Xtreme Ops
After reading the article "Scientists playing God? We should rejoice" I looked up Fragile X
in Wikipedia, since I had heard of this syndrome before but never
actually found out what it was. According to the article, this
chromosomal syndrome causes mental retardation, and its physical
characteristics include elongated face, large or protruding ears and
low muscle tone. In other words, Fragile X essentially turns its
carrier into a cartoon character, the same way that pretty much all
syndromes that cause retardation in cognitive development curiously
seem to do. I wonder why this is so.
I also wonder why similar syndromes just don't seem to occur in other animals, so that, for example, some percentage of cats and dogs would be born with their species' equivalent of the Down syndrome, giving their faces a distinctive goofy shape. (Such syndromes obviously do occur in the cartoon world, Goofy being probably the first and best example that comes to mind. Hyuck, hyuck!)
The Danimal once noted that every comedian knows that acting stupid is always an easy way to get laughs, and that there are solid sociobiological reasons why this is so. Everybody similarly knows practically instinctively what gestures and mannerisms indicate extremely low intelligence, and how exactly you would have to contort your face to make it look stupid. (Tommi similarly once wondered what an experienced neurologist might make of the typical gestures and mannerisms of the hiphop artists.)
So why is mocking retarded people considered to be in very bad taste? My answer: Because it is so trivially easy, probably the easiest form of humour, which is why it is so cheap. Furthermore, such humor tends to make other people uncomfortable, because deep inside they know that it is funny and they want to laugh at the horrible underlying reality that it points out, but they have been raised with very strict social conditioning not to laugh at the tards, which creates internal conflict. When some comedian such as Jim Carrey successfully replicates the mannerisms of retarded people but in a non-threatening manner with plausible deniability, the audiences then eagerly reward him for this.
I also wonder why similar syndromes just don't seem to occur in other animals, so that, for example, some percentage of cats and dogs would be born with their species' equivalent of the Down syndrome, giving their faces a distinctive goofy shape. (Such syndromes obviously do occur in the cartoon world, Goofy being probably the first and best example that comes to mind. Hyuck, hyuck!)
The Danimal once noted that every comedian knows that acting stupid is always an easy way to get laughs, and that there are solid sociobiological reasons why this is so. Everybody similarly knows practically instinctively what gestures and mannerisms indicate extremely low intelligence, and how exactly you would have to contort your face to make it look stupid. (Tommi similarly once wondered what an experienced neurologist might make of the typical gestures and mannerisms of the hiphop artists.)
So why is mocking retarded people considered to be in very bad taste? My answer: Because it is so trivially easy, probably the easiest form of humour, which is why it is so cheap. Furthermore, such humor tends to make other people uncomfortable, because deep inside they know that it is funny and they want to laugh at the horrible underlying reality that it points out, but they have been raised with very strict social conditioning not to laugh at the tards, which creates internal conflict. When some comedian such as Jim Carrey successfully replicates the mannerisms of retarded people but in a non-threatening manner with plausible deniability, the audiences then eagerly reward him for this.
Similar chromosomal syndromes do occur in other animals, although measuring the degree of their retardation is not very easy.
I don't have a reference right now, but when I read about it it sounded just like the human Down syndrome: an extra chromosome (don't remember if it was the 21st like in humans or some other), retardation and a weird face.
Posted by Vera | 8:18 AM