To expect a better response to this?

[Albadross]

A recent tweet I read was from a mental health blogger to Joy Store, who have a few shops in London. she'd taken a photo of a card they sell that read 'don't get mad, take Valium'.

She'd asked them if they thought this was an appropriate thing to sell, and they'd responded the following:

'Then if you know anyone with bipolar, don't buy it for them PROBLEM SOLVED.'

Her response - 'what if a customer with bipolar sees it?'

Joy - 'what, they'll like it one minute and not the next?'

Right, so they rely on people going in to their shops to purchase things - that's their whole business model, yet they want 1 in 4 people with mental health problems to see this and then see their response when a customer tells them it's out of order?

I'm still shocked to see this kind of backwards rhetoric, especially given that several other retailers have suffered as a result of faux pas about mental health. I sincerely hope none of their staff actually do have bipolar because they must feel embarrassed to disclose.

Way to keep stigma alive!

It just reminds me of all the horrible ignorant people who refer dismissively to people with mental health problems as "bloody nutters". Years ago I was at a reunion when an ex-colleague said, completely out-of-the-blue and referring to a nearby psychiatric hospital:-"They ought to put them all down. They're no use to anyone are they?" This said with a broad grin, obviously expecting me to agree and laugh about his witty comment! I was rendered speechless.

Their response is pretty pathetic. And no, none of it is amusing, it just isn't.

I know this is completely different but the customer service person was on a par in terms of caring about their customers - my grandad wanted to take glucosamine for his arthritis, having heard it would help, but was worried because it was made from shellfish and he's allergic. So I phoned their customer services and the idiot on the line said that they didn't know if he'd have a reaction, perhaps he should just try it and see.
WTF? Put an old man at risk of an anaphylactic response just because they don't know whether or not it might be dangerous? I don't fucking think so!
Needless to say he didn't bother.

im hoping that soon, any jokes that may offend anyone ever will be banned.

Being offended or upset by stuff is just too dangerous to risk

What poolo said. The responseis far more shitty than the original merchandise.

Blimey, I've just read it on Twitter and YANBU at all OP about the shitty responses.

I like to laugh, and no, I wasn't personally 'offended' by the card itself. The point is that their responses are a representation of the stigma that still exists - and it exists BECAUSE of cards and attitudes like that. Until we're at a point where mental health is something we all talk about without fear of judgement, it isn't a joke.

People are quick to throw around comments that they think are 'just a bit of fun', at the expense of everyone who has been refused a job, or been given less work, or felt that nobody trusted them because they admitted to having a mental health condition. Why would we have campaigns like. Time to Change if mental health wasn't still stigmatised?

You'd never print a card that said 'don't be an N word, be white' so why on earth print a card that says 'don't get mad, take lithium'?

It's not rocket science.

I also got abusive tweets from people claiming that 'words mean nothing' and laughing at me for 'being offended just by words'.

Considering words can get you a prison sentence, those people will be the next daily fail story of 'innocent tweets gone wrong'.

Some wannabe comedian also took the time to find (or draw?) a cartoon to prove that those expressing offence were 'a pack of rabid babies'.

I find it hard to fathom how some people actually get thorough life, given that they have so little clue about how to behave.

Also thought it was funny.

Suzanne Sommers recommends 5mg of lithium a day for menopausal women - a tiny amount but is apparently seriously helpful

Joy - 'what, they'll like it one minute and not the next?'

They are thick cunts.

Laurie She's a fool. Even in small amounts, I wouldn't take lithium unless it was very strongly indicated.

MyFairy how much data is there about long term effects of lithium?

The stupid response to bipolar is thoroughly reprehensible. The original gripe, on the other hand, I tend to think you're overreacting. I'm an MH survivor, in the literal sense a few times over, but casual references to madness, suicide etc, are literally everywhere - including inevitably in my own vocabulary. I know they're not literal and I choose to accept the wider nature of our liberal linguistic expression over choosing to take offence at every casual mention of MH.

I was referring to the response - read the title.

Uncle - a printed card isn't a casual throwaway comment. Someone thought that up and then had it printed to sell it to consumers.

It's a fact that mental health is still seen as fair game, when other disabilities no longer are. Mental health doesn't have a category in parasport and where I work, we have huge rates of absenteeism because people don't want to admit that they're unwell.

You'd never say 'don't get legless, be a wheelchair user' on a card because it's just bad taste, as well as being offensive. And you most certainly wouldn't tell customers not to buy it if they found it to be in poor taste. In short, forget the card, it's the responses that in endemic.

Actually I think it still obviously isn't supposed to be taken too seriously, so I do class it as pretty casual whether or not it's printed on a card. It does somehow feel different from other disabilities, perhaps the fact that it's one in four to some extent who suffer with MH problems that means it's probably unhealthy to start taking references like this too seriously. Of course I believe in advancing understanding of MH issues and actually sacrifice time and effort doing so, but I also strongly believe that I am capable of realising when a joke is a joke and dismissing this kind of nonsense for what it is - not really worth my energy giving it a second thought. It doesn't remotely offend me personally.

I'm bipolar and I find the card funny. The response from the company selling them...not so much.

But isn't the point of the whole shebang that it shouldn't be ok to poke fun at people with mental health problems? Any more than it's ok to poke fun at people with disabilities?!
So whether people are personally offended by that particular "joke" or not really isn't the point - it's just part of a bigger picture where mental illness is still seen as "fair game" for taking the piss.

That response is outrageous. If this card were a racist slogan a la Jeremy Clarkson type, and they responded 'oh well, if you know a black person don't buy it for them, problem solved', people would be horrified. It isn't ok to say offensive things about certain groups of people as long as they don't hear them, never mind the fact that they will, and you're increasing the misconceptions others already have. So whether the original card is deeply offensive or not, they have dug themselves into that hole by showing they don't care if it is.

What is also offensive is the complete lack of originality and humour in the card. I would be so embarrassed to be the person who produced that crap. I agree it probably means angry rather than mentally ill, but since when was valium the go-to solution for everyday irritation?

I think talking about whether the original card is offensive has been superseded by their response which shows that they don't understand the concept of prejudice, whether it be with regard to the mentally ill or any other category. Cards with jokes about men hitting their wives? Fine, just don't buy them for any abused women you know - problem solved.

The person who wrote those responses is unemployable, in any role.

The card is crap, the response appalling.

temporary - you need to read more of the OP's posts - she meant to type lithium, not valium, it was a mistake she made. The card definitely says lithium, and therefore it is definitely a poke at people with bipolar disorder.

Oh my gosh, Thumbwitch! Sorry I missed that. That really is terrible then, it didn't even just mean angry. I'm livid about this!!

I consider myself to have a very dark/filthy sense of humour.

The card is not funny at all, and their response was even worse.

This is turning into MH one upmanship so I may as well join in!

I spent 4 months in a psychiatric hospital and made some lifelong friends in that time, bipolar sufferers included. Many of the people I was incarcerated with would have found it amusing, for some others it would have been the one trigger to send them over the edge.

Basically we are all different. You know, like "regular" people.

Nope, sorry. There's a deliberate effort to ignore the fact that reference to 'madness' etc are actually a very deeply-engrained part of our language and culture, particularly as MH is not something you can always see, touches pretty much everyone in some respect, and comes with a million shades of grey. Other disabilities and protected characteristics can generally not claim that in the same way. I know when someone's being nasty or not, and I know when it's a lame joke.

TheWild I'm sorry that you think people drawing on their personal experiences amounts to 'one-upmanship'.

Quite. It might be the case that 1/4 has mental health problems...

... but 1/2 have a vagina and it's not acceptable to be sexist either.