[nabs-l] National Federation of the Blind CommentsonSaturday Night Live Segment

Tue Dec 16 21:32:18 UTC 2008

Joe, you do have a good point.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] National Federation of the Blind CommentsonSaturday 
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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>>>>
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