To think that White Dee from Benefit St isn't doing people with depression any favours

[Bearbehind]

I've just seen White Dee from Benefits St being interviewed on Sky a News about the budget.

She said she can't work due to her having depression- yet she can appear on TV and is not ruling out standing as a politician

Rightly or wrongly STGD I'm going on the fact she says she is unable to work due to depression but is considering a career in politics.

If she had said 'I am considering going into politics if I reach a place where working is an option' then I wouldn't have started this thread.

Can you not see how it is possible to say "In the future, (when I am not depressed) I would like to be an X - but at the moment I am not fit enough to work at all"? And can you see that that statement doesn't say or imply "...and I wouldn't consider any other employment"?

Maybe she thought that the "...if I reach a place where working is an option" part didn't need saying as it was obvious?

And can you not see that 'in the future' is not an option for her political career as her 5 minutes of fame is now, which therefore means she feels capable of undertaking a full time job imminently, not 'in the future'

You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to disagree with it. Funnily enough. I find people who have the thought processes of 'she can't have it she can come across rather coherant' brigade patronising and condescending too but here we are.

All that tells me is she isn't being realistic - not that she's capable of being an MP, or working at any other job right now.

My son has an app of a talking dog in an armchair and when he records me, the dog says it back and I sound JUST like white Dee

I find people who have the thought processes of 'she can't have it she can come across rather coherant' brigade patronising and condescending too but here we are.

Rather ironic that that sentence makes no sense whatsoever

SDT exactly. Which is why I called BS.

Then read it again OP.

Ignore that, I've just worked out that by 'it' you mean depression.

I've never claimed to be able to say if she has depression or not, only that if she can consider a political career, surely she can consider other careers- a fact you seem completely oblivious to.

Misspixitrix many thanks for your kind flowers. Now, if only we all weren't a tiny bit more compassionate to one another wouldn't a kinder world be less willing to shred to pieces a woman who may or may not be depressed, but is under the illusion she is now a celebrity. I reckon in her mind, celebrity life is not working as such. you turn up, spout a bit then fuck off home with the check. (Bit like Katie Hopkins, who has epilepsy and her joints come out, so she manages to fit her working life round her condition).
The woman is vulnerable in my eyes. ut that's just me. others will disagree.

Please tell me what exactly is BS misspixie the woman has said she is considering standing a a politician and she has said she has depression.

Who the fuck are you to decide which is BS and which isn't?

She said she can't work due to her depression - yet has appeared on TV and is not ruling out standing as a politician. All there in your OP but yes silly me. You never said / implied it.

But we should all remember that depression comes with an enormous taboo attached to it. One mention of it and the whole tone of a conversation changes. The depresseee is viewed in a different light, not quite right are they. Also, famously unreliable, fantasists, liars, not entirely tuned into reality.

Since my admission, many people have fallen off the radar. I am not going to keep schtum on being put on a locked ward. Watch some folk suddenly find it hard to speak to me (FIL, but he is a cunt) my own family too. I am changed utterly by being admitted.

Who the fuck are you to decide what is BS? Err? It's a public forum. Anyone can comment. Anyone can disagree with you. I'm not deciding anything. Saying someone is going to do something and a medical professional diagnosing a medical condition are two very seperate things and if you can't grasp that there's really no point carrying on this coversation is there?

Your point is?

She said she can't work due to depression yet now can consider a career in politics.

I simply questioned how the 2 were compatible. I never said I could diagnose if she had depression or not.

Bearbehind - where has Dee said that she is not willing to consider any other career than MP, either now or in the future? Or are you just making unfounded assumptions?

I'm not deciding anything

You absolutely are.

You have decided her political aspirations are bullshit and her depression is confirmed.

I'm questioning the compatibility of the two.

SDTG if she was considering another job, why won't she mention it/ have done it? Why only talk about a political career?

Saying someone is going to do something and a medical professional diagnosing a medical condition are two very seperate things

Ahh, sorry, I didn't realise that overworked medical professional's diagnoses override the words a person actually speaks for themselves.

Silly me.

Because it wasn't relevant to the interview? Because she wasn't asked? But the fact that she didn't mention any other possible jobs in that interview is NOT conclusive proof that she isn't considering any other possible jobs.

This is going round in circles and I'm going to bow out now.

If those with depression are happy to be represented in the media by someone who claims to be unable to work due to her condition, but is considering, what has to be an imminent career in politics without stating she is looking at other options, then far be it from me to comment on how that must affect people's perceptions of the condition.

It is only your assumption that her political career would have to be imminent, Bearbehind.

Evening all,
thanks to the people who have reported this thread. Could we ask that everyone remembers the Talk Guideline please?
If we go through the thread and delete 'deliberately inflammatory behaviour' and 'personal attacks' etc, we're not sure we'll have much left, and yet so many people have posted so beautifully and compassionately it would be a real shame to see the thread pulled.