For Chuck and Sharon

I always hesitate to involve myself in big Tourette community outcry efforts like the one being brought against NBC's Chuck Todd in response to his use of the word "Tourette" as an adjective to describe, in effect, an asshole on the internet. I've never been inclined to police another person's speech, though I realize now that's a privilege I own as a straight white cisgender able-bodied Christian middle class American male. People aren't generally saying police-able things about people like me, and sadly we're frequently the ones saying the abhorrent stuff. I also think that complaining "@" a person on the internet is a little like getting so angry that you scream at the stars. It might feel good, but no one is really listening. It's a generational thing, and I'm caught in the middle of it: I'm old enough to remember the 18 years before I even had an email address, but not old enough to have a kid who regularly uses the internet. To me, the whole thing is a video game and nothing that goes on on here matters.

I'm starting to think now that my unwillingness to join these efforts is more because I'm middle-aged, disaffected, and defeated. I've had my own well-documented interactions with bullies and I think my reaction now is just to believe that people will never change, so I should just ignore it and get on with my life. I get that that's the coward's way out, but gosh it's just so easy and if it's not entirely comfortable, I can assure you that it's definitely the least uncomfortable. Then I think about how many people I've met on Twitter and Facebook in the last almost-year who are in their teens and twenties living with TS and how many more are my age and have kids diagnosed with TS and how I'm doing them a massive disservice by not adding my (admittedly tiny) voice to the chorus of people who are fighting my fight for me. All my life I've had people who have stood up for me, from my parents and brothers and friends to my wife and countless others, and it's poor character for me to not learn from their example. It's entirely possible that another TS patient or a parent of a TS patient could read this blog or interact with me on Twitter and I want to be able to say that I've stood up for other people like me and that I don't think it's okay that someone has made a joke about their condition or their child's condition. Unless it was one of us. We are allowed to joke about ourselves.

Anyway, this part's for you, Chuck Todd and Sharon Osbourne and anyone else, famous or otherwise, who thinks jokes about TS are funny.

When you joke about Tourette Syndrome, you make it acceptable for other people to do it. Is it fair that as a TV personality your words are heard by millions of people? I don't know, I didn't decide to host a Sunday morning talking heads show/marry Ozzy Osbourne. The fact of the matter is that millions of people DO hear/read what you say and that the outsize role celebrity culture has in human society means that your words will carry some measure of authority with them. Please, for Pete's sake, don't just use Tourette Syndrome as a synonym for a politician tweeting like an asshole manchild or as an excuse for not wanting to be held accountable for the things you say and do. If some ill-mannered, socially unconscientious adult (we'll call him Ron) hears you make that remark, he might, because again of the absurdly outsized role that celebrity plays in our culture (I really can't stress that enough), repeat it in front of his understandably impressionable nine year old son, Timmy. You might think that it's not your fault if Ron repeats what you say because after all, how can you be responsible for what another adult says? But you know and feed off of the power of celebrity, because how the hell could you thrive as much as you do while ADDING NOTHING OF VALUE TO SOCIETY, so let's not pretend that you don't know that and bear at least some responsibility for how you choose to use the weight of your words. Because little Timmy has a classmate named Eddie who has Tourette's, and even though he and your teacher taught Timmy and his classmates about Tourette Syndrome, all that learning goes right out the effing window when Timmy hears his dad, who he worships, joke about a person being "a Tourette". Sooner than later, Timmy and his friends are making fun of Eddie (without the teacher finding out, obviously, because nine year olds are stupid about most things but cruel and devious like it's easier than breathing), and by the time Eddie is in the sixth grade he dreads going to school every day. This is all to say that when you joke about a person being "a Tourette" or when you try to blame a non-existent case of Tourette Syndrome on the fact that you don't feel like being held accountable for the absurd shit you say and do, you're contributing to the bullying of schoolchildren. It's entirely possible that the scenario I outlined above happens one in a million times, but are you really okay with even one child with a neurological condition being mercilessly made fun of all because you made a shitty joke that you refuse to apologize for? I honestly don't think you'd want that. I can't think of anyone who would.

Comments

  1. hi my name is Emily and i totally agree and i also think it is unfair to u that have ts because it is not funny it is very painful at times. I also follow u on twitter which m name is @emilyjamesDW

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