Jerry Lewis scorns activist critics as he prepares for annual telethon

[struggle4progress]

Posted on Sat, Sep. 02, 2006
By E.A. Torriero
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)

LAS VEGAS - .. Led by a former muscular dystrophy poster boy from Chicago, the activists scored what they call their "big triumph" last November as wheelchair-bound protesters ambushed Lewis in an appearance at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago ..

"They want me to stop the telethon because I make them look pitiful," Lewis said, according to a recording made by an audience member. "What is more pitiful than this?" ..

Ervin is distributing a documentary entitled "The Kids Are All Right," which chronicles his years of dissent. Despite the protesters' urgings, the telethon has not changed its ways and has not promoted accessibility for the disabled, better housing and employment possibilities, activists say.

"The concerns don't seem to sink in," said Andy Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

In an interview last week with the Chicago Tribune at the South Coast hotel-casino, Lewis said he has no intention of making peace with his detractors. He likened the idea of meeting with them to entertaining Hezbollah or insurgents in Iraq ..

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/15427005.htm

[patrioticliberal]

1. I've always liked Lewis and his telethon..

I wish it wasn't as short as it is (due to his health), and I wish more people (not old farts like Ed Mcmahon) were involved..more big performers etc. Oh well. People need to help find a cure.

[struggle4progress]

4. "A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me but sets me back a bit; I think ..

.. of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world" seems to be a fairly typical Jerry quote.

Jerry Lewis' Words Show Contempt For Opponents
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
July 18, 2001

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Some folks .. with disabilities -- the very people he says he works tirelessly for during the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon every Labor Day weekend -- have been fighting mad at him for years ..

But two months ago, the comic-actor-turned-fund-raiser just may have opened his mouth and inserted both feet one time too many ..

Here is what Lewis said:
"I'm telling people about a child in trouble. If it's pity, we'll get some money. I'm just giving you facts. Pity? You don't want to be pitied because you're a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house!" ..

"With these words, actor Jerry Lewis laid bare his contempt for people with disabilities who object to the pathos-pushing tactics he uses to raise funds," wrote Laura Hershey, a former MDA Poster Child turned protester, in an article for Rabble.ca on-line news magazine. http://www.inclusiondaily.com/archives/04/07/20.htm

I never could stomach the guy -- if you find yourself glued to the set during the Telethon, I guess I'll just never understand :shrug:

[patrioticliberal]

5. Whatever..

I've seen that quote a million times.

Look, I want a cure for muscular dystrophy. That's all.

[struggle4progress]

9. Perhaps a better aim would be to empower those with MD?

Then they themselves can play a role in identifying what their most pressing problems are and in exerting pressure for appropriate solution.

from the September/October 1992 issue of The Disability Rag

A Test of Wills: Jerry Lewis, Jerry's Orphans and the Telethon
Mary Johnson

"The very human desire for cures . . . can never justify a television show that reinforces a stigma against disabled people." .. The article was by Evan J. Kemp .. a man with one of the neuromuscular diseases the Muscular Dystrophy Association said it was fighting to cure .. Society, Kemp charged, saw disabled people as "childlike, helpless, hopeless, nonfunctioning and noncontributing members of society." And, he charged, "the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon with its pity approach to fund raising, has contributed to these prejudices" .. Kemp charged that disabled people suffered far more from lack of jobs, housing -- lack of access to society -- than from the diseases MDA sought to cure. He accused the Telethon's "pity approach . . . with its emphasis on 'poster children' and 'Jerry's Kids' " -- of creating prejudice .. The Telethon, he insisted, "must inform the public of the great waste of money and human life that comes from policies promoting dependence rather than independence" .. MDA briefly hired a disabled man, Steve Lockman, in an effort to deflect criticism that they had no one on staff with the disease they were seeking to cure. But Lockman stayed on the job only a short time, quitting in disgust and accusing MDA of lacking any intention of reforming ..

