a lot of people are upset about ratemydowns.com
see: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19288364803
ratemydowns.com is apparently a website where people upload pics of people with downs syndrome, and then visitors to the site are to rate and comment on the photos, supposedly for comedy purposes.
now people are getting offended and the above link is one of those annoying facebook petitions, this one is demanding that the site should be closed because they don't approve of it.
opinions?
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sounds pretty grim
holy fuck!
Scandelous
has an error! They should sort it out!
Also I think the site is a disgrace
yeah but
is that a reason to close it down? obviously it is offensive to a lot of people, but unless it's breaking any laws or anything, there's not really much that can (or should?) be done about it.
Is not making fun of a minority group
against the law now?
but they could argue
that they're not actually making fun but trying to kind of de-stigmatise this specific minority group through bringing them more out into the eyes of the public etc etc
I hate loopholes
hate loopholes love bumholes
what constitutes the best downs?
Full marks for offensiveness.
I'm hardened to offensiveness to groups of people really,
so I can't say I'm 'disgusted', because I'm not.
I just think the people who are doing it are definitely not the sort of people who have the same mentality as me, or would be able to amuse me.
same
i don't really understand what will have made them sit down and come up with this idea of putting these photos on the net and go like "hey guys, this is an amazing idea, we should totally go for it"
^ Give the boy a hammer
because he has hit the nail on head
the site doesnt sound at all funny
and everyone involved are probably wankers, but freedom of speech takes precedence. quite how anyone found out about this by accident i dont know.
no, i had a look and it's not funny at all
not that i expected it to be, so i just fail to see the point of it at all.
yeah
it's not funny, and it's not shocking either. It's just pathetic :(
Doesn't sound bookmarkable
Not funny.
No. Not in the slightest.
what a pointless website
I presume the
people don't have any idea their pics are up on the site?
It's such try hard oooh I'm so controversial bollocks and I'd happily throw a glass of ebola at the people involved.
^ it's like something that Nathan Barley would do
what makes it really sad
is the slogans at the top are quite cleary meant to casue offense. Just fuckin bottom of the barrel "jokes". Not only that there's lot of pictures of kids on there. Quite unbelievable that someone/people would stretch so far in terms of immaturity. Fuckers.
pretty pointless
but i'm sure there are far more tasteless things on t'internet to get worked up over.
i agree to a certain extent
but that's like saying cancer is no big deal because aids is worse
tbh
if you look at the site, about half the pictures look like jokes anyway.
i might upload one of you.
hahah
"Do you want this site taken down? Want to silence my right to free speech? Well now you can!!
All for a low price of $200 USD
If I receive $200 USD in donations, I will take this site down and it will stay down forever. The domain will remain in my control so that no one else can put it back up.
Donated so far: $0.00"
I didn't laugh at this
"Chromosome Overload"
That website is pretty fucking sick!
But my younger brother has down syndrome and I'm ashamed to say i still chuckled at this one; http://www.ratemydowns.com/?t=dl&id=76
Goes back to the "Is there anything you can't make a joke about" debate. I've been in the company of people who have made jokes about disabled people. When they've realise what they've said in front of me they get very apologetic, but I don't let it bother me as i know they're not doing my younger bro any harm.
I think that website takes it to another level though. Still doesn't bother me but the fact that someones put the time and effort into putting all that together is just sad.
oh wow
you just referenced another one of my threads, the circle is complete or something, this feeling of contentment is amazing
I was more thinking of the debate
outside of this website but whatever whatever.
NO YOU WERENT
can we revive that thread?
I think that whole debate is quite interesting.
Yeah
My sister also has Downs Syndrome. I find none of these funny and the site should be taken down, but I guess it won;t be.
We don't live in the Chinease Republic
so, inevitably, it will be left to rot in cyberpsace.
just because you *can* make a joke about something
doesn't mean that you should make a joke about it
but that works the other way as well
as in: just because someone will be offended if you joke about something, does that mean you shouldn't make the joke?
No...if the joke is actually funny.
fair point
but of course a lot of people will actually make the joke JUST TO OFFEND. which seems to be the case here more than anything else. for every person that calls them immature and evil and that the site is appalling and disgusting, they just get another laugh.
good point, as well.
