Reply to Bafta awards controversy

Forum Index » Entertainment and Pop Culture

Reply to "Bafta awards controversy "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Imagine this: Think of the worst thing you could say or do at a given moment. Now imagine having a condition that makes you do or say that thing, against your will, at that moment. And it's also heightened by stress and stimulation. This is a very, very simplified description of his disability. It's not a matter of knowing to hold in your racist beliefs, it's know that saying the n-word is an awful, awful thing to do.

I encourage everyone struggling to understand how this isn't blatantly racist to check out the film "I Swear." It's based on John Davidson's life with Tourette's and gives an amazing perspective into what it's like. For example, in one scene he's applying for a job and asked if he can make coffee. He responds by saying he uses semen for milk. He wants this job. He wants to respond like a normal person. The worst thing he could say is something offensive and disgusting. And so that's what his brain does.

BAFTA/BBC are the real failures here for not editing it out of the broadcast. And John Davidson *has* apologized. The whole film is about how he feels shame and exclusion for something beyond his control, and the world is better for everyone when people welcome him to public spaces and try to understand.[/quote]

Really?  What was the substance of Davidson’s “apology”? Who — exactly— did he apologize to?

All I’ve read so far has been his comment about how mortified he is about his behavior and how he works to support the Tourette’s community.
That’s not an apology. His comment in no way addresses the harm done both directly to specific people and indirectly to the audiences for the program by his behavior.  The world is not “better for everyone “ when he lacks the willingness or the capacity to take responsibility for the impacts of his behavior on other people.  It’s hard to apologize, it’s hard to experience and express shame.  If he doesn’t want to “feel … exclusion”, handling the impacts of his involuntary behavior on the people that he hurts would go a long way in helping him achieve his goal of being welcomed.

TLDR: Perhaps Davidson needs a bit more practice with trying to understand the impacts of his behavior on others — and with formulating and expressing genuine apologies. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics