I woke up this morning feeling feverish and a little nauseous. I don’t think think m coming down with anything, but I kind of wasted the whole day away because I didn’t feel like doing much, not even write. Feeling better now and I should be back at work tomorrow.
Someone e-mailed me and asked me what I thought of the MDA Telethon, which just ended a few hours ago. To be honest, I try not to give it much thought. Believe it or not, I was dragged out on display for a couple telethons back when I was a kid. I remember being kissed on the cheek by a cute local news personality and thinking that I was the shit. But by the time I was a teenager I realized how exploitative Jerry Lewis and the MDA really is. Every year they bring out some cute kid who is nothing more than a tool used to play on Joe and Jane Schmoe’s pity for the poor crippled children. Even the local newspaper gets invited to the pity party; just look at this article that appeared in today’s Minneapolis paper. I understand that pity is a natural reaction upon seeing someone with a disability, but it is a reaction borne out of ignorance and a reluctance to understand what a person with a disability really experiences on a daily basis. I don’t need pity. Mr. Lewis has said that if people like me don’t want pity, we should stay home. The idiocy of this statement just reflects the arrogance and condescension inherent in the whole telethon culture. And I’m suspicious about where all that money goes. Private charities have their place, but I’d prefer that everyone pay fifty more dollars in taxes a year to ensure that everyone with a disability has access to the services they need without feeling compelled to kiss the ass of some has-been actor with a Messiah complex.
Aren’t you glad you asked?
What not to watch
The 2003 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon begins tonight at 9 PM EST. As I’ve mentioned before, as a former “Jerry’s Kid” I am fully opposed to this fundraiser: The Muscular Dystrophy Association exploits both children with disabilities…
That’s about where I thought you’d be. I hope you have never recieved any funding from the MDA. Their research might just benefit someone like you. But you won’t be in line for any of their assistance since you don’t like the way they pay for it. Just what makes you think that everyone should be compelled to pay taxes to support the disabled?
Hmmm,let’s see. I pay taxes that support schools even though I don’t have kids. But I don’t mind because I see it as a civic responsibility. I guess not everyone feels that way about people with disabilities.
As for research done by the MDA, it’s not really going to help people like me who have been living with a neuromuscular disability for decades. Most research is targeted at genetic therapy that can be administered in vitro. Honestly, I could care less about the research.
Mark, I couldn’t agree with you more. Further, MDA is a self-perpetuating bureaucracy serving mainly the salary needs of their own doctors, researchers, etc. — with extraordinarily little progress benefiting those it uses to enrich their coffers.
Other, smaller, less known and funded organizations have made greater strides toward truly beneficial results with a fraction of the funding, and in a much smaller timeframe: MDA has been exploiting those it propounds to serve, for decades.
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