Chapter 1 - Tiny Tims, Supercrips, and the End of Pity
After reading through this chapter, I don't think the book could have started in a better way. It was a very good introduction to the subject matter of the book and got my mind focused on the subject matter.
One of the first things that caught my eye when reading through the first chapter was the point made about pity. Especially when the book talks about the telethons and the use of the handicapped to promote the cause. It made me think about the telethons I had seen when flipping through the channels. I had never really thought about how they were raising the money until I read this chapter. They raise money by making people feel sorry or guilty about the condition. Although this seems to work well, it is a backwards way of thinking. I am glad that this was brought up in this chapter.
The next point that caught my eye was the use of "differences" as a way to classify the bad guys in television, comics, and film. Growing up on all of these things, I never really thought about how these differences were used to portray the evil characters. It seems that all the bad guys had to have something different about them in order for them to lash out against the rest of society. I never put any thought into how this would relate in the real world. However, this chapter shed a new light on the subject matter, and I can say that Hollywood depictions of evil characters will be looked at differently.
The final, and most shocking, point in the first chapter had to do with the radio station calls about the mother who was going to bring a baby with erectodactyly into the world. I was amazed at how people were absolutely outraged that this woman was going to bring a child into the world that would be different from the other kids. My first thought was "since when is it their business what the mother wants to do?", and my second thought was "what gives them the right to attack this woman?" It was also quite disturbing that this took place on a nationally syndicated radio show and was out for all the world to hear.
One of the first things that caught my eye when reading through the first chapter was the point made about pity. Especially when the book talks about the telethons and the use of the handicapped to promote the cause. It made me think about the telethons I had seen when flipping through the channels. I had never really thought about how they were raising the money until I read this chapter. They raise money by making people feel sorry or guilty about the condition. Although this seems to work well, it is a backwards way of thinking. I am glad that this was brought up in this chapter.
The next point that caught my eye was the use of "differences" as a way to classify the bad guys in television, comics, and film. Growing up on all of these things, I never really thought about how these differences were used to portray the evil characters. It seems that all the bad guys had to have something different about them in order for them to lash out against the rest of society. I never put any thought into how this would relate in the real world. However, this chapter shed a new light on the subject matter, and I can say that Hollywood depictions of evil characters will be looked at differently.
The final, and most shocking, point in the first chapter had to do with the radio station calls about the mother who was going to bring a baby with erectodactyly into the world. I was amazed at how people were absolutely outraged that this woman was going to bring a child into the world that would be different from the other kids. My first thought was "since when is it their business what the mother wants to do?", and my second thought was "what gives them the right to attack this woman?" It was also quite disturbing that this took place on a nationally syndicated radio show and was out for all the world to hear.
posted by True at 10:57 PM
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