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CNN thinks Ulcerative Colitis is hilarious

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Posted 12/14/2010 3:29 AM (GMT 0)
Maybe they should try a comic bit about AIDS next.
Posted 12/14/2010 3:37 AM (GMT 0)

journey2health said...
I see your point. But they wouldn't start out a segment on heart disease with a joke.

That is an excellent point.

mkl11 said...

This is very true, but on the other hand, poop is funny. There's a reason poop and fart jokes are so pervasive, whatever your opinion towards them may be, and why clips like these, even years after their release, remain ingrained in the cultural conscious.

I firmly believe that humor is a great way to bring about awareness of this disease in particular. Why I'm personally not offended by the clip is that it isn't suggesting anything about the character of the person with the disease (as jokes about, say, mentally challenged or ill people can sometimes imply) but exaggerating, for humor, a terrible case of diarrhea which many people without IBD have experienced maybe once or twice.

Essentially, I think humor is a good entry point into a conversation about IBD, as it can break down people's barriers and perhaps add some level of relatability. This particular example is particularly crass, yes, but I don't think we should write off this approach entirely.

That was a great post/observation.

Post Edited (aguywithuc) : 12/13/2010 8:46:01 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/14/2010 6:28 AM (GMT 0)
everyone's had diarrhea.....and many have pooped their pants while trying to hold it or get to a toilet.

Everyone knows how it feels....and the point said was "you may think this is funny, but imagine if it were your life...15 - 20 times a day of painful bloody diarrhea...etc"

Yeah, I think it was a perfect lead-in....many here are wanting others to know our pain...well, there it is!!!

I really don't get what the complaint is....truly I don't.

By the way...I didn't really like the movie, but I laughed out loud a lot.

q
Posted 12/15/2010 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hey, if it got peoples attention I'm all for it. I'm seriously tired of having to explain what's wrong with me. I would love to be able to say I have Ulcerative Colitis and have people just understand what that means...
Posted 12/15/2010 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
Honestly, that is really poor taste. I just can't bring myself to laugh about this disease.
Posted 12/15/2010 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
Understandable....some relate to it, others don't...but one has to admit it's a perfect example. I use the example of having a bm that feels like it's the size of a watermelon but it comes out the size of a pea. That sometimes helps.

I like more shock than nothing I guess. To the point.

q
Posted 12/15/2010 6:56 PM (GMT 0)
hilarious. if you can't joke about yourself(your.my, disease). you're taking life too seriously. which is probably part of the problem!

clip made a good point. Do your friends/family understand what you are going through? mine do not. This clip conveys it a bit

key line was: "you might think it's funny but what would you do if that was your life, 10-15 bloody BM's a day without a known cure"

thanks for sharing. made me laugh :)
Posted 12/16/2010 12:25 AM (GMT 0)
Only CNN and Fox? You mean no one watches MSNBC, PBS, or LinkTV?
Posted 12/16/2010 1:10 AM (GMT 0)

Ugh Just Ugh said...
Hey, if it got peoples attention I'm all for it. I'm seriously tired of having to explain what's wrong with me. I would love to be able to say I have Ulcerative Colitis and have people just understand what that means...

I got the cure for that. You just ask them if they ever heard of Crohns and they always says YES, then you say when its in the large intestine it is called Ulcerative Colitis.
Posted 12/16/2010 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
I don't mind the humor or that they used the clip. I just hated the movie.
Posted 12/16/2010 4:39 AM (GMT 0)
The ironic thing is I haven't had diarrhea for many years, yet I still suffer with this disease. Some family members already make light of U.C., and I'm not sure stuff like this helps.
Posted 12/16/2010 5:39 AM (GMT 0)

aguywithuc said...

Ugh Just Ugh said...
Hey, if it got peoples attention I'm all for it. I'm seriously tired of having to explain what's wrong with me. I would love to be able to say I have Ulcerative Colitis and have people just understand what that means...



I got the cure for that. You just ask them if they ever heard of Crohns and they always says YES, then you say when its in the large intestine it is called Ulcerative Colitis.

 

 

Actually, that's not even a fact...Crohn's can happen in the large intestine and sometimes never in the small intestine or anywhere else for that matter.  As well, Crohn's  and UC are different, although they share inflammatory, autoimmune and gastro disease.

Posted 12/16/2010 8:19 AM (GMT 0)
The problem with UC in my opinion is that nobody knows what it is.....nobody.....not anyone. I bet 1 out of every 20 people ive mentioned UC to have even the slightest clue as to what I'm talking about. The people with the most severe UC arent out in the world interacting with people as much so outside people seeing firsthand the effects of US is limited. Given the varying range of UC from slight to severe someone might meet someone who says they have UC who has slight symptoms then meet another person with UC who has severe UC and assume that they are the same. I had a supervisor whos mom had UC and apparently her moms UC wasnt as bad as mine because even with her mom having UC she didnt understand how I could be "sick" so often. I lived in the dorms for a year after high school and looking back there was this guy who I'm pretty certain now what he said he had was UC but I'm not sure, "makes him go to the bathroom a lot" was prettymuch all we knew about his disease, I got a secondhand explantaion of it. After I got UC it really explained some of that guys mysterious dissapearances, odd behavior at times probably UC related is what I think when I look back. He never mentioned it and we never ask, which is one of the problems with UC people who have it because of the somewhat embarassing symptoms dont usually talk about it so the pool of people who know what UC is really all about and how severe it can be is really small.  Just reading a symptom sheet from a medical text or a website is not going to give anyone the full scope of UC and with the knowledge pool being so small it makes it easy for people to make light of the disease. Untill a celebrity gets and is open with the public about UC people arent going to be aware of this disease and we as UCers will just have to deal with it.

