The Special Olympics "outrage" is why this country is failing

[LittleBlue]

Pres. Obama simply stated a hard truth. The Special Olympians are undoubtedly courageous for competing despite their disabilities, but they do not make the best bowlers. That's just a fact. He apologized, which is the right thing to do, but I do not believe what he said was necessarily false.

Now we see the Special Olympics asking Obama to hire one of their athletes for a White House position. This is, of course, a meaningless gesture. Hiring a Special Olympian is nothing but a token gesture, but apparently people are appeased by it.

This country can't handle the truth, frankly. The populace responds to meaningless tokens as if they have meaning. We've killed several hundred thousand in Iraq, the people don't want to believe the truth: they were killed in vain. Thousands of soldiers dead: they died in vain, yet we must continue the generally-accepted lie that they "sacrificed to build a better tomorrow." We are building a great nation in Afghanistan- yeah right. Our financial system has collapsed: it is the CEO's, their bonuses, Congress, the SEC, who are solely to blame, and which caused us to borrow more than we could repay. It is the failure of schools or teachers to teach our children, not the general disinterest some parents show toward education while the child gobbles up 6 hours of TV per day, does not know how to speak or write English properly, and has never read a book cover to cover. We lecture about discrimination in our schools, yet apparently discrimination against gays and atheists is widely accepted.

And yet, we ask why our government makes such poor choices when they are simply a reflection of us.

[LostinVA]

1. Oh boy -- pass the salt

:popcorn:

[SacredCow]

2. I'm going to get a stomach-ache from all of this popcorn today....

:popcorn:

[City Lights]

3. You're gonna need something to quench your thirst...

:beer:

[EFerrari]

4. I will never EVER go back to teaching adult ed. n/t

[Sequoia]

6. Why?

I know some adults who do that after their day job. It seems too stressful for me. People always think I'm a teacher 'cause I guess I look like the sterotypical type, but frankly I don't see me grading papers at night or the weekend and teacher's can't be lazy.

[Skittles]

41. it's fucking pitiful, eh LostinVA?

[dionysus]

5. here here!!

:thumbsup:

[ruggerson]

29. not that it much matters

but it's "hear, hear."

Unless, of course, she/he is your dog and you're calling her/him.

In which case, I apologize.

[msongs]

7. special olympics are probably happy for the publicity. it's kinda been low on public radar lately n

[EFerrari]

8. Just because something isn't important to YOU doesn't mean it's not important.

[laureloak]

9. I agree. It's a silly game that I'm tired of being trapped into.

I don't give a damn who's feet I step on, henceforth and forever more.

[AlCzervik]

10. yes, we were doing so well right up until that "Outrage".

please, spare us.

[rucky]

11. There's more posts about the outrage than actual outrage.

But I'm sure Limbaugh will become a champion of the disabled by tonight.

[Lex]

37. The whining about the whining

is always wonderful too.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. You're failing

[masuki bance]

13. "they do not make the best bowlers" Tell that to Kolan McConiughey

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8276325&mesg_id=8276325

Ignorant much?

[Zavulon]

15. Overreacting much?

How many Special Olympians are on the pro tour? Whar percentage of Special Olympians could beat a 129, much less throw a handful of 300 games?

Using one outstanding exception as proof of the OP's "ignorance" is no different than finding one Republican who votes with us more than half of the time and using that example to back up a claim that Republicans make reasonable politicians.

Further, looking at the OP itself, I can't believe that you chose that one statement to focus on. Hiring a Special Olympian onto the staff would be merely appeasement and admitting that Obama had done something terrible, which he didn't. The manufactured "outrage" is absurd.

I, personally, think the country needs to lighten up. It wasa dumb statement for a high-level politician, but nothing warranting the shitstorm that ensued.

I'm with the OP 100%, but if you want keep focusing on one bowler and pretending he's representative of Special Olympians' bowling abilities as a whole, have at it. Whatever works for you.

[ZombieHorde]

14. "The Special Olympics "outrage" is why this country is failing"

Here I was thinking the Bush administration and the Republican party was why this country is failing. I bet he is glad to be off the hook.

[cwcwmack]

16. wow

an entire day of people forgetting about corporate pirates and villains...

this is stupid!

Wake up people!

[LostinVA]

17. Your posts deserve their OWN bag of popcorn

:popcorn:

[The Straight Story]

18. And if bush had said it would you say the same thing?

:shrug:

[dbmk]

21. Lets put it this way

Two students have not done their homework.

One for the first time in a year. The other for the 10th day in a row.

Which one should receive the sternest talking to?

Make no mistake, I think it was an unthoughtful comment, especially given his position.
But not one I would put it past myself to sling out in a given setting. I am not perfect.

So a small reminder is in order, ofc.

(and when are you putting the other one in jail, btw?)

[The Straight Story]

22. first chance I get

And both have been in politics/public life long enough to know what they are doing :)

[marshall]

19. I think hiring a Special Olympics athlete would be great for Obama

I listened to a spokesperson for Special Olympics today, he mentioned how the mentally challenged grow up being the butt of jokes and seldom have their accomplishments recognized or praised. Special Olympics is one of the few places where they can shine, and unfortunately it has itself become the butt of jokes in movies and stand up comedy. Obviously it just never occured to Obama that he was making a hurtful statement. He has probably encountered covert racism in his life--he even alluded to his white grandmother harboring such feelings (I htink he said for one thing that she shrank away from black men on the street out of fear). Because of his experience he can recognize racism where others like his grandmother might not. Perhaps interaction with a special needs athlete will better attune him to that type of prejudice that they encounter from a sometimes well meaning public.