"The disability rights approach views disability as a natural phenomenon which occurs in every generation, and always will," Hershey wrote to her critics. " It recognizes people with disabilities as a distinct minority group, subject at times to discrimination and segregation . . . but also capable of taking our rightful place in society. From this perspective, people with disabilities have rights, which society must guarantee . . . the right to health care, full integration and opportunities for . . . . non-institutional living. Instead of begging, we are expected to participate fully in the community" .. http://www.advocadopress.org/orphans.html

[whalerider55]

14. wrong frame

you can "empower" people all you want, but in most cases, and my own personal experience MD is a death sentence, usually carried out by the age of 18.

it is certainly fair to question whether Jerry Lewis has the moral standing to pitch for a cure; and fair again to question the efficacy of a donation to the MD association as the best way to seek a cure. that, i have no problem with.

but to frame this issue as one of exploitation and rights is just way too pc for me.

through amazing circumstances, i grew up in the sixties and seventies with a group of demographic peers, 18 kids in 1967, with Muscular Dystrophy. By the time we had collectively reached the age of 18, there was one left, he died when we were 22. i'm all for dignity and respect, universal right to health care. i loved those guys like they were my brothers; i wiped their asses and snuck them out carrying them at two in the morning to raid the girls dorm. the MDA was one of the groups that helped fund a very normalizing summer camp experience

if i had to watch every one of that numbskull's movies for a year straight to buy five more minutes of life for each member of the departed "md squad", i'd say heat up the popcorn griller.

when lewis started, MD was an orphan disease, affecting too few people to be worth it for the pharmaceuticals. times have changed, laws have changed; jerry lewis has not. he is a boor, he is unfunny, and he comes from a different generation of fundraisers, way out of vogue.

still, when no one talked about this disease, he did. when families and kids suffered in the shadows, he brought them out onstage, confronted the nation with the reality of the disease, and made the ask.

it just ain't that black and white.

whalerider55

[struggle4progress]

21. People have a right to health care, transportation options, and access.

I don't see how that view qualifies as extremist or PC.

The kids you remember had the right to that normalizing summer camp experience. If your camp was anything like one once on Catoctin Mountain, staff made some effort to undo psychological damages caused by the culture of paternalistic pity.

There's a gulf, in my view, between helping folk when they need help and telling everybody that they're hopeless half people who survive only by other people's charity.

"Empowerment" is not an empty slogan. I knew one kid who in his early adulthood started organizing his friends to jam their wheelchairs in the revolving doors of completely inaccessible department stores. It was a good experience for them, and it was good for the city he lived in, too. People like that can become effective advocates for themselves and their friends -- and a bunch of his younger friends had DMD.

[whalerider55]

27. i'm not sure we disagree..

going back to the original post i was responding to, i expressed frustration that a reasonably complex and nuanced dialog had been reduced to buzzwords by both sides- "rights" and "patronizing", and so on.

as an elected official, I have found myself in alliances with folks who really see the world differently than i do; simply because it furthers my advocacy work and empowerment efforts without compromising core principles. its that lack of reasoned dialog that bothers me.

i can remember being part of a group of UCPA staff who challenged a legendary wheelchair football team, the Silver Wheels, as a fundraiser. The game was astonishingly hard fought, and in the end we beat them, it was their first loss. we had talked about it before hand, and agreed that we would play up to the challenge; they were surprised, but afterward told us that they appreciated the fact that we didn't treat them like disabled people, that we had shown them competitive respect on the court. So i fully understand the concerns about paternalistic patronizing, it makes me angry too.

i guess my point was that Lewis is a catskill comedian, his life is a shtick, and the only politics that ever enter his mind are the politics of self-preservation- he is what he is, as popeye would say. what little comedic talent he has (let me say that in french- his profound understanding the human condition)understands that little separates pathos and humor; he's a pathos guy.

maybe a dialog with MDA about creating and implementing a tolerance/diversity/education curriculum with some of the booty would a first step.

in hindsight my use of pc was over broad and more provocative than i intended to be. your point is taken.

whalerider55

[struggle4progress]

32. We don't disagree.

Though it's possible the last five years or so have encouraged me to state my views in unncessarily inflexible language ...

[lse7581011]

26. Excellent Post!

Thank you for expressing so eloquently what I could not!

[Th1onein]

10. The MD Assocation isn't the place to find a cure for MD

I used to think that these big foundations were looking for a cure, too. Once upon a time. Until I realized, after decades of being told that "the cure is just around the corner," the CF Foundation is a bureaucracy, just like any other. The purpose of bureaucracies, once they get so big, is to perpetuate themselves. I'm not saying that they do it on purpose; I'm just saying that this is the nature of the beast.