The clip is pretty distasteful as the intro clip for a disease but if they had been doing an interview with a UC sufferer and he had said in response to say Anchor: "on your worst day what is it like living with UC?" to which he replied "you know that scene from dumb and dumber where hes in the bathroom" and it flashed to the clip right then, I think most UCers would be able to connect to it totally.

Posted 12/16/2010 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
The heart beating out of the chest of a cartoon character -- a great intro to a TV segment on arryhthmia.
Posted 12/18/2010 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
I used to watch CNN, particularly Larry King. With him gone, and this current news I'm completely done. What executive producer thinks this is in good taste? Particularly to those who know and understand the disease. Disgraceful.
Posted 12/18/2010 2:38 AM (GMT 0)

quincy said...
Actually, that's not even a fact...Crohn's can happen in the large intestine and sometimes never in the small intestine or anywhere else for that matter. As well, Crohn's and UC are different, although they share inflammatory, autoimmune and gastro disease.

I find that really interesting. But then I have UC. For people who do not have UC it is meaningless, but a familiar concept like Crohns is a toehold to an understanding. What else are you going tell them?

I have told them that my immune system is the opposite of aids, my immune systems is the 900 lb gorilla attacking me as if I were an organ donor recipient. It is a longer conversation and they pretty much get it, but then they think eating worms to cure it is great so they all send me emails about the recent story.
Posted 12/18/2010 2:52 AM (GMT 0)
well at least they said they would edit it out!

Unfortunately ..that's the world out there.  This disease certainly is not for overly sensitive people!

Remember you can't fix stupid...or dumb and dumber in this case!

lol

 

Posted 12/18/2010 9:03 AM (GMT 0)
aguywithuc....I think you're confusing understanding with heard of, because I highly doubt people actually KNOW what CD entails. They just know it's "bad"...oooo.

Hey, My first and last CCFC chapter meeting 20 years ago had all the CDers telling me how lucky I was to have UC and not CD. Go figure.
Then they wanted me to become super involved with this and that and whatever else. Get real already.

Actually...I don't care if others understand it. There's tons of diseases I have no idea about.
But for shock value works really good sometimes.

q
Posted 12/18/2010 10:25 AM (GMT 0)
Having a disease I find I'm far more attuned to other people's diseases and interested in the particulars. It's like being a minority and understanding what it's like for others to be a minority.
Posted 12/18/2010 6:25 PM (GMT 0)
Well, one can only possess so much empathy.

q
Posted 12/18/2010 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
I thought the clip was funny and I didn't feel dis-respected by it.  The actor on the toilet didn't seem to be enjoying himself, he looked like he was in pain.  Comedy often, for a lack of a better or more efficient style, is the best way to get a point across.  I often use comedy to make a serious point.  It gets people's attention.  I really don't understand why this clip is so distasteful to so many.  I get it, it'a a comical satire about a serious disease.  For those that don't get it, get a sense of humor. 

 

Just my two cents.

 

MyUC

Posted 12/18/2010 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, sure, this is funny and to the point but really?! How insensitive can you possibly be? They might as well have opened up with a funny video about vomiting and started a segment on eating disorders. Oh all places for me to see this is on the Daily Show? Really? and even Jon Stewart thought it was wrong.
Don't get me wrong i think it captures UC very nicely but seriously. I hope CNN makes up for this with a huge donation to CCFA.
Posted 12/20/2010 4:06 AM (GMT 0)
THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY about UC OR IBD IN GENERAL!!! I understand to some people, who don't have UC or don't understand what it is would think it is funny but it isn't. UC affects a person's life termendously.  My life and my kids life and my families life has been forever changed since I was diagnosed with UC. I know you do have to laugh about alot of it or you would go crazy but this diesese needs a cure and funding for new medication, etc, not to be mad fun of. Just my thought.
Posted 12/20/2010 6:05 PM (GMT 0)
Personally, I found this clip really pretty funny. By no means does that mean that I find the disease funny. As a parent watching your child get sicker and sicker I have complete empathy with everyone going through this. However, in all situations you have to be able to find some humor....sometimes it is the only way to make it through the day.
Posted 12/21/2010 11:50 AM (GMT 0)
Poop is funny. It's a fact. Here's the thing: if news channels like CNN (or, god help me, FOX) want to be taken seriously, they ought not to make light of a serious disease. It was in poor taste. Even the anchor was uncomfortable. The problem with cable news is that they need to fill a lot of time, and are often very careless with what (and how) they depict things.

FYI: I regularly make light of my situation with UC. As far as humor goes, I believe nothing is off limits if the joke is funny to me. (Why did the little girl fall off the swing? Because she has no arms!*) Never apologize for finding humor in something tragic, because it's the best way to cope with things we are not so comfortable discussing. Artist Roy Lichtenstein said that the most serious, profound, and disturbing things to us can be discussed only in the form of jokes, and I hold to that philosophy.

*My apologies to any amputees.
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