Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

We Can End the R-Word in Movies and TV

Excerpt from Bella Online: (click for entire article)

March 7, 2012 is international Spread the Word to End the Word Day. In an effort to ban one word from everyday life, movies and television shows, individuals and organizations are speaking out about the effects of hate language on the safety, well-being, and opportunities of children, teens and adults with developmental delays and intellectual disabilities.

As citizens, customers, family members and neighbors, people with intellectual disabilities are encouraging all efforts to eliminate the use of this hate language from thoughtless neighbors as well as bullies in their environment. I believe we can make a stronger effort to raise awareness in the media, audiences and advertisers so that respectful language is substituted for hate language.

I am frustrated going to the movies with my son and being ambushed by the R-word when we are just settling in with our popcorn. When it happens, I go to the ticket booth and demand a refund. Using hate language in a movie does mean you are condoning the use of those words. Movies are vehicles for spreading the hate language among those who take on the language and attitudes of characters they admire or want to emulate - and many adolescents do identify with characters that the hate language fits. We have no lack of evidence that children, adults and the elderly also identify with characters who use hate language as part of their depiction of toughness or being 'cool.'

Jon Stewart on FCC v. Fox and Hosana-Tabor

Excerpt from Constitutional Law Prof Blog: (click for entire article)

Need a bit of humor?  The latest episode of The Daily Show had some provocative comedy related to constitutional law developments earlier this month.

On the FCC v. Fox oral arguments, Stewart made somewhat implicit comparisons between sex and violence.

Naming and shaming the journalists & editors who demonise people with disabilities

Excerpt from Richard Wilson's Blog: (click for entire article)

There was a sickening article in today’s Observer from Ian Birrell on the real-life effects of the recent media coverage on people living on disability benefit:

    “Polls have found substantial increases in the number of disabled people experiencing aggression and abuse, with evidence that the attitudes of the rest of society towards them are worsening. Many disabled people were already scared to go out after dark or travel on public transport such is their justified fear of encountering hostility.

    …Unfortunately, much blame rests on the shoulders of the media and certain parts of government. There has been a new dialogue over disability, characterised by the constant drip-drip of stories implying vast numbers of disability claimants are bogus, that benefits are doled out without proper checks and taxpayers fund free cars for thousands of children with minor behavioural disorders.

Why Jon Stewart is the Most Trusted Man in America

Excerpt from Psychology Today: (click for entire article)

A recent TIME magazine on-line poll asked Americans who the most trusted newsman in America following the passing of Walter Cronkite. The shocking winner was Comedy Central "fake news" anchor, Jon Stewart, beating out real news anchors Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric.

How can a cable television comedian be the most trusted man in U.S. media? The answer is in the psychology of trust.

Research in communication and psychology clearly shows that to be trusted a communicator has to be seen as knowledgeable and credible. Surface characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, being expressive and articulate, also are connected to perceptions of trust. Jon Stewart has the basics - he's articulate, expressive and appears knowledgeable.

MSC turns down grievance administrator appeal in Stefani case

Excerpt from The Michigan Lawyer: (click for entire article)

The Michigan Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday denying an appeal in the attorney discipline case against Michael L. Stefani, the attorney who gave information to the Detroit Free Press during the newspaper’s investigation into former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s misdeeds in office.

The Attorney Discipline Board had increased Stefani’s discipline from a reprimand to a 30-day suspension.

Increase in negative press coverage of disability

Excerpt from Learning Disability Today: (click for entire article)

The amount of negative reporting of disability issues and people with disabilities in print media has increased significantly in the past 6 years, a study has found.

The report, ‘Bad News for Disabled People: how newspapers are reporting disability’, commissioned by disability equality organisation Inclusion London, compared print media articles from 2004/5 and 2010/11 and found a reduction in the proportion of articles that describe disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms.

Mainstreaming Children with Autism

Excerpt from Your Mama's Mad Tedious: (click for entire article)

Wow. The connections and exposure from the NY Times article I wrote back in Sept just keep on coming! I had no idea this site, Healing Thresholds: Connecting Community and Science to Heal Autism, was doing this write-up. If you ever get a chance to write for the NY Times, DO IT! It opens doors.

The Media’s Groping Problem

Patti's Comments:  Yikes, this is scary - on many different levels!

Excerpt from Jezebel: (click for entire article)

Kate Harding — Regarding the news that Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting divorced, in part because he fathered a child with a woman not his wife, Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic writes, "I've yet to encounter anyone surprised by the news. It's because we remember. Eight years ago, on the eve of the special election that won him the statehouse, the Los Angeles Times published a scathing story about his groping problem."

I didn't remember, actually, since I was living in Canada at the time, not yet engaged with the feminist blogosphere and, as always, completely uninterested in Schwarzenegger news. So this morning was the first time I learned that, as James Rainey recalled in the L.A. Times earlier this week, "Eventually, a total of 16 women, 11 of them giving their names, described physical humiliations suffered at the hands of [Arnold Schwarzenegger]."

Darth Vader in the flesh gives his best Justin Bieber impersonation

Patti's Comments: I LOVE THIS...MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!!

From Oprah.com: (click for video)

Legendary actor James Earl Jones recites Justin Bieber lyrics on The Gayle King Show.

N.J. Supreme Court considers journalism shield laws in blogger case

Excerpt from NJ.com: (click for entire article)

In a courtroom on the eighth floor of the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton today, everyone agreed the internet has changed the face of news gathering and dissemination.

But they couldn’t agree on whether a blogger who wrote online about a New Jersey company involved in the pornography industry should have the same protections as working journalists in keeping their sources confidential.

In a case that could have far-reaching effects on the media, the state Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Shellee Hale, a blogger from Washington state, is protected by New Jersey’s so-called shield law, in her writings about Freehold-based Too Much Media Inc.