In over fifty years, the CF Foundation has been responsible for ONE DRUG used for CF. ONE. And that drug is probably the cause of increased bleeding of the lungs and pneumothoraces throughout the CF population. And, God help you if, as a parent, you refuse to give your child that drug. You will be lucky to keep custody of your child. The CF Foundation controls that, too. If you don't follow their "protocol" for treatment at a CF Center, you will lose all funding for research.

I don't like these types of long-lived organizations. At some point, they do more harm than good. They turn pity into a business.

[ikojo]

18. That's pretty much how I feel about all oft

what I call the corporate charities...American Cancer Society etc..they have well paid executives and are primarily concerned with staying in business so if there is a cure for a particular disease there would no longer be a need for these corporate charities.

[Tom Joad]

2. I saw Jerry Lewis defending Bush and his war... certainly promoting

disabling more Americans. He is kinda pathetic.
People need to find a cure for support for militarism.

[PresidentWar]

29. Talk about the Nutty Professor....

I guess some peoples' roles go to their head after awhile.

[lpbk2713]

3. He's 80 years old. Cut him a little slack.

Perhaps some don't like what he's doing but I tend to think a lot more do like what he's doing.

[struggle4progress]

6. His early comedy career was based on mocking people who were ..

.. unattractive or mentally challenged; this apparently reflected a fundamental insensitivity, While I'm not terribly interested in kicking eighty year-old Jerry, I do wonder why the Telethon, after forty years of Disability Rights movement activism, still reflects his outdated dehumanizing view of people.

[Bluebear]

8. I don't think he mocked the mentally challenged...

...as much as acting an immature, childlike geek. But I respect your observation if that's what you got out of those early acts.

[PresidentWar]

31. No, he became a Bush supporter and showed us what retardation is all about

yoink.

[zonkers]

33. where do you draw the line between childlike geek and mentally challenged?

[Bluebear]

39. Hi zonkers . . .maybe it is just a difference in perception...

You know, when I was a kid and saw Lewis in "Geisha Boy", for example, I just didn't think of him as "mentally challenged" in the movie. Plus he won out in the end.

When we watched the Three Stooges, yes, it was extremely violent but somehow we knew it was fantasy...

As an adult now I am a progressive who would not make fun of the mentally challenged or tell someone to pick two fingers so I could poke their eyes out, but as a kid, I just knew the diff.

[sandnsea]

7. Disabled? Too bad, get a job

I think some disabled people might not like it if their activism were carried to its logical conclusion - no empathy, no help, no laws and programs to make sure employers enable you to work - and no economic assistance for those who just don't have the determination to overcome it all. I've always thought the handi-capable people who want to pretend everybody is all the same were setting up an awful lot of handicapped people to be pushed out in the cold. Some folks need to get a handle on the word "perspective", Jerry has done significantly more good than harm and that's more than a lot of people can say.

[struggle4progress]

11. "Some .. people" is a standard propaganda technique. Just who ..

.. these alleged people whose activism is for "no empathy, no help, no laws and programs to make sure employers enable you to work - and no economic assistance for those who just don't have the determination to overcome it all"?

That sounds like the current Republican agenda to me, not the agenda of any disability activists I've ever met.

The criticism is that the Telethon dehumanizes its alleged beneficiaries for fundraising purposes

Friday, November 18, 2005
Jerry Lewis vs. Jerry's Kids

.. In yearly telethons since 1966, Lewis has helped raise an estimated $2 billion in donations for "Jerry's Kids," a staggering figure that one might expect to shield him from criticism. But Ingrid Tischer, a woman with muscular dystrophy, describes how Lewis depicts people like her as wretched, helpless and hopeless, a portrayal that pulls in the money at the expense of their self-worth:

Minutes after I tuned in this year, a little girl was profiled in a video montage before she and her parents joined the host on stage. She sat listening quietly as her parents talked about how their little girl didn't have a future.

Unlike "normal" children, she was "confined" to a wheelchair and could be "struck down" at any moment. You couldn't see how these dramatic statements affected her because a "Call Now" graphic covered the lower portion of the screen -- right where her face was, and where the face of of any person who uses a wheelchair would be expected to be.

