Rosie O’Donnell’s Depression Mocked

There’s been an interesting discussion about people dealing with various mental illnesses over at this blog all week. It talks about “ableist language” and how people use words like “crazy” and “nuts” as pejoratives online without ever taking into consideration these words have power and they leave a strong impact on people with mental illnesses. To make this clearer, ableist language is the use of disability metaphors and I think this article gives a good simple explanation:

Disability metaphors abound in our culture, and they exist almost entirely as pejoratives. You see something wrong? Compare it to a disabled body or mind: Paralyzed. Lame. Crippled. Schizophrenic. Diseased. Sick. Want to launch an insult? The words are seemingly endless: Deaf. Dumb. Blind. Idiot. Moron. Imbecile. Crazy. Insane. Retard. Lunatic. Psycho. Spaz.

Former The View co-host, Sherri Shepherd, recently did an interview and she was quoted mocking current The View co-host, Rosie O’Donnell with sarcastic comments about Rosie’s depression and it didn’t come off well at all. In fact, I think this could be the kind of thing that finally tips to scales in favor of NOT referring to people with mental illnesses this way in the future. And Shepherd should be called to task on this just like anyone else who crosses the lines of civility.

Shepherd kicked off her Rosie ribbing by lifting up her leg which O’Donnell did during her first show this season. O’Donnell returned to the show after quitting in 2007 after one stormy year. 

‘Here’s my foot, I’m Rosie O’Donnell!’ Shepherd joked. ‘I got sciatica in my back and I’m going through depression. … How many other ailments can I get? I got 12 more in the year that I’ll be on The View. There you go. ‘You wanna see my feet? There’s my feet. I’m Rosie O’Donnell.’

Shepherd, in this case, didn’t use ableist language, however, in mocking O’Donnell the implication is there and it’s as bad as mocking someone with cancer or HIV/AIDS. Maybe I take this too seriously because I come from a background with a mother and father who are retired therapists, but I think this sort of thing needs to stop. Words have meaning and power. And we all need to be made aware of it. The next time you feel like ranting that someone is “batshit crazy,” or whatever, please think twice about it. That’s the only way to change it. And if you see someone do this, call them out.  

You can read the rest about Rosie O’Donnell here.

Rapper Mykki Blanco Straight Perspective

Mykki Blanco, openly gay rapper, isn’t concerned with what straight people think of his music within the industry. And, most important, he’s not concerned with how they critique it.

 ‘A large part of my fan base is gay and those are my people,’ the California raised rapper and performance artist said. 

‘They’re the people I represent. I always want to reinforce to my fans that regardless of any issue with homosexuality that people want to debate about, it’s about owning your sexuality and not allowing the heterosexual world to think they can critique it — no one is critiquing heterosexuality. 

‘Don’t allow society to put who you are into this petri dish like it’s a topic for discussion. 

 ‘That’s why I say, ‘‘A straight man’s respect doesn’t mean shit to me,’’ because so many people will condescendingly say to me, ‘‘Oh you really are a good rapper.’’ What they’re really trying to say is, ‘‘you’re a really good rapper for being gay’’.’

I personally find this interesting because I see straight people critiquing gay fiction and mm romance almost every single day of the week. And they do this as if they are the all time experts. I’m not talking about straight people writing gay fiction. I’m talking about the way straight people critique gay fiction. I agree with Blanco. Don’t tell me how to be gay and I won’t tell you how to be straight. Fair and simple.

You can read the rest here. I’m glad someone’s finally speaking up about this. I think we’re all reaching the point, in music and in books, where enough is finally enough.

Keanu Reeves Gay Kiss Photo

I don’t know about anyone else, but the first time I saw a Keanu Reeves movie my heart stopped and I became his fan for life. As far as I know, he’s never said or done anything stupid in public, which is a novelty these days. There’s just something about that man and they way he speaks, acts, and moves. It’s the whole package..the whole man. And as he grows older he’s getting even better.

Evidently, I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Keanu Reeves is one of those actors that you don’t think about for a few years, and then suddenly he’s back with another hit and you wonder where he’s been your whole life. Now with a solid 30 years in show biz under his belt, he really has quite the career to show for himself.

I don’t think Reeves has ever done any full frontal nudity in film, however, they’ve put together a list of photos of him here. It’s worth checking out, especially the Wolfboy photos and the gay kiss.