Trending in the news media and social media recently are
customers attacking Target for selling a sweater that they claim in poking fun
of mental disorders. The Christmas themed sweatshirt has OCD standing for
Obsessive Christmas Disorder and people are outraged.
I think it can be collectively agreed upon that mental
illnesses are serious and should not be made light of. There are hundreds of
thousands of people in the country that suffer from a mental illness or has a
close loved one that suffers from mental illness. Mental illnesses are truly a
life altering disorder that can affect how someone lives their daily lives and
even completing simple, every day tasks.
The fact that people are upset about this sweatshirt is not
surprising to me, especially in today’s world where it is hard to do or say
anything without offending someone. What surprises me is that this shirt is
offensive but no one makes a big deal of other shirts that commonly stem from
mental illnesses.
There is a shirt that says “ My Name is [insert your name]
and I am a wine addict”. Clearly this is making light of alcoholism, a serious
illness that effects many people and families in this country and has even
resulted in taking the lives of people. No one targeted this shirt for making
fun of alcoholism; reviews even say how “cute” and “relatable” this shirt is.
Is it okay to make light of mental illnesses, alcoholism and
addiction? Absolutely not. Obviously that is not the intentions of the shirts
being sold and no one was meant to be hurt or insulted but I think the double
standard in today’s world is just growing bigger. How can it be such a huge
deal for one store to sell a shirt, but other shirts that say “addicted to
pizza” “Coffee addict” and such are acceptable and being sold like crazy.
What do you think bloggers? Is the double standard of the
media getting out of hand?
I can understand why some things are so offensive to people, but as you said, it is hard to say or do anything without offending someone. It seems like literally everything is offensive. I don’t think making light of mental illnesses are okay, but you make a great point comparing the “OCD” shirt and the wine addict shirt. Personally, I would not have had a problem with the shirt. I saw a post of a girl holding the shirt up, basically protesting the shirt saying it was offensive because she had OCD. The girl had dyed her hair gray. Someone had made a comment on the post, and I don’t remember exactly what the post said, but it was something along the lines of how the commenter was offended because the girl’s hair was gray and growing old with gray is not something to make fun of… or something like that, but you get the point, haha. I am pretty sure that the person who made the comment was just trying to prove a point and be funny.
ReplyDeleteAspen, I completely agree with you in that our society is offended by nearly everything. Like you mention, blatantly and maliciously making fun of any disorder, physical/mental ailment, etc. holds no place in a morally sound culture, however, lighthearted fun such as a t-shirt or mug is just that, fun. My two cents on the issue is that too many people get butt hurt over things that they themselves don't see as funny. Someone will likely always be able to find something they don't agree with and if their skin isn't thick enough, they feel the need to chastise others because of their disapproval of the message sent. This Target sweatshirt example goes hand in hand with all the Starbucks cup complainers. People will be people, and someone will always find something they aren't happy with. As for the rest of us, I suppose we'll wear our politically incorrect apparel and continue the day with a smile on our faces.
ReplyDeleteAnna Edmondson- "There will always be Social Justice Warriors out there that claim that everything is offensive to some. I don't believe that people should be up and arms about the Obsessive Christmas Disorder sweater though, because you can clearly tell that its intentions are not to ostracize or make a spectacle of those who truly have OCD. There are shirts with racist and derogatory messages out there and they are not under fire, but yet this one is? I know that Urban Outfitters has been told to take certain shirts out of their stores due to triggering messages and images of people with eating disorders, but I think that is different than this sweater since those shirts' messages are glamorizing eating disorders while the intense message on this sweater is to have a play on words for something Christmas related."
ReplyDeleteI think that in our society we will see that it will become increasingly occurring that someone is offended about something. It is rather astonishing to me that it occurs so much but as we have seen in the last month not only have these shirts been a controversy but also the red cups that Starbucks have released. To combat the bad press that Starbucks was receiving Dunkin' Donuts released a cup with a more "Christmas-y" logo on it. Controversies such as these make me wonder what is going to happen in future generations. It is almost as if it hinders our progress as a society.
ReplyDelete