Here's the thing: Little girls who hear they don't have futures become women who don't have jobs. And people will never care that women with disabilities are excluded from their work places if they think of us as faceless bodies with special needs instead of women with equal rights.
http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2808/jerry-lewis-vs-jerrys-kids

[sandnsea]

12. Republican agenda - exactly

And how do they manipulate people into enacting that kind of agenda - by saying anybody can "pull them up by their bootstraps"; which is the same message these activists are imparting, whether they mean to or not. Don't feel bad for people with handicaps, just put them to work, doing any menial job available. Believe me, I've seen the local group home programs and they're actually very good ones, but that's still what they do. A few more program cuts and we're right back to the poor farms of 100 years ago. There's no need to pretend that reality doesn't exist for people too. Not everybody can learn to paint with their teeth or toes. Some people really don't have a future and it's just as necessary to advocate for them as it is to advocate for the folks who have more capabilities.

[struggle4progress]

19. Who are "they"? You hold forth on the alleged view of some unnamed ..

.. group of supposed activists. But the views you pretend to cite are not reflected in any of the links I posted.

See, for example, Laura Hershey's comments in this article: "My basic objection to the telethon is that it encourages us to mourn again and again; that it reinforces the message that being disabled is not okay; that it implies that disabled people should get what they need through charity, not as a matter of right; and that it discourages us as a society from accepting disability and seeking to accommodate it permanently into our social fabric." http://www.advocadopress.org/orphans.html

[sandnsea]

20. Misguided Activists, whoever they are

Including Laura Hershey. I know how this country thinks and the only way anybody ever gets any help in this country is due to a sense of charity for those who cannot help themselves. As I said, the logical conclusion will be that handicapped people can work just like everybody else so there's no reason to give special benefits at all. That's America.

I would also add, being disabled due to birth defects IS NOT OKAY and should be mourned. We should give money to research and that's what the telethon is about. I suspect Laura Hershey would feel differently if she were dumped under a bridge with no family and no help at all. That's what some people have to deal with and we better not forget it or that will be the plight of everybody with a disability who doesn't have a support system to help them get through each day.

[struggle4progress]

23. " ... Shortly after my stint as Poster Child was over, I remember meeting

a stranger in a store who recognized me from the telethon. He said to me, 'I bet you really hope they find a cure soon!' When he said this, I realized that by this time, I almost never even contemplated that possibility anymore, let alone hoped for it. I told him that. I don't think he believed me. I find the same reaction now, when I criticize the telethon for implying that people with disabilities sit around hoping and praying for a cure. I've encountered people who, never having tried it, think that living life with a disability is an endless hardship. For many of us, it's actually quite interesting, though not without its problems. And the majority of those problems result from the barriers, both physical and attitudinal, which surround us, or from the lack of decent support services. These are things that can be changed, but only if we as a society recognize them for what they are. We'll never recognize them if we stay so focused on curing individuals of disability, rather than making changes to accommodate disability into our culture.

Now, I'm not arguing that medical research should halt entirely -- I'm just weighing the cost-benefit value, in my life and in the lives of my friends with disabilities, of the millions of dollars spent on the search for a cure, a search that will take decades, versus the things we really need now, on which society spends far less. We will probably never benefit from the cure. We will benefit from accessible buildings and transportation systems, job opportunities, and attendant services to provide us personal assistance. So will future generations .."

From Poster Child to Protester
Copyright 1993 by Laura Hershey
http://www.independentliving.org/docs4/hershey93.html

It's hard for me to see how Laura Hershey's efforts, to explain her experience-based conclusions about what is important to her and to her peers, qualifies her as "misguided" ...

[sandnsea]

25. She's ONE PERSON

Yippee skippy for her. SHE is not the end all be all to disabled people. What works for her IS NOT going to work for everybody. That's my whole point. She shouldn't expect everybody to be able to manage their disability the way she manages hers. There's a difference between saying disabled people deserve full access to society and saying disabled people can do anything fully abled people can do. The second is not true and undermines the help available to disabled people, if they supposedly can work and function just like everybody else. It actually reminds me of people like Condi Rice who use affirmative action to succeed and then turning around and telling other African Americans that racism is just a minor inconvenience and to "get over it". I'm sure she has good intentions, I just don't think she's thought it all the way through or maybe has never really put herself in a position to see like through the eyes of someone who isn't even as capable as she is.

