According to this article on The Scavenger, Psycho Donuts, a “mental-illness themed” doughnut shop in California, has upset various mental health activists & professionals with such apparently offensive treats as The Bipolar (topped with half nuts, half coconut shavings) and Massive Head Trauma (red jelly filling oozes from the side). The Scavenger says “The store itself comes with nurses, a padded cell and "group therapy" area.”
I’m not one of those people who are all like “Pshaw, Political Correctness police just want to take the fun out of life.*” In fact I’m more than likely to be offended on behalf of other people.
But I’m with the doughnut shop on this one. Okay, maybe it’s kind of tacky, but c’mon. It’s obviously tongue-in-cheek. I’ve been close to people with mental illnesses. I know it can be devastating and is often misunderstood. These doughnuts still make me laugh. Plus, I think having a sense of humor is a huge coping mechanism, and there are some things in life that you have to laugh at or you’ll never stop crying**.
One of the protesters argues "Imagine a shop that made fun of cancer; it wouldn't be funny."
Well, no, I guess it wouldn’t. But that’s why nobody has tried to start a cancer doughnut shop. People find some things funny and others not so much. There are lines that can be crossed or bent and some that can’t. I think figuring out the difference is all part of being a person and being part of society.
What do you guys think?
*Those people may be the subject of a future post though, because grrr.
**Also, they look delicious (did you see those photos?).
numer darowizny: SRTF/067/SWD .
1 month ago
14 comments:
"Those goofy bastards are about the best thing I've got going. No one's going to tell me who I can spend my time with at the donut shop..." Pat Healy
I think that those are beautiful. I would totally go there.
geez, i really want a donut now. what are you doing!?!
first icecream, now donuts? all your readers are going to be FAT. (unless that's politically incorrect, then we'll just have more to love ;)
(haha,my word veri say's chake. like it's trying to say cake through a mouthful of donut!)
First of all, those doughnuts look awesome.
I tend to fall in the camp that you will be writing a future post about. I rarely think there is something too serious to joke about. I think you were right when you said humor is a coping mechanism. It's a way we can talk about awful things. This is why I love the movie "The Producers" so much. Mel Brooks did something nobody dared do. He made Nazis funny. And because he is a Jew, people were willing to listen. So I would not feel bad for dismissing the naysayers in this case. Most good humor springs from misery. People just have problems when it comes from their misery.
Also, if I were Homer I'd totally eat myself too ;)
I'm not easily offended, if ever offended, so this doesn't bother me in the least.
Things that bother me:
-joking about the holocaust
-bill o'reilly talking about that girl that was raped was asking for it...
File this one under You Can't Please All People All Of The Time.
Personally, I think it's hilarious! Talk about creative! I love it! And wouldn't those donuts be GREAT at a Halloween party?!
Eric - Okaaaaaay... who is Pat Healy?
Morgan - Right? mmm... gourmet doughnuts.
Me, Amped - Yes, it's all part of my secret plan to fatten you all up and... I've said too much.
Wordsx3 - No, I liked The Producers too. But there's a difference between comedy that pushes buttons or pokes fun at something we think we're not supposed to laugh at like "Springtime for Hitler" and merely spouting bigotry and expecting people to laugh, like Carlos Mencia for example
Also, if my head was made of doughnut I wouldn't last the day.
; )
Erin - For me, bestiality is the one thing I really think I can't take jokes about, I just can't stomach it. Apart from that, I dislike tasteless jokes that aren't witty or at least funny. Also, Bill O'Reilly needs to go away.
Cora - Oh, they'd make a great Halloween food!
S&C - That was Matt Dillon's character from the film 'Something About Mary'... He was trying to impress Cameron Diaz by telling her he worked with 'retards', hehe.
Sorry, it was a bit obscure.
Mental illness is still really taboo in our culture... isn't there no such thing as bad press?
Honestly, I'd rather associate mental illness with delicious baked goods than Britney shaving her head and whacking a car with an umbrella. The more mainstream a problem gets, the more likely it will be addressed.
Eric - Ahahaha, of course. I can see him saying it in my mind's eye now.
Racquel - I think associating anything with delicious baked goods is a great way to get attention for it!
It's funny how they always mention cancer as not being something to joke about but, I remember when my mum was dying of lung cancer, we used to joke about it all the time, coz she never smoked a day in her life. Believe me, it was FUNNY!!
I am SOOOOO going to open a cancer-themed pastry shop. Headlining my opening line of tasty goods will be the MCF-7 cupcakes followed by the pancreatic sweetmeats and the chocolate cakes that you can have iced with your cancer-treating natural product of choice. Want brevetoxin? You got it. Methotrexate? Methotrexawesome!
Going to write up the proposal now.
My hubby is a fireman, so humor surrounding bad circumstances is pretty common. I'd go to this place in a heartbeat! Probably the cancer place as well. :-)
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