[nabs-l] National Federation of the Blind Comments on Saturday Night Live Segment

Tue Dec 16 08:21:03 UTC 2008

I agree with you Joe but at the same time this whole thing is hurtful too.
Why is it that every time a blind person is on TV they're acting stupid or
are incompetent. I'm glad they did this but did they have to make it look
like he was bumbling around, squinting, and in the way of the camera for
other skits? Surely they can poke fun at him without all of that.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Joe Orozco
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:36 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] National Federation of the Blind Comments onSaturday
Night Live Segment

Wait, are we talking about the video clip or the press release?  ...
Kidding, Santa will surely drop coal in my stocking for taking it there, but
it seems to me that just as the New York governor has a certain amount of
political capital, the NFB has an equal amount of publicity quota.  I have
never known the organization to feel so sensitive about every little thing
that is thrown around about blindness.  We should not make official
statements for comical nonsense that will be forgotten in a few days and
reserve those for when statements are required to drive real impacts about
real issues.  I, for one, found it gratifying that SNL informed millions of
people out there that a blind person is capable of becoming a governor.  As
for the humor, I found it gratifying that the producers thought blind people
important enough to be swept up in jokes just like any other member of
society.  Next time I hope Dr. Maurer is invited on the show.

Best,

Joe Orozco

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."--James M.
Barrie
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 6:39 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] National Federation of the Blind Comments onSaturday
Night Live Segment

Well that was five minutes of my life I'll never get back.

That was supposed to be funny?  It was just stupid.

Joseph

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 04:43:37PM -0500, pyyhkala at gmail.com wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Here are some more articles, and a link to the skit.  I also have an 
>article I liked on Facebook, see below.
>
>NY Times:
>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/nyregion/15skit.html?_r=1&ref=todaysp
>aper (the article has more detail on the controversy)
>
>You can also watch the skit in question at this link:
>http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-gov-paterson/
>881501/
>
>You can read what the public is saying on Twitter at the link below 
>that does a real time search:
>http://search.twitter.com/search?q=snl+blind
>If using Jaws on the above Twitter page, if you press the number 2 (for 
>heading level 2) it will take you directly to the comments that people 
>post.  Twitter is a micro blogging service.
>
>Best,
>Mika
>Twitter Micro blog:
>http://twitter.com/pyyhkala
>Facebook:
>http://profile.to/mika
>
>On 12/15/08, Linda Stover <liamskitten at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Could someone provide more info or links to more info concerning this 
>> particular situation?  I think it would be extremely helpful to 
>> understand if this is a spoof directed specifically at blindness, or 
>> if the spoof is more directed to certain "blindisms" that the 
>> governor frequently exhibits.  I know that when I was watching 
>> segments of this nature concerning the election on the show, certain 
>> quirks/phrases/mannerisms were used to excess to perhaps heighten 
>> humor/absurdity.  Keeping this in mind, I'm wondering as I said what 
>> exactly the comics were paridying.
>> Courtney
>>
>> On 12/15/08, Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Ijust watched CNN and they said something about this segment of SNL.
>>> I don't watch SLNL, but I support Paterson, and someday I want to be 
>>> Governor, so there's no excuse for attacking Gov. Paerson for any 
>>> reason.
>>> Beth
>>>
>>> On 12/15/08, Freeh, Jessica <JFreeh at nfb.org> wrote:
>>>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> CONTACT:
>>>>
>>>> Chris Danielsen
>>>>
>>>> Public Relations Specialist
>>>>
>>>> National Federation of the Blind
>>>>
>>>> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
>>>>
>>>> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
>>>>
>>>> <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> National Federation of the Blind
>>>> Comments on Saturday Night Live Segment
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Largest Organization of the Blind Criticizes Attack on Blind 
>>>> Americans
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Baltimore, Maryland (December 15, 2008): Chris Danielsen, spokesman 
>>>> for the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The biggest 
>>>> problem faced by blind people is not blindness itself, but the 
>>>> stereotypes held by the general public about blindness and blind 
>>>> people.  The idea that blind people are incapable of the simplest 
>>>> tasks and are perpetually disoriented and befuddled is absolutely 
>>>> wrong.  This misconception contributes to an unemployment rate 
>>>> among blind people that stubbornly remains at 70 percent.  That is 
>>>> why the National Federation of the Blind is disappointed that 
>>>> Saturday Night Live chose to portray Governor Paterson in a comedy 
>>>> routine that focused almost exclusively on his blindness.  
>>>> Attacking the Governor because he is blind is an attack on all 
>>>> blind Americans-blind children, blind adults, blind seniors, and 
>>>> newly blinded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  The 
>>>> National Federation of the Blind urges the producers of Saturday 
>>>> Night Live to consider the serious negative impact that 
>>>> misinformation and stereotypes have on blind people before 
>>>> continuing in this unfortunate vein of humor."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ###
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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