[Nfbf-l] ABC News on the Paterson Saturday night live skit

[Beth]

Wow.  This SNL skit thing is really bad.  I agree with the comments,
and would love to know wha SNL would do if I was Governor of Florida
myself.
Beth

On 12/17/08, Sherrill O'Brien <sherrill.obrien at verizon.net> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Here's an article from ABC News about the fallout from the Saturday Night
> Live skit involving Governor Paterson, and a couple readers' comments.  If
> you care to, you can google this and read all comments...there were 154 of
> them when I visited the site.  So you can see it is a controversial topic.
> I clicked on the skit, but it's pretty visual, so I didn't get the full
> impact of the spoofing, except to hear that he was holding a chart upside
> down.  Read on.
>
> Sherrill
>
> ABC News: NY Governor Says SNL Parody Mocked the Disabled
> NY governor's rebuke of 'SNL' parody surprises those accustomed to his
> self-deprecation
> ALBANY, N.Y. December 15, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press
> 154 comments FONT SIZE
> EMAIL
> PRINT
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> SHARE Advocates for the blind take issue with sketch mocking N.Y. Gov. David
> Paterson.Legally blind New York Gov. David Paterson lambasted a "Saturday
> Night
> Live" skit for portraying him as an aimless bumbler. But those who have
> watched
> the sharp-witted Paterson over his two decades in public service know how he
> might have deadpanned in the past: I didn't see it.
> The skit that aired Saturday featured "SNL" cast member Fred Armisen as
> Paterson, who must appoint someone to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
> Armisen said he has three criteria for filling the job: economic experience,
> upstate influence and someone who is disabled and unprepared for the job —
> like
> himself. He held up a chart illustrating the state's job losses upside down.
> "I don't mind that they make fun of me, but I thought it was important of me
> to
> stand up for people who don't have a voice and don't have a job," Paterson
> said.
> Marc Liepis, a spokesman for NBC, which broadcasts "Saturday Night Live,"
> said
> the network would not comment.
> Paterson has used
> self-deprecating humor for years, riffing on his own blindness regularly,
> even
> on national television. The patter has only increased praise from advocates
> for
> the disabled black man who worked his way through Albany's stodgy Senate to
> be
> elected lieutenant governor and in March take over as governor.
> Some of Paterson's greatest hits:
>
> — At his inauguration after taking over for Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned
> amid a sex scandal, Paterson joked that he was brought in early the first
> time
> he spoke in the Assembly Hall to get used to the massive podium "so I didn't
> break anything."
> — In a September appearance on "The Colbert Report," he was asked whether he
> would waive host Stephen Colbert's traffic tickets and replied: "I don't see
> traffic."
> — When running for lieutenant governor with Spitzer in 2006, he described
> Spitzer as the idea guy and himself as the legislative technician, "because
> I
> sure don't have the vision."
> Lee Miringoff, director of The Marist Poll, which regularly gauges public
> reaction to politicians, said the reaction to the SNL skit seemed out of
> character for Paterson and potentially unwise for any politician.
>
> Comments
> I am a legally blind elementary school teacher in New York City. On a daily
> basis I see how the attitudes of misinformed people affect their opinions of
> my
> abilities. Administrators, parents and students do not understand what a
> "blind"
> person can actually be capable of. I have been successful in my four years
> and
> enjoy my work very much but it's not always easy to "assure" people of my
> competence. Skits such as the one about Gov. Patterson perpetuate the
> stereotypes that blind people are incompetent and cannot speak
> intelligently. No
> sight does not mean low intelligence but portrayals such as this reinforce
> the
> stereotypes of the general public. We need to have humor but it should be
> about
> things that people can control such as political views, personality or
> policy,
> not a physical disability.
> lalia28 Dec-16 The segment on SNL about blindness was stupid & the worst
> part is
> that many people that watch SNL & have not known a blind person themselves
> actually think that a blind person gets easily disoriented and/or don't know
> what or how to do things on their own. I have an 18 yr blind daughter & have
> seen throughout her short life how people(all ages) think & immediately
> believe
> & assume that they cannot do anything, exactly as they're being portraid on
> SNL.
> She was mainstream into a regular school, did all the same work & took all
> the
> same tests/classes as all the other students & did much better than many
> sighted
> students, & even those same sighted students watched her go thoughtout the
> school campus walking on her own w/her cane, turning in all the same
> assignments
> as they did, those same students still think that she cannot think or do
> things
> for herself, so watching this stupid ignorant segments like this makes them
> believe they're right! THEY'RE more blind themselves becuase even SEEING
> still
> are more blind. To applaude segments like this is of very poor taste. We can
> take jokes, we laugh about blind things/people's jokes but this portraits
> blind
> people as dumb & it was not only on NY Gov. it was on all blind people, that
> really bothers me, SHAME ON SNL writers. A MOM
> ladraelena Dec-16 SNL isn't funny. They haven't been for years! Now, they
> make
> fun of the disabled???? Iit's still not funny; but now it seems cruel, as
> well
> Etwie Dec-16
> View All Comments (154)
> Watch Video
>
>
>
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