The Donut Thing Won’t Die
I don’t know what’s going on, but suddenly the site is getting a lot of comments on the Psycho Donuts dust-up. To fill you in, there’s a donut shop in California called Psycho Donuts that uses mental illness as its theme to sell donuts. Here’s how the store’s website describes the theme:
Psycho Donuts has taken donuts to the next demented level. We bid a fond farewell to the tired, round ring of lameness, and the drab, time-weathered environment of donut past. Psycho Donuts has taken the neighborhood donut and put it on medication, and given it shock treatment.
Psycho Donuts are very unique and, well, crazy. Our name comes with a commitment to not only be the craziest/fun donut experience you’ll ever have, but one of the most unique places in the South Bay (see blog).
Try our signature Smores Donut; or for something different, how about a Green Tea Donut? Even if you’re not certifiably insane yourself, you’ll still find a handful of donuts from the past.
As a donut lover, this is an issue close to my heart. I mean, a Green Tea Donut? Is that even legal? I’ll stick with Boston Kreme, thank you, and yes, I’ll spell it that way until I die.
But the “Nutcase” display case and the padded cell in the store don’t sit well with many mental health advocates, who fear the store is stigmatizing, especially the folks at NAMI’s StigmaNet. Yet to tell you the truth, the more I think about it, the less I care. Wait — don’t hate me. It’s just that there are so many other things that are more important, I think, and the fact that this, of all issues — a single store in a single town — is generating so much controversy, seems kind of limited to me.
For instance, I got some other mental-health-related news from some people via email while I was on vacation, and without blogging about it further, I’ll just give you the broad strokes (no attribution because I’m not sure if my tipsters want it):
Also in California, L.A.’s homeless lose out in settlement
Recent news quote: “The secretary of defense is required to have a plan in place by September 2013 to increase military and civilian mental health personnel available to our troops and their families.”
Antidepressant use doubles in US, study finds
N.J. psychiatric hospitals to release 300 patients under lawsuit settlement
Suicides rising in US military
American Medical Association study: Adults near WTC disaster still being diagnosed with asthma, PTSD
I could go on and on. Every day I see headlines I worry about, and get emails from people who are suffering right now. Those people don’t give a shit if there’s a “bipolar” donut (pictured). They just want to know: Is there anything that’s going to ever make me feel better? Can I survive this? Why can’t I get out of bed? Can you help me? Can anyone help?
Personal urgency and large-scale issues slap me in the face in a way this donuts thing just doesn’t. Yet the comments keep coming. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.
liz | 1:55 PM | Funny or Offensive?, media, stigma
I agree that this is psycho donut thing deserves nothing more than a shrug. It’s mildly offensive, but it is just one store’s sick joke to sell donuts. There are bigger issues such as the public equating mental illness with violence in light of recent attempted bombings and mass shootings. Just adding to the stigma!
I think this is blown way out of proportion, and by the fact that it has been so blown out of proportion the shop is likely not to back down. Instead it should have been asked to just tone it down a bit.
Right now the anti-donut shop group looks like it may as well be asking Looney Tunes to rename themselves or that they are asking that people stop calling nuts, nuts and something else. People in the US just get so dang sensitive. Leave it move on don’t go there if you don’t like it.
Yeah, I’m gonna differ here. It’s not the NAMES of the donuts (or the donut shop) I find offensive, it’s the padded cell, it’s the straight jackets, it’s the doctors and nurses. This shit was really painful for me to deal with, and still could be someday, if I ever get committed again (NOT likely, I will NEVER seek psychiatric “help” again, which is the only reason I got 5150′ed the first time) and to see people who get to have the luxury to make it “fun” and something to try, really DOES piss me off. To add insult to injury, this is the town I was born in and lived in until I was 13. Yeah, there ARE more important issues, but just because I’m pissed at this one issue, doesn’t mean I don’t have enough energy to tackle the other stuff. At the end of the day, I’m going to ignore the place and hope it fails- I won’t be writing letters or picketing. On my worse days, I think it’d be sweet irony if the owner ever got a good look at one of the places he’s so gleefully imitating. From the inside.
Psycho Donuts: Q’est-ce que c’est? « Knitting Clio Says:
[...] on August 8, 2009. Filed under: History of Mental Health, disability studies | via The Trouble with Spikol. There’s a donut shop in Northern California that uses mental illness and an insane asylum as [...]
I don’t care what some dumbass store uses to sell their nasty-tasting donuts (they don’t compare to Krispy Kreme anyway). I care about the people who are suffering from schizophrenia, who are afraid of everything. I care about those who are suffering with bipolar disorder, OCD, depression, all the poor children suffering from autism… Who CARES about that crud? Ignore it and it’ll go away.
Reply: