Posted by Elizabeth on April 5, 2002, at 10:49:06
In reply to Re: what's going on, posted by shelliR on March 31, 2002, at 12:02:47
> (I admit,the eyeroll was unnecessary)
I'm the one who should be admitting this! But I really did roll my eyes when I read in Andy's post that
> a great majority of individuals who read these posts are suffering from depression and/or anxiety, and therefore are prone to suggestibility
I frequently hear people saying stuff like this, or making jokes based on this kind of assumption -- assumptions that mentally ill people are generally irrational, easily fooled, childish, hysterical. It's a stereotype; it's not accurate; and stereotypes of this sort perpetuate discrimination. As long as people -- even people who actually are mentally ill, who presumably should know better -- assume this kind of thing about us, we're not going to be treated fairly and decently. I think this is a very real and serious issue, not something trivial to be brushed aside.
I don't think that Andy made this remark because of bad intentions; I'm sure his intentions were good. Rather, I think he probably didn't even consider the implications of what he was saying (this is why I asked him to be more "considerate" in the future), and I'm quite certain that he didn't consider *why* he believes it. He got this idea about mental illness being associated with suggestibility from somewhere, and he never thought to question it. That's is just a guess, of course, but I think this is often the case with stereotypes and prejudices -- people keep believing something about a group of people because they've always believed it, even though they don't really have a good reason to think it's true.
Good intentions don't make a false statement true, or a derogatory one neutral. In this case the statement was both false and derogatory.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:3619
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020308/msgs/3878.html