Funny or Offensive: Local Version
I don’t mean to belabor this topic, but this one hit my radar as it’s “about” Quakertown, Pa., where I’ve spent sufficient time.
Anorexic Realizes She Just Has To Eat
Quakertown, PA resident Jasmine Strotz, a 22 year-old who has been struggling with the eating disorder anorexia for three years now, was relieved to hear, during a class discussion at the college she attends, that all she has to do is eat and her disease will be cured.
“For years, I’ve wondered, ‘How can I stop this?’” she said in an exclusive interview. “I thought and thought, but I just couldn’t figure it out. It was the hardest problem I had ever faced.”
When the problem first surfaced, Strotz was reluctant to go to a doctor, believing she could fix matters herself.
“I tried some home remedies, like trying to pack clay onto my body in hopes that it would absorb into my skin and become weight,” she explained. “I also tried sleeping with the food, as well as looking at pictures of food. But still I remained hungry!”
Normally, I don’t offer my opinions on these ForOs. But this one? Its poor writing offends me. Click here for the rest.
liz | 3:34 PM | Funny or Offensive?, eating disorders
Initially, I thought it was offensive and totally trivialized a serious and difficult to treat disorder. However, when I read the whole article I realized it was written “tongue in cheek” maybe in reaction to those who don’t get why anorexics don’t just get over it and eat.
I dunno. That concept near the end … the dreaded “just get over it” …. it makes my blood curdle. I seriously think this is fodder for those who think that we ARE big babies. Makes me cranky.
Liz, I don’t think these commenters clicked on the other links. Which is a shame, in my view…I almost wet myself laughing, and I’m sitting in a very public space.
I don’t think it was either. Clearly it is meant to be tongue in cheek, but I think part of what makes satire satire is challenging someone’s assumptions and preconceptions – and you’re right, Liz, it’s kind of a poorly executed example that only succeeds in preaching to the choir.
Personally, I much prefer The Onion to keep up-to-date on the latest satire. This article wasn’t really funny enough to qualify.
Which is less funny, dead-baby jokes or schizo-frenzy jokes? I spent a couple of minutes thinking about the former, at least the ones I remember, and think the latter are a lot better. It’s contextual as well: the Trentonian’s (a tabloid, right?) front page, if dominated by that headline, would have boosted sales. That’s good for journalism, right?
As a card-carrying homosexual, I can live with seeing slurs about gay people (et al.) in print. As a certifiably nutty person with daily medication to prove it, I feel the same kind of indignation when I hear the word “wackos” (see another post) in my workplace. But I’m protected there. The First Amendment gives the Trentonian the right to print tasteless things. We use the free market to stop buying offensive material.
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