The Paralympics

[indalo]

Watching these brave people competing today on TV got me thinking......if they can run faster than me, swim better than me and lift heavier weights than me, why do they get to park closer to Tesco than I can?

Indalo

 

[tillson]

I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Nobody's making them do it. They do it because they want to and for the rewards and recognition that success brings.

 

[tillson]

Nobody's making them do it. They do it because they want to and for the rewards and recognition that success brings.

Ooops. I think my comment was lost on you.

It was a rather feeble attempt at humour. I won't give up my day job.

On a more serious note, I have watched all of the equestrian events and have not seen a single horse in a wheelchair. I think questions need to be asked, there could be some cheating going off.

 

[scarrabri]

And this is Humour ?

I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment.

And this is Humour ? Well lets just remind each other how lucky most of us are ,where as the not so lucky have to struggle along and refuse to give up in a cruel world ,joke we may ,but there goes the bravest people of all who have done us all proud ,i for one give them a standing ovation,very best wishes Brian.

 

[tillson]

And this is Humour ? Well lets just remind each other how lucky most of us are ,where as the not so lucky have to struggle along and refuse to give up in a cruel world ,joke we may ,but there goes the bravest people of all who have done us all proud ,i for one give them a standing ovation,very best wishes Brian.

Well done Brian, you are of course entirely correct. I feel a little bit ashamed now and am considering self harm.

On the other hand, it was nice to see George Osbourne supporting the Paralympics. His face as he walked out to present the medals, I would summarise as, "first pooh after haemorrhoid surgery." It was a beautiful moment and makes it worth battling on.

 

[flecc]

And this is Humour ?

Perhaps too subtle for you Brian? Tillson's comment was hardly an offensive one, even if the humour escaped you.

The Channel 4 decision to have two stand-up comedians commenting on the Paralympics in a program each evening I thought risky and potentially offensive and a single dip-in confirmed that. The bit I unfortunately caught was a discussion on whether to use terms like cripples or mutants.

Now that was offensive.

 

[mike killay]

Problem is that PC is a huge minefield.
I was a volunteer for a Charity and someone who should have known better decided to ban the use of the word 'handicapped' as he thought that 'disabled' was a softer, kinder description.
However, a lot of the members who had the condition (a crippling genetic disease) howled him down!
They felt that with the use of their various aids, they were as 'able' as anyone else.

 

[scarrabri]

Perhaps too subtle for you Brian? Tillson's comment was hardly an offensive one, even if the humour escaped you.

The Channel 4 decision to have two stand-up comedians commenting on the Paralympics in a program each evening I thought risky and potentially offensive and a single dip-in confirmed that. The bit I unfortunately caught was a discussion on whether to use terms like cripples or mutants.

Now that was offensive.

No the humour does not escape me ,i have watched moments in The Paralympics that were so funny that it made me weep with laughter and made even more more funny because of there limitations bought about by there dissability, which made them laught and we laughted with them not at them



Originally Posted by tillson
[I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment]



. sounds like performing monkeys ,and that they are not they are human beings and deserve to treated so ,what channel 4 does is up to them ,and the last point i would like to make is ,if it was a member of your family heavon forbid would you still think it was ok ,no and neither would i ,

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Ooops. I think my comment was lost on you.

It was a rather feeble attempt at humour. I won't give up my day job.

On a more serious note, I have watched all of the equestrian events and have not seen a single horse in a wheelchair. I think questions need to be asked, there could be some cheating going off.

Sorry. You're right about it being wasted on me. I thought it was a stange thing to write.

Although I'm glad they have the event, it does seem a bit unfair to me. I watched the girl with one and a half hands win the cycling, and I was so pleased for her, but then I thought about it for a bit and realised that it could be an advantage over a normal cyclist because her legs and balance aren't affected so she can pedal just as fast, but she's carrying less weight.

 

[flecc]

The Paralympics authorities obviously try very hard with their multi-grading system to make every competition fair, and they do seem to have a very open appeals system. But I think the task they face is impossible, the variety and characters of the impairments and the effects they have being beyond comparison.

Fortunately every athlete, Olympics and Paralympics, gets a medal for competing, so every effort is recognised.

 

[TylerD]

The Channel 4 decision to have two stand-up comedians commenting on the Paralympics in a program each evening I thought risky and potentially offensive and a single dip-in confirmed that. The bit I unfortunately caught was a discussion on whether to use terms like cripples or mutants.

