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Where have all the Corkies gone?
So earlier today my friend Galen sent me this email:
Has Rosie O'Donnell ever made you laugh?
Go to http://www.cbs.com and watch the promo for Riding the Bus with my Sister.
She may have single handedly set back mental retardation 100 years.
I watched the clip, and, sure enough, I puked a little bit right there in my mouth. Now, there's a certain level of awful the human mind is conditioned to expect when you hear the words "Hallmark Hall of Fame", but this has an unpleasant twist all its own, namely, why can't they cast a real retarded person in this role? Remember that show, "Life Goes On"? Awful, yes, but at least they used a REAL retarded person for the lead role. A real retarded person with an acting resumé that would make any of the coffeeshop-dwelling dipshits around Hollywood here moisten their pants with envy. It seems like if they did that here they could have paid them several hundred thousand less (provided they stipulated no outside counsel for contract negotiations) and they could have spared America from another cringetastic display from Ms. O'Donnell.
Rosie O'Donnell: not BIOLOGICALLY retarded. |
If they used a genuinely retarded person they probably could have elicted emotions of respect and compassion instead of the nausea and embarassment this production seems doomed to produce.
Posted by Jason Torchinsky on 04/20/2005 | Permalink
Comments
funny coincidence, cus i vomited in MY mouth a little when i finally broke down and downloaded realplayer just so i could watch that.
i really enjoyed having to tell the realplayer NOT to be my default player for anything except realplayer files.
it also popped up on my spyware software.
nice.
Posted by: elserracho | Apr 20, 2005 6:46:09 PM
Seriously. PERSON WITH MENTAL RETARDATION. Not "retarded person". Go ahead and call me PC if you must, but they're PEOPLE before they are RETARDED.
Posted by: cere | Apr 21, 2005 2:57:43 AM
YEAH! Like how we say "person with beauty" instead of "beautiful person"! Oh wait, no, we don't really do that. That's spanish. Persona linda. Lemme try again... Like how we say, "person with righteousness" instead of "righteous person"... no, wait... that's not really how people talk... damn.
Posted by: N. O. T'alinguist | Apr 21, 2005 3:25:18 AM
well done linguista nada.
Posted by: elserracho | Apr 21, 2005 1:01:21 PM
Geez, I thought I was being correct when I changed all the "retards" to "retarded persons". I'm glad I edited out all the "kikes", too. I've got a lot of growing up to do.
Posted by: Jason | Apr 21, 2005 2:34:23 PM
Lest we not forget that very-special love story in which Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi played RPs. Of course, some would argue that those two thesps are as [insert you own preferred PC term]-challenged in real life as the kid who played Corky.
Posted by: becky | Apr 21, 2005 2:40:31 PM
It's not about being PC; it's about respecting what people ask you to call them. People with developmental disabilities say, straight out, they don't like to be called "retarded"--so it's kinda rude to keep using a term they've asked the rest of us not to.
But I agree--Rosie O'Donnell??? Bleh. The book the show is based on is NOT a Hallmarky book, but they went and wrung a Hallmark show out of it anyway.
Posted by: Penny | Apr 24, 2005 12:22:16 AM