[KSDiva]

26. That spokesperson basically explains is WHY the "outrage" is stupid...

I defy any Repuke, moderate or just plain HUMAN to dig through their memory and be able to swear, on the sanctity of whatever it is that they find holy, that they have NEVER, EVER uttered a joke along these lines. Whether it was a Polock joke, a 'short bus' joke, a Special Olympics joke, a "I'm Special" kinda joke - or for me, for example, I always say I'm vertically challenged which is a take on mentally or developmentally challenged. Or what about Indians being "lazy." Blacks "all looking alike." Or blondes being "dumb." It's all in the same vein. Someone gets hurt because someone made a dumb joke.

But I don't think anyone should pitch a fit over the comment that he probably realized, while sitting there, "Damn, I goofed up."

But of course, EVERYONE bitching about this has NEVER made any joke that made any other group its butt. Right?

ONLY THEN, should people be throwing such stones. EVERYONE needs to chill the hell out.

[LittleBlue]

28. This is precisely the point. Insensitive jokes are a part of any culture.

No one should get raked over the coals for a minor slip in a social setting.

That's why, after a five minute speech by a senate politician, people are frequently not able to identify the main purpose or points in the speech. Hypersensitivity has drained all the incisiveness out of our leaders. Obama's now probably afraid to joke about anything.

[marshall]

36. The person's name was Tim Shriver

It was moving to hear him tell about how those poor kids grow up being the butt of jokes.

I think this will blow over, especially if Obama demonstrates that he is using it as a learning opportunity.

But I do think there is a big difference between one of us "nobodies" bullshitting on a Saturday night with our friends and telling an off color joke, and the POTUS going on national television.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. I mean this in the most loving possible way. Shut the fuck up.

The first rule of holes is, when you find yourself in one, stop digging.

If you think you're the first person to notice that President Obama could probably own at a bowling alley against Special Olympians, you're fairly poorly informed.

[Mass]

23. What an ignorant person you are!

Thanks to Obama to apologize.

I have to say I have been 100 % more outraged by some DUers' reaction than by Obama's gaffe. He has had the grace to apologize.

[Pale Blue Dot]

24. Agreed 100%. nt

[LittleBlue]

25. He obviously meant what he said; an unguarded moment.

Once he realized it would cause a PC shitstorm, he apologized.

Hypersensitivity and appeasement through token gestures is not a trait of a strong society.

[Bread and Circus]

27. um... I have something to share with you. It will knock your socks off

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/03/champion_special_olympics_bowl.html

[LittleBlue]

30. He said it best

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8276982#8277114

[ruggerson]

31. Rush Limbaugh was right too

that Michael J Fox, what a fucking fraud. And to think that people with Parkinson's and their friends and families got mad at *Rush*, when all he was doing was telling it like it is. What kind of country do we live in?

[cwcwmack]

32. oh

I thought you were going to say that RUSH was right when he said Oxycontin was better than Viagra.

[LittleBlue]

33. Uh, the difference being Rush was wrong

IIRC, Fox did not go off his medication to elicit an emotional response.

How is this filthy obese fraud applicable?

[Bucky]

34. But you have to admit that that "special olympics" comment was a really retarded thing to say

oh, wait...

[LittleBlue]

35. Yes, it was insensitive. It was the token Special Olympian

in the White House that is outrageous.

What is this person supposed to do? They would never be more significant than a little US flag lapel pin; everyone would know that person worked at the WH due to a gaffe.

[Odin2005]

38. I find the whole thing is funny since my own disabillity causes me to tactlessly honest.

As I pointed out in a couple other threads on this I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I find myself offending people constantly when I meant to cause no offense. I would think reasonable person who asks her SO if her dress makes her look fat should want an honest answer; I just don't get white lies. It seem to me that when non-autistic people run into an unchangeable reality they don't like (like the one stated in the OP) because it offends their sense of a just cosmic order they create PC rationalizations and (what I consider insulting) tokenism so they can delude themselves that the unchangeable reality isn't there. I know no non-autistic person who doesn't do such things, which to me seem crazy and completely irrational.

[mr1956]

39. I hadn't heard about the request for a job

Does anyone have a link to the story?

[Political Heretic]

40. Uh no, it really isn't why this country is failing

But thank you for the distraction.

[jillan]

42. As a mother of a special child I have one thing to say to you -

shut the f*ck up.

[LittleBlue]

43. Very good.

I'm sure comments like that would make any child proud.

[Joey Liberal]

45. I'll second that! nt

[Joey Liberal]

44. LittleBlue has failed

How about just leaving Special Olympians alone? They have enough challenges without your heartless bullshit and Obama's ignorant comment. Obama made a pathetic comment and was called out on it. If you really care about Special Olympians, please volunteer to be a coach or a hugger at your local Special Olympics. Otherwise, just drop it.