I think there's a difference
between laughing at Down's syndrome in general (which is clearly HILARIOUS) and laughing at specific people *with* the condition.
I had a dream last night that I had Down's
Coincidence-o-rama.
wow
what was it like? did anyone notice the difference?
No, because
Dr Mark Craig from St. Elsewhere fixed me (y). It made me pretty shit at football though.
fascinating
You fucking asked
xxxxxxxx
<3
aside from anything else,
it's inviting karma to take a swipe at those laughing at the site
</glenn hoddle>
i had a brother with downs
i find it pretty grim.
({)
It's fucking appalling.
I imagine it's been built by some 13 year old kid who is trying to get some LOLs out of his mates. I sincerely hope it's backlashed on him. If it doesn't, karma will.
This reminds me, I really do need to get rid of "John's not Mad". It's an embarrassment having it on my dvd shelf. I think I'll bin it tonight.
what's "John's not mad"?
A documentary from the 1980s...
...about a boy with Tourette's.
...
Filmed as a QED documentary by the BBC in 1989, John’s Not Mad follows John Davidson, a 15-year-old schoolboy from Galashiels who suffers from the most severe form of Tourette’s Syndrome, a complex neurological disorder. This fascinating and inspiring film explores the way in which John, his family and the local community deal with his extreme condition.
This DVD also contains footage from the 2002 BBC follow-up documentary, The Boy Can’t Help It, featuring John, now aged 31, as he talks about how much impact the original documentary had on his life. John’s charity, Tourette’s Scotland, will be receiving a donation for every copy sold to continue helping and advising families of Tourette’s sufferers.
Someone I was dating a few years ago bought it for me because he thought I'd find it hilarious to laugh at this poor bugger.
The year I was born.
Uh huh.
I guess it was pretty topical then because it was quite unknown of.
Couldn't it be seen...
...as an educational broadcast, than?
The BBC was quite respectable back in the 80s. I don't think they would have stooped to the lows of the Channel 5 programming of the 21st century.
Oh, for sure it was for that purpose.
But that wasn't the reason my date bought it for me. He genuinely thought I'd laugh at the guy.
Says Wiki "The documentary achieved a cult status soon after it was first aired and, contrary to the "possible good intentions of the film crew, it has been seen as some sort of comedy classic".
It actually just made me cry. I think he died, can't quite remember, only watched it once.
No, he didn't die.
There was a follow up documentary in 2000, and he was on a program last year.
he didn't die
there was a recent 'John is still not mad' follow-up and he works at a Youth Centre helping kids now. Has a very good sense of humour eg: I'm fookin' shite at hide and seek, and was quite uplifting.
:)
That's good to hear.
I don't know why it made me cry then. I don't think I really want to watch it again.
Sharon Stone told me
that whoever runs this site will one day have their very own kid with Down's Syndrome to look after.
Here's hoping she's right, and that they'll be good enough sports to post some photos so that we can all have a good laugh as well.
Hmm.
I'd prefer it if they just lost a limb or two, or developed really bad diabetes or asthma.
It was very uplifting.
There was a bit where he was telling the story of how his mum could no longer take him Christmas shopping for his little brother because as soon as his mum placed the presents under the tree, he would shout; "F-f-f-ucking remote control car!!! T-t-t-teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!"
He could see the funny side of it and let's be honest, you'd have to have a good sense of humour to deal with a condition like that or you'd end up killing yourself. A very brave and inspirational bloke.
spot on
The remote control car bit was brilliant.
I'm not sure whether a Facebook petition has.....
ever had any kind of impact on anything.
But, that website sounds like the very worst kind of Nathan Barleyesque twat magnet.
Whilst I wouldn't support the banning of anything on the sole grounds that it is in poor taste, it's safe to assume that everyone who frequents that website is an oxygen thief of epic proportions.
To get it down:
http://www.ratemydowns.com/?p=sitedown
this just isn't good.
Disabled people are discriminated against as much as other minority groups are. Would you condone the site if it were about an ethnic minority group? No, you wouldn't.
And that's my point.
i dont think anyone here is condonging it
but does that mean it should be shut down?