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• 1. At 08:45am on 22 Apr 2009, Nick Vinehill wrote:

  There should be no surprise that these local newspapers, predominantly right wing and rely on advertising to exist resort to this type of reporting. It's a minor reflection of how most of the 'free press' particularly renowned tabloids project society in general in their reporting of the economy, nationalism, race and warfare etc.
  
  Yes there is prejudice against the disabled but that's not because people are born into this world naturally prejudice to the likes of the disabled or immigrants.
  
  It's the economic system that relies on profits, competition and exploitation and attacking personalities when things go wrong that imbues prejudice into people.
  
  Today's budget will be a classic example of how a Tory government called New Labour will just manipulate monetary and fiscal policy to play some sections of society off against another in order to reduce public spending and cover up the obvious fact that its the profit system that's the problem and the cause of this economic meltdown!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• 2. At 09:09am on 22 Apr 2009, PennysDad wrote:

  I am a type 2 diabetic for several months I have been subject to very nasty harassment because I had the courage to complain about discrimination. This has been delibrately done by my manager - it completely against the company handbook. Where it is listed as a cause for dismissal - but guess what??? Because the manager is also the owner - he has completely got away with it.

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• 3. At 09:27am on 22 Apr 2009, summingup wrote:

  Listening to the discussion on the 'Hawking Joke' I find the attitude of some people unbelieveable. The joke was not aimed at his disability but at the link to the computer he uses.
  
  Lets take the same joke and imagine it was Bill Gates on a life support machine...here is a man associated with computers which often just need turning on and off...would this be offensive?
  
  Many people would not find the above offensive yet suddenly baulk at the same context because it involves a disabled person. We will not stop discrimination against any group by giving them special status and wrapping them up in cotton wool... why is it o.k. to make jokes at the expense of white people, abled bodied people, ginger people yet others have a special status?
  
  As for the jokes about Stevie Wonder and the Tehren strip club...these don't mock individuals only systems....and they are both funny.
  
  

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• 4. At 09:31am on 22 Apr 2009, zeldalicious wrote:

  It looks as if we are going to get the stage where we aren't allowed to laugh at anything unless it has been pre-approved by a committee of po-faced individuals who seek to find offence in everything. This country is beginning to frighten me.

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• 5. At 09:42am on 22 Apr 2009, Kenjukes wrote:

  The joke about Hawking was purely contemporary. The same could have been made about Einstein if he was ill today.

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• 6. At 09:44am on 22 Apr 2009, Kenjukes wrote:

  or should that be contemporaneous?

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• 7. At 09:51am on 22 Apr 2009, BARCThomas wrote:

  This discussion is missing the point. The disability isn't the issue, it's the timing of the joke and the context.
  
  When someone is in hospital fighting for their life, jokes about their mortality aren't funny. I didn't spot any Natasha Richardson jokes while she was on life support. What's different?
  
  With colleagues, ex-wives, children and grandchildren all concerned, it is tactless to make such a public joke. The fact it is on the front page makes it worse.

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• 8. At 10:02am on 22 Apr 2009, mickski_007 wrote:

  Abraham Lincoln once said that you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.
  
  We don't live in a society where everyone has to be in agreement. I find the joke funny but I would never discriminate or direct an insult at somebody of the minorities.

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• 9. At 10:10am on 22 Apr 2009, Sarnia wrote:

  Agree with comments 3 & 4.

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• 10. At 10:16am on 22 Apr 2009, PeymanA71 wrote:

  The problem is that people fail to differentiate between discrimination and finding something funny. Just because you laugh at something doesn't mean you discriminate.
  
  I am Iranian and I laughed out loud at the earlier joke about lads in an Iranian strip club ("take your veil off for the lads"). I still can't stop laughing and will repeat it to my colleagues and friends. Most Iranians dislike extreme moslems with a passion and women who cover in black chador are commonly called "black cockroach" because of the way they dress.
  
  I think that much of the reaction from the PC brigade about most issues is out of their own complete ignorance. These are usually people who have nothing to do with the groups they supposedly try to protect and defend. It reminds me of some City Councillors who want to dumb down Christmas decorations and celebrations because they perceive it as offensive to ethnic minorities. Notice that the ethnic minorities themselves never complain! Similarly, I am sure Stephen Hawking would find the cartoon amusing. He is far more intelligent than to take offence at such a thing.

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• 11. At 10:16am on 22 Apr 2009, Oneeyedguy wrote:

  I think summingup's comment is fair, but somehow doesn't quite capture the full point of the joke. It's not simply that Stephen Hawking is 'associated with' computers. His speech computer is a known, almost integral part of him. THAT's the point of the joke, surely? - that the computer has, in some way, become Stephen Hawking and vice versa, and therefore he would respond to the same remedies as a PC. If it were made about Bill Gates, it would be a very weak joke indeed.
  
  They say laughter is the best medicine; it's got to be more than possible that Prof Hawking would laugh at the joke himself - many disabled people I've known have cracked the most appalling jokes about themselves, and disability in general. Humour is a way of coping with, a way of fighting against, what fate has so randomly thrown at you.
  
  Ah, but 'they' are 'allowed' to; can you tell such a joke if you're not disabled yourself? Well, the test is, would we tell it in front of a disabled person? Good manners surely says no, if you don't know them, but yes if you do and they've had a chance to assess your general attitude and decide whether you're likely to be saying it in jest or in a nasty way.
  
  Every joke has a butt, whether it's a person or an attitude - after all, a disabled person can just tell you if he/she is upset by your behaviour. They're individuals, remember? - some will be OK with it, others won't. Treating disabled people in an equal way can't mean wrapping them in cotton wool; if it means anything it must mean taking steps to bring as much as possible of the world within their reach - warts, dodgy jokes and all.

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