Take it from Glee's Sue Sylvester: "Retard" Is Not Acceptable

We let Iz and Mali stay up late to watch the Glee season finale last night. They thought it was a special treat, but thanks to our agent Ellen at Love That Max, I had a secret agenda. I wanted my girls to see the in-your-face End the R-Word PSA that aired during the episode's second half. If you haven't seen the PSA, go on, watch it. I'll wait.



When it was over, Iz (12) jumped up and shouted "Oh thank GOD!" She is weary of being the kid at school who protests and gets smacked down when her classmates toss "retard" and "gay" at each other. Those kids may argue with her, but who's going to argue with Sue Sylvester? No one, I tell you. Iz was elated.

Mali (6) considered the PSA a lesson like any other, because this was her first exposure to the PSA's racial slurs, and epithets. I appreciate her being told as straightforwardly as possible by those  maligned that the words she heard were not acceptable. I wish a PSA like this had been around when we all were six!

(Leo was already asleep. Soundly. While the world -- hopefully -- changed a little bit for the better, and accepted him a little more.)

The PSA's summary: Not Acceptable "is a powerful and compelling 30 second television PSA which gives voice to a variety of diverse communities each of whom expresses that it is not acceptable to call them by what were once common words, but are now recognized as offensive slurs. It culminates in actress and self-advocate Lauren Potter from "Glee" stating that it is not acceptable to use the word 'retard' and she and "Glee" co-star Jane Lynch make a call to action to stop using the word and to promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to make their pledge online at http://r-word.org."

Our Five-Year-Old Gleek

There's no doubt that Mali, like me, is a third child. I watched the entirely inappropriate Fantasy Island and Stir Crazy (we had one of the first VCRs in town, with bootleg videos to match), she watches Glee and Lord of the Rings. But whereas I longed to be best friends with Loni Anderson and learned to swear like Richard Pryor, she (and her big sister) are learning to love music from multiple genres, and learning geek lore and cred that will benefit them forever.

Here is one of Mali's latest bursts of enthusiasm:



It reads, "My favorite Glee songs: Bust the Windows, Hate on Me, Defying Gravity" and then has drawings of Mercedes ("Mrsadis"), Kurt ("Kirt") and Rachel ("Ra," she ran out of room).

The most fun part of having two Gleek girls is introducing them to the songs under the Glee covers. After watching Rachel nail "Don't Rain on My Parade," Iz spent hours on YouTube, watching Barbra Streisand videos (she is also starting to imitate Celine Dion's spangled dress sense, but we're working on that). Mali tends to like Mercedes's songs, so I showed her Jill Scott's original take on "Hate On Me"



She watched the video, then turned to me with saucer eyes and gasped, "She's AMAZING!!" And now, when she draws flowers, she likes to give them "Jill Scott hair."

I'm so pleased that she likes music beyond the kiddie tunes. It makes our car time especially so much more pleasant.

As for LOTR, I caught her reading the Two Towers last night (the movie photo guide) after lights were supposed to be out. She didn't fuss when I took the book from her, but did insist that I give her back her "Precioussss," as she is calling her stuffed cheetah.

Oh yes, raising them right.

Busting Someone's Windows Is Not a Logical Act

Glee was this morning's school carpool soundtrack, as per usual. Leo beamed all the way through his favorite song, Can't Fight This Feeling, which I tolerate since he loves it so much even though the original REO Speedwagon version wins my personal video award for Milquetoast 80s Guys With Long Bad Hair. Afterwards the violin intro to Bust Your Windows came on, and Iz started trying to analyze.

"Mommy, wouldn't she get in trouble for busting out his car windows? I mean, that's against the law, right?"

"Yes, but it's on private property, so she wouldn't be in trouble unless he called the police, and he'd probably be too embarrased."

"But she left her INITIALS in his WINDSHIELD with a CROWBAR!" He'd have proof that she did it!"

"Iz, you are trying to apply logic to a fictional justification of an irrational act. It's not going to work. You're going to have to let this one go."

"OH."

Facepalm: Deaf Choir on Glee

from www.motivatedphotos.com

I was so pleased with Glee's portrayals of people with special needs in the episode Wheels ... and then last night's episode thread about a competing Glee club from a Deaf school dripped patronizing treacle. Blech.

Meloukhia already wrote what I would write so I'll just quote (big lift, but it's a long post citing multiple fails, and this is from the end):

"Glee is finally allowing us to see the Deaf choir performing, I may have to give them some points for trying even though they are doing it very badly.

"And then, to my shock and horror, someone from the glee club started interrupting the Deaf choir to sing. Ok, now, I have not sung in a choir, but I consulted a real live person who has performed in choirs, and I was informed that, no, it is not actually conventional or acceptable to interrupt a choir while they are performing.

"Why was it ok here? How was it inspiring to watch the Deaf choir’s performance being interrupted and co-opted by the glee club? Because the Deaf choir were doing it wrong? Because “the poor impaired folk need normal people to fill in their defects,” as Lauredhel said when we were chatting about this episode?

"I wasn’t inspired or moved by watching the two choirs perform together. I was PISSED. Because it was framed as perfectly acceptable for the glee club to just jump in on another performance. And for this to turn into a Special Learning Experience, look at how they can all sing together and be happy! Yes, folks, totally erasing people with disabilities and not allowing them to perform is Inspiring! [emphasis mine -SR]

"The Deaf choir has been a running joke in this series. (Because everyone knows that Deaf folks can’t sing, or dance!) And now, in the scene where we finally had a chance to see them performing, they were treated with complete disrespect and condescension. They were framed as a failure, until the nice glee club came in and rescued them. But, you know, nice try, Deaf choir!

"Incidentally, check out Gallaudet Dance if you want to see actual Deaf people actually performing and being amazing in the process."

Note: I copied this post - sans Double Facepalm magic - from a comment I made on my original BlogHer Glee post.