Sighs and Hallelujahs Stories and thoughts about the adventures of life without arms

Is it okay to laugh?

When I watched this Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit earlier this week I laughed heartily at several points. I'm a fan of SNL, particularly the segment called Weekend Update. Weekend Update is filmed as a standard news desk segment with "reporters" giving their take on current news and political items. After all, real life often offers itself as better comedy than fiction!

This particular segment of the Weekend Update focused on New York's Governor David Paterson. Paterson, a blind man, was serving as the Lieutenant Governor when Eliot Spitzer was discovered to be hiring high-priced prostitutes and was forced into the role of Governor after Spitzer resigned. Recently he's been in the news due to pressure from the White House to not seek reelection when the seat comes up in 2010 due to low polling numbers. Check out the video here (right after the commercial):

Even as I just watched the video again I laughed out loud at several jokes about Governor Paterson's blindness. Admittedly, visions of him zig-zagging up the capitol steps and shaking hands with statues were hilarious!

But, this video also raises the question of when it's okay to laugh at someone with a disability or to joke about the limitations of their disability when it comes to how they interact with society? In short, should I have been laughing like I was?

I'm rather conflicted on my opinion in regards to jokes around disability. So, here are several points I offer for consideration:

- There's something about being in a public position that opens you up for jokes and you've got to have thick skin to be in the public sphere. If SNL would have picked a blind guy out of the crowd and started making fun of him, that would have been offensive. (Even as it was, you likely recognized a discomfort in the laughter of the crowd after the initial joke about Governor Paterson's blindness. It was the zig-zag joke, if I recall.)

- Comedy is fair if the person exhibits traits that resemble the joke. For example, Jib-Jab released a video during the presidential election that portrayed Barack Obama running through the forest with unicorns and rainbows spouting messages of hope. Or, The Daily Show offered a skit with John McCain aimlessly wandering around the set of a town hall. Both were very funny due to the nature of both men -- in that each would have to own that they actually resembled the parodies at times. I've yet to watch much video of Mr. Paterson, so I'm not sure how he acts. But, I'm concerned that the SNL skit does not accurately depict his actions, but is setting up the jokes on the basis that all blind people are oblivious and unaware of their surroundings.

- We all need to laugh and take ourselves less seriously. Those of you who know me recognize that I laugh loudly and often. I believe we all need to take ourselves more lightly and not be so upset by how people are politically correct or not. However, people with disabilities do have the right to express dissatisfaction if something offends or upsets them.

- I do know that Governor Paterson and blindness advocates have raised concerns over past SNL skits involving this topic. Because of that, I believe SNL owes it to Mr. Paterson, individually, and the blind community as a whole to be very careful around these types of jokes. In my opinion, jokes about disability require buy-in from those you're making jokes about. For example, a group of co-workers and I made a video that centered around the fact that I had no arms. It was fine because there was buy-in on my part. If there had not been, then I would have had major issues with it.

- Finally, there's something about able-bodied people making jokes about disabled individuals that doesn't sit well with me. I can't make a racial joke about my friend Keeley. But, as an African American, he can. Same could be said for jokes about someone's weight, religious beliefs, etc. Yes, it seems like a double-standard. But, it's the right of a person with a disability to joke about their situation. That does not give you the right to joke about it in the same way, though.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd be curious to get others' opinions on the matter at hand.

As you've seen, I have a perfectly conflicted opinion on the comedy in the video above. All I can offer, in summary, is that each of us needs to be more aware of issues such as disability in the comedy we are part of and that we encounter in our media.