[Colorado-talk] SNL Clip of Gov. Paterson skit

[Scott C. LaBarre]

Ryan and others, I don't know a lot about Paterson other than I've been told 
that he was always supportive of NFB sponsored legislation in the New York 
legislature while a state rep and the same as a Lt. Governor. 
Unfortunately, he does come from a background where blindness is something 
to hide but he has tried to help blindness issues when he can.  As for why 
the NFB would stand behind him when he hasn't always exhibited the most 
ideal characteristics of a well-adjusted blind person, there are at least 
three answers.  First, he has supported us in the past.  Second, blind 
persons so rarely obtain high positions of leadership that we must defend 
the blind who reach these positions unless it is so damaging to do so. In 
Paterson's case, it makes me wonder if any of us has always stood on 
principal and not taken the opportunity to take advantage of society's 
stereotypes about us in some fashion either through cheap humor or gaining 
some kind of advantage.  For those of us who can hide our blindness at 
times, do we always make it 100 percent clear that we are blind and not like 
everyone else?  Third and finally, any time blindness is thrust into the 
popular media in a high profile manner and especially when it is done so in 
a negative and stereotypical fashion, I think it is our duty to voice 
another view and spread  a more positive philosophy.  We should take every 
opportunity to make the general public think twice about commonly held 
conceptions.  In this case, we should make society think twice about whether 
the skit was truly funny.

Any way, those are my thoughts.  That and a few bucks might get you a nice 
coffee somewhere.
Scott C. LaBarre, Esq.

LaBarre Law Offices P.C.
1660 South Albion Street, Ste. 918
Denver, Colorado 80222
303 504-5979 (voice)
303 757-3640 (fax)
slabarre at labarrelaw.com (e-mail)
www.labarrelaw.com (website)

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RyanO" <ryano218 at comcast.net>
To: "NFB of Colorado Discussion List" <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Colorado-talk] SNL Clip of Gov. Paterson skit


> Chris, I certainly don't know this for a fact, but my guess is that 
> Paterson's political advisors thought his self-deprecating humor about his 
> blindness could only help him in his circumstances. We blind are well 
> aware that the easiest way to make sighted people laugh is to joke about 
> our blindness. I'm sure there are many psychological layers to this issue, 
> not the least of which is that it helps to ease the awkward tension that 
> sighted people feel when interacting with us.
>
> Unfortunately, as you say, Paterson's humor came back to bite him. Without 
> publicly demonstrating positive examples of his views about his blindness 
> to counter his jokes, he left himself wide open.
>
> I am not defending SNL at all. This skit, along with Blindness the movie 
> still make me wonder why it is so acceptable to kick one minority while 
> giving so many others a pass. Still, I think Paterson's credibility has to 
> come into question a little bit here. What work has he done on behalf of 
> disability groups (blind or otherwise) to bolster his outrage at the 
> sniping from SNL?
>
>
> RyanO
>
>
>
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