I don't really have a take here, but the other day I was watching suicide squad and the big shark dude's entire character boils down to him being strong but intellectually disabled. Is it ok because he's a shark? The underlying joke is still that mental disability is funny. What about big dumb human henchmen in films and cartoons? You know the ones, who go 'uhhhh boss what are we gonna do?' in a 'slow' voice and the boss is like 'get them you imbeciles'...
In the moment the audience and I found it funny, but I never really thought as to why.
At what point does someone go from being stupid to mentally disabled? Why's it ok to make fun of someone for being stupid but not mentally disabled? Neither person can help their mental ability.
Like, I've got a couple friends who are perfectly functional but at school no matter how hard they tried they'd never get good grades. Sometimes they'll say some dumb shit, and people will laugh at them for it.
Maybe I’m wrong here, but I feel like equating severe stupidity with an actual mental disability is in and of itself offensive to people with mental disabilities. There is a large difference, in my mind, between someone with a learning disability and just your stupid friend from high school. I knew several people I would consider pretty intelligent who always struggled with school because they had a learning disability. They were smart guys but because of their specific disorders it was hard to retain information or keep focus in a classroom setting. They worked hard to overcome these things and I would think it’s shitty to equate their experience of struggling with an actual mental disorder to some of my other friends who are simply bona fide dimwits. You can just be stupid without being handicapped
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Yeah, I thought that too. Was just having a ponder is all. I got friends like that too who are dyslexic or ADHD so didn't do so well at school despite being perfectly smart.
I still don't think that addresses the issue of who's okay to make fun of though.