Diabetic Blindness is Not Funny, Mr. Stewart!

[kielmeyer]

On the August 6th Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Stewart thought it 'funny' to make a 'joke' about diabetic blindness. In response to favourable comments by some U.S. Senators about Sotomayor's struggles with type 1 diabetes, he remarked that if being diabetic was going to be a new criterion for selecting Supreme Court Justices, then soon "justice would truly be blind." I wonder if he even stopped for half a second to consider whether some young people with type 1 diabetes watching his show may not have been aware of their heightened risk for blindness until they were informed of it by his 'joke.'

Fortunately in Canada we have the Human Rights Acts which allow us to bring a complaint against anyone using our public media to draw any vulnerable minority into contempt by any comments made. I think we should all join in a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission against the outrageous notion that diabetic blindness is something to make fun of. Did Mr. Stewart consider how spreading the impression that all diabetics will inevitably go blind will promote employment discrimination against diabetics?

I think in the name of diabetic solidarity that we should flood with complaints the Daily Show forum, the Daily Show telephone exchange, and all the Canadian networks spreading his discrimination against diabetics by carrying his program.

[Warthog]

This would amount to a frivolous and silly use of the Human Rights Commission. Blindness may not be funny, but when I was blind I made a lot of jokes about it; it was a way of coping. Jon Stewart is funny, and I would get a groan if not an actual laugh out of that comment. If it offends you so much, write to Jon Stewart.

Hey, when I first lost the sight in my left eye, my co-workers took up a collection to get me a white-and-black cane. The campaign was so successful they were able to get me a partly trained seeing-eye dog. I saved money by buying a telescope instead of binoculars. When I drove drunk I never saw double. I'd rather laugh than cry or whine.

My hunting buddy said to me, "At least it's your left eye, so it won't affect your shooting. Matter of fact, if you went blind in both eyes it wouldn't affect your shooting." I laughed.