to be offended by this tv presenter?

[TwinkleTwinkleNeverwhere]

loose women presenter just described guest as 'a little bit schizophrenic' as he has vastly different personas or facets to his personality. This has really pissed me off as I think it trivialises mental illness and is spreading the wrong information about what illnesses actually are.

This programme was on as waiting for the news...I usually avoid it as think they talk a load of rubbish generally.

AIBU to be pissed off and offended?

5Foot5
"falulahthecat I can be upset, angry, feel something "is a bit off" without being "offended".

That's funny - as the very definition of 'to offend' is 'to make someone upset or angry, or cause resentment' - obviously you have your own, very specific, definition.

"Your examples regarding gay russions and endangered species are not relevant to the situation and do not follow any kind of logic to what I said at all!!"

How so? It's the same principle. I find this: "What one word term would you use as an alternative to describe the image they were trying to convey?" more irrelevant to the situation.

I get personally offended because someone being racist, homophobic, or derogatory to ANYBODY for ANY reason goes against my personal principles and makes me sad about the ignorance that is still perpetuated in this world about many subjects
You directly implied the OP should only be offended if she knows someone with Schizophrenia.

I have a feeling any further discussion with you on this matter will just give me 'angry belly' (or is that offended belly? ), so forgive me if I don't post again on this thread!

There are people about though that do appear to make a sport out of it, almost as if they purposefully seek out offense to demonstrate just how morally superior and evolved they are compared to the rest of us plebs.

I'm not saying that applies to anyone here btw, before you start sticking the collective Mumsnet boot in

YANBU Loose Women talk shite all the time, they really give women a bad name. It wasn't that awful Kay Adams by any chance, I fecking can't stand that woman!!!!!!!!!! She tries so hard to sound controversial she does my head in big time.

You may have a point Sofa. There may be a few people like that, but I don't think it is relevant here.

I believe that when someone on television says something so ignorant we should feel angry and we should complain. Isn't that how society improves?

Is it really not possible to challenge such views without being accused of being pompous or trying to demonstrate our moral superiority.

Does the same logic apply to challenging racism, sexism, homophobia?

For the record, i entirely accept i was being unreasonable to have that programme on the telly at all!

vestandknickers, of course those things should be challenged but surely it's a case of picking your battles? I mean there's so much crap in the world sometimes you just have to let things roll over your head, for your own sanity if nothing else.

Me, I'll save my offense for a cause more worthy than a throw-a-way remark from a woman on a daytime TV show. Context is everything and I'm pretty sure Kaye Adams would be mortified if she thought she'd genuinely offended anyone.

Disablism and Mental Health slurs should be challenged just as much as racism and homophobia. Unfortunately they aren't because they are targeted at an often already vulnerable section of society.

Fair enough Sofa!

Mental health - and ignorance around it - push my buttons though so I am probably more likely to campaign for improvement than I would be on other subjects.

YABU. I could understand your offence if the word was used in a derogatory manner but from your description it wasn't. It was used in a colloquial descriptive way, albeit technically incorrect, to describe a character with opposing elements. Most people would understand the analogy.

Or are all medical analogies now deemed inappropriate just in case you offend someone..."that's so lame", "a cancer in our society", "avoid him like the plague"??

JohnCusacksWife
Most people would understand the analogy.
Erm, rather ironically, that's kind of the problem! What angered the OP was the fact that they were flippantly perpetuating a falsehood about a serious mental health problem.

I hear you vest...think it's only natural to respond more strongly to those things closest to us.

Give the rest of us a chance to catch up though, ok?

Loose women is a a terrible show. The times I've watched it I have been appalled by the stereotypical generalisations and complete lack of intelligent discussion. YANBU.

JohnCusackswife - those examples don't work in the same way. Using schizophrenic in this way, is the same way that people use 'autistic' as shorthand for someone lacking emotion, or when someone likes things to be clean, saying, 'oh I'm a bit OCD' - it is ill informed, and perpetuates a myth about a condition which affects people's lives.

yanbu.... yesterday one of them was saying that women who are also mothers should not be allowed to serve abroad in the armed forces

Falulah, but other medical words are used in a colloquial way where the meaning is not exactly the same as the medical textbook definition. The phrase wasn't used in a derogatory fashion was it? Wrong, maybe. Derogatory, no. So I don't get where the offence comes from?

'Bit Schizophrenic in the least horrible way' seems derogatory to me.

Well guess we can agree to differ. Doesn't seem derogatory to me at all but fair enough.

I would have listened to that and not been offended, just would have thought she was a bit stupid but actually I'm a bit ashamed by that
If it had been something racist/homophobic/sexist I would have been shocked and it would have come naturally without having to think about it - and that's half the problem isn't it? Mental illness terms seem to still be fair game in our society and it's not great is it

JohnCusacksWife
Yes, I was going to mention your 'examples' but couldn't be bothered. Now I will :)
'Lame' - etymologically means feeble - I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone except an equine vet use the term 'Lame' to describe a disability.
'Like a Cancer' < Here Cancer is 'the baddy', everyone knows what cancer is, it is not used in terms of "Oh you're a bit cancery" etc.
The same with the Plague - the bubonic plague is a disease spread by close contact, the Plague is the 'bad guy' here, and yes, you would want to avoid the plague. Also, etymologically, a 'plague' describes any number of 'scourges' or 'evils'.

Schizophrenia is a specific mental illness.
I think hazeyjane has already pointed out why these examples don't work in the same way.

JohnCusacksWife
"Well guess we can agree to differ. Doesn't seem derogatory to me at all but fair enough."

Oh dear, the irony is too much for me to take.

Combine makes a fair and valid point I think.

SofaCanary agreed!

The phrase wasn't used in a derogatory fashion was it? Wrong, maybe. Derogatory, no. So I don't get where the offence comes from?

The very fact that people think it's ok to throw about random, wrong, comments is what makes it derogatory, because it shows a derogatory attitude and general disregard for the reality of that mental illness, and towards those who suffer with it.

It's derogatory because split personality is not schizophrenia. That also makes it ignorant.

It's the whole attitude of 'oh it doesn't matter because it's just a mental illness' that stinks.

Well then it should be filed along side casual comments about red heads, skinny minnies and fat folks. Seems these groups are also immune to sensitivity.