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Horrible quote from HBO show "VEEP" last night
Did anyone see this show last night? A quote from Julia Louis Dreyfus' character (the Vice President of the US) "The kids had alopecia and the mothers were on crack. It was a freakshow!"
We need to write HBO to tell them that alopecia has NOTHING to do with substance abuse and that we are not "freak shows".
Repulsive!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz Bradley on
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Kathy, I want to address real quick your statement that the show "perpetuates a stereotype that we've worked decades to erase." I was a bit shocked by that line in Veep, but mostly because I'd never heard anyone suggest that drug use causes alopecia before. I really don't think that's a stereotype. Maybe you were talking about her use of the word "freak", I guess. Either way, not really a stereotype. Perhaps you, as a person with alopecia, have heard every mean thing in the book many times, but most people don't go around talking about alopecians behind their backs. We don't walk around going, "they can't drive," or "they never tip".
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I'm sorry that people have been mean to you, but I don't think that a detestable character on a comedy television show, with one quick throw-away line, will make anyone's life worse. I mean, the major plot point of that episode involved her considering a trip to Mexico for a secret abortion so she could lie to the American people. Are the pro-lifers up in arms on their message boards? Probably.
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Permalink Reply by LilyBell*Murphy'sLawLuvsMe on
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good to know that you know exactly how the 'audience' feels about what the character is saying. And most of us are 'writers' too : )
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Well most people here have not seen the show or seen how the line was delivered, most said they don't have HBO and some don't even watch TV. That means they aren't the audience. And perhaps I should have said I'm a produced film writer.
:D <--bigger smiley face
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Oh excellent - perhaps you would like to share what film you have written the screen play for that has been produced. I wrote a film play in 8th grade and my teacher produced it and filmed it too. I guess that is not on the same level as you - but still I am also a produced film writer. : D
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The reason I mentioned I was a writer was not to brag but to show what angle I was coming from with my opinion. I do not have alopecia, but I do understand writing and I belive that the line was in character and appropriate. As a writer, I am offended by people telling writers how to do their job.
I don't feel comfortable disclosing the name of my produced film here, but I don't hide behind the anonymity of the internet, so you could find it if you tried. It isn't anything you've heard of, but it is a legitimate independent feature film. I also have two optioned feature screenplays and my partner and I are about to make a deal for a third. Just as you feel the need to defend other alopecians, I feel the need to defend other writers, especially when their work is as good as Veep. People on this thread have been putting quotes around "writer" and posting other such insults, without ever having seen the show or heard the context of how the line was delivered. If you can point out prejudices, excuse me for wanting to do the same.
Edit: forgot this :D
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Permalink Reply by Karena Moore-Millar on
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How interesting reading all these comments.
It would appear there's no immediate answer for tackling a sensitive subject like Alopecia with humour....if bullying is about shouting over someone else's opinion, then don't assume everyone agrees with or values your "humorous" values. Humour maybe one coping strategy ..but it doesn't mean a person has to be dogmatic about it. So you've learnt to laugh at yourself.....don't assume others should do the same.....isn't that bullying?????? Be loud be proud but ALWAYS be respectful - one day a joke may turn sour and who'll be laughing then??????????
The one thing I do like and agree with....we all have opinions and have the freedom to share them. If someone says something you don't like - be constructive about your feedback. This forum is great and shouldn't be used as a platform to demoralise someone else's opinions just because they don't align with yours....You don't have to reply to a persons comments/post, just like switching over a channel - you DON'T have to read or respond to them.
If one thing come out of this hideous throw away comment from HBO is that more people need to portray Alopecia in a good light, We need more role models and positivity.
Alopecia isn't life threatening, but it is life changing....lets change it for the better...NOW THAT'S UP TO US...NOT people like HBO!I appalled you all for sharing your thoughts, it's empowering to hear all sides of the story including the script writers!
Moaning gets you nowhere, be positive and pro-active :-)
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Permalink Reply by kastababy on
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And again, how is stating that the general air of hypersensitivity with regard to alopecia, how it is portrayed, and how it is mentioned in any context demoralizing?
The current AA support model, as it exists today, is solely responsible for threads like this popping up. One the one hand, it says "accept me as I am unconditionally. I'm just like you!" Simultaneously, it says out of the other side of its mouth, "Don't talk about alopecia, don't make fun of alopecia, don't say anything negative whatsoever about alopecia, because if you do you'll hurt my feelings." What kind of way is that for anybody to live? By sticking to the current support model, you feed and perpetuate this foolish idea that AA puts you in a protected class of people that is magically exempt from anybody, alopecian or not, making fun of you, cracking jokes at the disease's expense, calling AA a disease, rather than a condition, and entitles you to be handled with kid gloves and put on a pedestal, safe from the comments and opinions of others. Well here's a news flash for everyone reading this thread: It doesn't. Not by a long shot, and it's totally unrealistic to ever have that expectation, and even more so to pass that unrealistic expectation along to a child.
People are genetically hard-wired to notice anything different about anyone else. It has been that way since the beginning of time. It's not going to change. And guess what else? The bigger a stink you make about something this asinine, the brighter the spotlight is going to be on you highlighting that YOU think something is wrong with YOU - and the people who see you will react accordingly.
Bottom line: If YOU don't make a big deal about your alopecia, and you teach your alopecic children not to make a big deal about alopecia, then nobody around them will either. For the few people they encounter that do make an issue of it, you defend yourselves in a manner appropriate to the situation. But as long as you cry foul every time a joke is made, or an interview is given, or something sideways is said about alopecia, then other people will see it as something wrong, and respond in kind.
Again, there's a reason it is called SELF-esteem, not "everyone else make you feel good about yourself"-esteem. People will only make YOU feel bad about yourself if YOU allow them to. If you allow a joke on a TV show to make you feel like less than nothing, then that is a deficit in YOUR character, not that of the TV show. The people on that show are not losing sleep over YOUR feelings being hurt, and neither is the network that aired it. Therefore, why waste YOUR valuable time and energy being upset when it can be better used elsewhere?
If that is demoralizing, then there's a lot more that's wrong in your life than the fact that you don't have any hair on your head. I'm just saying.
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She is just hear IMHO to stir up trouble. She wants you to ask her about the other organization she works for that has a "better model' for alopecia - dont play into the whole back and forth thing = just ignore it.
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I agree with lilybell....IGNORE HER!
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I always find it amusing when someone finds a typo offensive - LMAO - HAHAHHAHA And work, paid for or not - is work. I liked it better when the offender was on a 'self impossed black out of AW' Truth is she got #($#()*# slapped by one of the co founders for a bad attitude then - Go Figure!!
IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE
Some people just love to hear themselves talk. And argue.
Anyone who wants to know the name of the organization she has aligned herself with - just pm me and I will tell you - it will shed light on the 'big picture'.
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Permalink Reply by Essence on
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no need, Google brings up every site in the book.. woah. really big picture.
i do wish this forum didn't have to turn out this way but i see how this topic could be and is quite controversial. just never thought i'd see this wide a spectrum on such an emotional condition for many of us. still, I hope HBO has heard from enough of us to know that touchy subjects are not always so humorous.
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