[The Straight Story]

40. I am partially joining you in this

How often does the left in America use the same technique - from the poor to the homeless, from the moniority to the glbt, and so on and so forth.

The message becomes - your life sucks, is getting worse, we are the cure - you need our pity.

And ya know what - the left is correct. Smack me with a fish. People DO need help, they are in terrible situations, and having pity on people who are suffering daily is just a simple human emotion.

BUT those people don't always like how they are portrayed. Hell, I was poor for years. I did not need or want the big government to see me as a charity case and feel uber sorry for me. I wanted to be able to expand my choices, utilize tools they may have offered, and made my own life without being seen as a statistic - I mention this because my best friend was poor as well, but he lived alone, had all he really needed, and had no desire to bust his butt to make a ton more money. But here he was considered a poor and uninsured person because his life was a number on a stat chart. He needed 'fixed' because he was in a situation money wise that he had been told was bad by government.

Now, some years later, he makes about 90k as I got him to quit his old job and take a chance in the computer field (which he loves). He still has not bought a new car in his whole life (me either) and at 42 just bought his first house.

I suspect some MD people feel the same. They don't want pity, their life is theirs, and maybe they are just content with that.

But I would tell them the same thing I would my friend on that: There are other people in your situation who are not content, and those are the ones we want to help.

[struggle4progress]

41. I would carefully distinguish between the right to medical care,

including any needed apparatus, and pity.

Everyone, including people with disabilities, ought to be able to obtain all the basic medical treatments and equipment they need to maximize their ability to live their lives as independently as they are able.

I see no reason why such considerations should not be provided by "big government," and that has nothing whatsoever to do with pity: it has to do with respecting the dignity of people, no matter what their condition is.

The objection of the activists is that the telethon holds children up as objects of pity as a fundraising technique: this is a fundamental insult to human dignity, and frankly it's not good for the kid's psyches.

"Your life sucks .. you need our pity" has never been the mantra of the left activists I've known. It has, however, as illustrated by links in this thread, been the mantra of JL's fundraising tactic ...

[The Straight Story]

43. It has been for the left (and even for the right)

Showing kids in appalachia, homeless people sleeping on benches, telling stories about how bad people without insurance have it, and so on.

ALL valid IMHO - but as noted some people live such lives by choice and don't like the pity angle.

When I was a deputy I met many such folks. One was named Willie. He was a runner on my floor (runners got special priveledges and in return they cleaned up things, got food for the other inmates, etc - they were let out of their cells for hours a night to help us out). Willie was an older black guy who had no desire to ever change or improve his life. He just liked it as it was (was comfortable to him I guess). He would get released, and be back within two weeks without fail. The judges all knew him. He was harmless, he just had not desire to do anything but live on the streets. When he got cold or hungry he would go do something to get arrested (like walk into a kmart and pee on the floor, on a friday, knowing the judge could not possibly get to him until middle of next week).

I once told him (we could smoke in the jail back then, and I was sharing some with him) I felt really bad for him and I knew some folks who were hiring, as he was a really hard worker for us. He got all pissed off at me and told me he liked his life just fine and was not telling me I should 'do better'. "Do I tell you your family is suffering cause you are working nights and not making much money and that you should be in college and worker harder so you can have more?". He reamed me good that night :)

It reminded me of Thomas Szasz and his works, and the Dali Llama whose works I was boning up on at the time. I felt his life was not as good as mine so he needed help. He was damn fine with it.

All that said I think the majority of people in similar situations do need help, and would welcome it. And I feel that maybe it is the same with the MD folks. Some parents will play any angle they can because their first and foremost desire is to save the life of their kids, so pity works well if it helps them. And who could not feel sadness and a desire to help when seeing what those kids and parents go through?

Jerry is doing his best to help, it may not be perfect, but it has mobilized many and raised a ton of money for the cause. In that sense, he has been a success.

[PresidentWar]

30. That's FOXNEWS-speak.

Can you believe "some people say that..." ever grew to pass for journalism?

