Whenever a blog goes quiet the rumor mill starts working:
I’ve had this post in the editorial calendar for a while because Monday is Worldwide Autism Awareness Day.
What I didn’t know when I scheduled this post is that the CDC was going to release a new report showing that the number of autistic children has increased over 78% in the last 10 years.
The video clip above is from the new movie 21 Jump Street. In the clip, Jonah Hill shows Ice Cube a chart that looks like it was made by a first grader. Ice Cube says:
This chart looks like sh*t. Are you autistic?
A lot of people in the autism community are up in arms because of the slant. Many feel like it’s become a substitute for the nearly-taboo “R Word.” There’s a good chance that’s the case.
However, I’m upset for an entirely different reason.
You see, movies like Superbad and 21 Jump Street don’t exactly become box office hits for their political correctness. That’s part of what makes them funny. They have a certain shock value that, in the right context, is funny. Sure, sometimes it crosses a line, but in the moment, the jokes can be pretty hilarious.
My problem isn’t that they made fun of autism. People with autism can be super eccentric and some of their behaviors are funny. What bugs me is that they didn’t bother to educate themselves enough to make fun of autism “correctly”.
Anybody who has ever known a kid with autism knows that the chart in the video clip wouldn’t even pass as a rough draft. Maybe if Jonah Hill would have presented a computer generated 3D rendering of all of the possible suspects with full biographies, known aliases, tax histories, favorite action figures, and preferred brand of underwear, then the makers of the film would have been on to something.
Instead, they made themselves look like complete idiots by associating sloppiness and poor quality work with autism. Actually, that’s not fair. I’m making the same mistake they did. Because, you see, according to dictionary.com, an idiot is an utterly foolish or senseless person, and that seems to be giving the filmmakers a little too much credit for their lazy joke.
I’m not even asking for political correctness like a lot of people are (although that would be ideal). All that I’m asking is that they do one google search about the punchline of their joke. Here, I’ll help.
0.2 seconds could have saved those Hollywood execs from looking like morons. I mean dolts. I mean half-wits. I mean numskulls. I mean imbeciles.
I’m sorry. I can’t seem to find the right word. I’ll bet Collin can help me out…
Did you know that rookies could qualify as expert life coaches?
It’s true. You see, up until this year I put so much focus on the inexperience of a rookie, that I was missing out on some of their most powerful traits.
Now before the non-sports fans start yawning or yelling things like “I HATE SPORTS BALL!”, hear me out for a minute. These lessons aren’t just good for sports fans. They’re good for all of us.
In yesterday’s post I mentioned that I had the opportunity to help a stranger in need. I figured the best way to tell you how things went down was through a video. I’ll tell you this: it was so weird. I’ve decided that I’m a magnet for the unexpected. Strangeness flocks to me. Even though the story doesn’t end in a car chase, the way it ends makes it so much funnier to me. Whether or not it’s funny to you will be decided after viewing. Oh, and hopefully there’s a good reminder in there somewhere too…
Click here to watch the video if you don’t see it below.
Are you just as baffled as I was am?