Now that was offensive.

I think if you had seen the whole programme Flecc you would have realised that there is absolutely no malice or intention to offend in this show. The two comedians both have disabilities themselves and the show has done a brilliant job of removing the barriers by talking openly about "disability" ,poking gentle fun where merited and generally just treating the athletes as normal human beings. I caught it by chance a few days ago and have been tuning in ever since . Its genuinely funny and uplifting

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I just watched a clip from the football. The guy kicked the ball in the net, turned round, ran up the pitch, did a somersault, back up into a stand, grabbed his team-mate and hugged him. How did he know where he was? It reminded me of Mr Mystery, the guy that drives a car blindfold flat out round a field with spectators dispersed around it. He does reverse spins coming within milimeters but never hitting them. I think the footballers use the same technique whatever it is.

 

[neptune]

Problem is that PC is a huge minefield.
I was a volunteer for a Charity and someone who should have known better decided to ban the use of the word 'handicapped' as he thought that 'disabled' was a softer, kinder description.
However, a lot of the members who had the condition (a crippling genetic disease) howled him down!
They felt that with the use of their various aids, they were as 'able' as anyone else.

I love the use of the term "Howled him down". It sounds like a primitive blind landing system for aircraft in foggy conditions, used in the First World war.

 

[scarrabri]

I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment.

I asked a question on the net { should we take the p--- out of our dissabled friends } and this came up ,which then confuses me a little because this is what came up .Steady Eddy, Australian Comedians in Concert - YouTube and i found this to be in good taste and funny , in yet i find the tillson

I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment.[/ strange and appaling and in bad taste ,surely in this day and age we dont need to insult the dissabled to get a laugh at there beneifit ,or do we?

 

[flecc]

That's your reaction Brian, and I think it's a grossly distorted one. I found the attribution of your reactions to me in the final part of your reply to my post above to be both offensive and inaccurate, for my reaction to Tillson's comment in any context would never to be to object. It's very inaccuracy showed very clearly that it was said in a humorous context and could not have been literally meant.

I'm sorry that you could not understand it, but your failure to grasp that simple point does not deserve your reaction or this return for another go at a respected member. Intolerance is just another form of bad manners.

 

[tillson]

I asked a question on the net { should we take the p--- out of our dissabled friends } and this came up ,which then confuses me a little because this is what came up .Steady Eddy, Australian Comedians in Concert - YouTube and i found this to be in good taste and funny , in yet i find the tillson

I don't think that it's right to make them perform just for our entertainment.[/ strange and appaling and in bad taste ,surely in this day and age we dont need to insult the dissabled to get a laugh at there beneifit ,or do we?

scarrabri, you haven't,"got it." This isn't directed at the Paralympian athletes. It's a gross exaggeration of some of the condescending and patronising things that able bodied people say about others who have to overcome physical conditions & injuries just to do the things that we take for granted.

The humour comes from the stupidity of the hypothetical comentator who makes the remark, not anything to do with a Paralympian.

 

[scarrabri]

That's your reaction Brian, and I think it's a grossly distorted one. I found the attribution of your reactions to me in the final part of your reply to my post above to be both offensive and inaccurate, for my reaction to Tillson's comment in any context would never to be to object. It's very inaccuracy showed very clearly that it was said in a humorous context and could not have been literally meant.

I'm sorry that you could not understand it, but your failure to grasp that simple point does not deserve your reaction or this return for another go at a respected member. Intolerance is just another form of bad manners.

Sorry ,but there is no simple point ,all i see is a string of bad jokes about the Paralympian athletes,that should never have been allowed on this forum in the first place and to start painting over what has been said is not much better ,and as for attacking members of this forum, do you honestly think putting jokes on this forum would go unchallenged ? like i have said i find it appaling ,best wishes Brian.

 

[flecc]

Your responses are intolerance personified Brian, the very thing that people with impairments have suffered from so extensively. I'm not papering over anything, just objecting to such blatant intolerance.

More than a day after the Tillson's post and three days after the start of this thread, the moderators do not appear to share your views, for they've never hesitated to remove objectionable posts or even whole threads in the past.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

More than a day after the Tillson's post and three days after the start of this thread, the moderators do not appear to share your views, for they've never hesitated to remove objectionable posts or even whole threads in the past.

Sorry Flecc, but that's simpply not true that they remove objectionable posts - especially when it comes to certain members of this forum for whatever reasons.