[NMMNG]

15. You have a point (as do Jerry's critics)

Jerry's Telethon does demean and stigmatize people with MD in the process of seeking funds for MD research. And, in general, there are still great barriers that people with all forms of disability face in America today. It is best to try to avoid adding to them even if it is in the act of seeking assistance for them.


However the radical disability activists (who prefer the term "mislabeled" to "disabled") could indeed advocate themselves and their peers into an un-fulfilling and even dangerous situation. They wish for everyone, regardless of level of disability (physical or mental) to have complete authority over their lives in every respect. While this is generally desirable there are instances in which particular individuals have reduced capacity or are simply incapable of exercising informed consent due to the extent of their particular disability(ies). This, however, does not matter to some of the most extreme activists.

I work with people who are developmentally disabled. Once an administrator in my agency was conversing with the publisher of a radical disability-rights magazine. She was insisting that everyone should have full-control of their money and living arrangements no matter what. He asked her what she felt about an instance in which a person with profound MR and no survival skills, who would certainly die for lack of ability to arrange for care. Her response was (near quote), "We are fighting a war here, and in every war there will be some casualties".

Extremes in either direction are not desirable or wise.

[saltpoint]

13. I hate the Lewis Telethon with every fiber of my being.

[Pastiche423]

16. I hate him more

[Raine]

28. Me too

I protested at it many times when he had it in Los Angeles. x(

[Philosoraptor]

17. Isn't it about time to hang up the ol' schtick Jerry baby?

Let someone from the real world take over jerry, you're tired, we're tired, retire already

[lse7581011]

22. He Did Help!

Regardless of what his political views are, he (or the MDA Association) did a lot of good for my cousin who suffered from ALS. They sent him to camp, furnished him with a wheelchair, paid for his doctor's appointments, etc., all things that my Aunt as a single Mom would have had a very hard time doing. All in all, I respect the man for what he is trying to do to raise money for this cause.

[Horse with no Name]

24. When I was a kid

I raised money every Labor Day weekend and then dropped it off at the fishbowl in front of KPHO in Phoenix.
I fully support the need for research...but it seems to me that most of the money raised these days should be used to lobby for stem cell research, because that is where the cure lies.
As a side note...one acquaintance that I met in later life told me of his experience with MDA.
His sister had a form of MD and they refused to help them. Not even a little bit. I have no idea why this was, but have to say it was one of the first disillusionments of mine with corporate charities as an adult.
I'm past the point of watching a telethon and I direct my money to other places, however, it is ironic that for the last 30 or so years we have heard that "this could be a year for a cure".

[flyarm]

38. i believe the Duchenne gene was isolated in Canada...

i was living in Canada when it was isolated..and much hope was apparent at rhe time..

and i thought ..all the money Jerry Lewis has raised did not do it..it was the Canadians who made the break through..and when the repugs Blasted Canadian Medicine when Hillary and Bill Clinton were trying to get universal medicine for all Americans..the republicans just blasted medicine in Canada..and yet Canada was the first to isolate the Duchenne gene involved in some forms of MD..

and around that time ..it was also the Canadians who found a treatment for Scoliosis at THE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN in Toronto..

my husband and i did alot of volunteer work there while living in Toronto, and we did fund raising for the hospital and for research there..and we give our money to that incredible Hospital..and their research dept.

when any American speaks to me negatively about medical care in Canada..they get quite an earful from us!!

i get furious...at the ingorance of Americans..we tend to believe the outright bullshit we know nothing about.

I have yet to meet one Canadian who would be willing to give up there health care for ours!

fly

ohhh and there are many American children in THE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN in Toronto..
who can not get treatment in the USA..or experimental care to try to save American children's lives..

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

34. God Bless Jerry. He's Brought A Lot Of Good To A Lot Of People.

Just goes to show there are activists against everything LOL

[LostInAnomie]

35. As far as I am concerned...

... for the work he has done, he's a saint.

I could give a shit about his political views, or his early career. Over the course of his life he has brought in close to $2,000,000,000 for MD research. For him to give of himself to that extent, especially in the constant pain he is in, he deserves a little more respect than what this thread shows.

There will always be someone to protest against something. But if they harm that telethon by one cent they deserve to have their ass kicked.

