2017 #64

Bingo! mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #65

Jerry Lewis Dbasb Aug 2017 #66

You can raise funds AND treat people as equals and with dignity mentalsolstice Aug 2017 #67

THIS dflprincess Aug 2017 #73

But what you said was that he was "never a hero to the disabled community. aikoaiko Aug 2017 #84

I think the reaction to Jerry Lewis by PWD was enlightening for a lot of people. milestogo Aug 2017 #76

Criticisms to his approach are fair , but it seems like the funds have done a world good for some. aikoaiko Aug 2017 #79

It's possible to help by raising a lot of money and still be a jerk mvd Aug 2017 #81

What a horrible man! Are there any statues of him we can tear down? jcmaine72 Aug 2017 #82