[struggle4progress]

36. 2001 South Carolina AFL-CIO letter on the Telethon

.. for over 10 years, the MDA telethon has come under fire from the very people it is supposed to serve -- people with disabilities, including people with neuromuscular conditions. While some people with disabilities support the telethon, members of the disability rights movement protest that the telethon promotes outdated stereotypes and encourages pity. They insist they want access, civil rights, and justice, not pity.

I personally think these critics have a very good point. Over the years, Jerry Lewis and MDA have said things about disability that would cause an outcry if said of any other minority group in America today. What if some charity spokesman called African American children "mistakes who came out wrong"? Or called gays "half persons"? We would all recognize that bigotry for what it is. Yet when these things are said of people with disabilities, most Americans do not even notice ...

My friend Harriet Johnson doesn't want pity -- and she won't stay in her house on Labor Day. She'll be out protesting the telethon in Charleston.

Harriet, who has used a wheelchair all her life and has a muscle disease covered by MDA, is an attorney and friend of labor. Her brother Mac Johnson is a proud member of IATSE Local 333. She represented the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment at the Working Womens' conference of the national AFL-CIO and joins our picket lines when labor is under attack. Now she is urging labor to join her in opposing the telethon. This will be her 11th year of protest ...

http://www.cripcommentary.com/AFL-CIOletter.html
http://www.cripcommentary.com

[LostInAnomie]

37. That's funny because I just watched the AFL-CIO...

... hand over a $3 million dollar check at 1:45 AM(CT).

What kind of idiot would oppose a cause as just as the MDA telethon that does so much good for so many people just because someone's feelings were hurt by the poorly chosen words of it's host? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Do these people really think that Jerry Lewis has some kind of ulterior motive? That he has spent the last few decades of his life working to help find a cure for people he hates? It's fucking ridiculous.

[struggle4progress]

42. Well, since you apparently have read none of the links I have posted,

it is unsurprising that you seem to have no idea what the objections are.

..Lewis goes out of his way during the MDA Telethons to emphasize the difference between his nondisabled self and the disabled bodies he invites on the show. And they are bodies he invites, not individuals, as assured by the way he interacts with them. Haller's paper includes a fascinating analysis of the spatial structure of Lewis' interview with a disabled man during the 1992 Telethon. Here's a taste ...

Throughout the telethon, he hugs and caresses the children and adults with muscular dystrophy, all of whom he calls his "kids." When Schuman completes his short speech, Lewis rubs and pats the back of Schuman's head. It is not a "good job" touch from one adult to another, as a pat on the back or a shake of the hand might be. It is a parent patting the head of a child to indicate the child has pleased him. In reality, Schuman is a working adult who happens to have a physical disability.

Lewis infantilizes disabled adults he interviews, assuring the audience that bodies in wheelchairs are inferior, need pity and that the nondisabled should contribute money for research to avoid the gruesome fate themselves ...

For disability activists protesting the MDA Telethon and Jerry Lewis, the money raised is too high a price to be paid for personhood. The argument that money should be raised (and accepted by the disabled) by Lewis' methods because it's for a good cause -- a cure -- becomes meaningless when disabled bodies are so culturally devalued that life until the elusive cure locks them into the role of pitied victim instead of active member of society ...
The Gimp Parade
http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_thegimpparade_archive.html

[LostInAnomie]

44. I guess I'm supposed to be moved by misperceived acts of affection.

What they perceive as patronizing the rest of the world perceives as a man who loves the people he helps. Of course he is going to bring out some of the worst cases possible. People have to know the debilitating effects of the disease. If he were to bring out a person who is exhibiting hardly any disability people would not care enough to donate. It's the same for any other charity. They have to shock people or they will not care.

I can't stand self righteous people, disabled or not. If they hate the man and the organization so much then they can feel free to not accept any of the treatments that may come from it. Like I said earlier, if they cause this charity to lose one cent of donations they deserve to have their asses kicked.

on edit: I love how the author of the article says "Lewis goes out of his way during the MDA Telethons to emphasize the difference between his nondisabled self and the disabled bodies he invites on the show." You know why you don't see Lewis very much on his own telethon anymore? He can barely walk himself. He's had to have an electronic device implanted into his body that disables the some of the nerves in his back just so he can get out of bed in the morning. He's said in interviews that the pain has caused him to come close to suicide numerous times. I think a man in that condition might just have a little empathy and understanding for the people he helps.