Stephen Fry should resign from being President of MIND (warning about sexual abuse)

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

According to Stephen Fry from an interviews he gave in the US

There are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even considered a rape,” he said. “If you say: ‘you can’t watch this play, you can’t watch Titus Andronicus, or you can’t read it in a Shakespeare class, or you can’t read Macbeth because it’s got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place’, well I’m sorry. It’s a great shame and we’re all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place, you get some of my sympathy, but your self-pity gets none of my sympathy because self-pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity.

“Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.”

How can he keep his position with such an attitude. Everyone who works in MH knows of the horrendous impact that sexual abuse can have on someone's life for some it's a life long struggle.

Maybe it's his own feelings that he is fighting against, this is not the first time he has been shown to lack empathy but to have such opinions

I hope he steps down

[OurBlanche]

Do his opinions have any credibility anymore? As much/little as anyone elses, yes

He's just someone who loves the sound of his own dreary, monotonous voice. He isn't alone in that

He's the type of person who when he walks into a room, you can nearly hear the eyeballs rolling. so, how many rooms have you been in when he has walked in?

I can't imagine worse fates than listening to him pontificate about some shite or other than either hasn't happened or is desperately uninteresting...like him. So you don't like him, his public persona.As pp have said, that just means that you won't like anything he says/does. Your bias is showing.

I don't know him, don't have a dislike for his public persona and am often caught by things he says. Sometimes I just think "twat" and other times I ponder a bit more and, as in this case, think "he has a point, but I bet that pissed off a fair few"

Is there really any need to give him any more/less credence than that?

[ghostyslovesheep]

yes a 'trigger warning' is not the same as banning something is it

he's an asshat

[Mrscaindingle]

What Waltermitty said.

I used to like Stephen Fry but his flouncing whenever he is criticised makes me think he's a twat. I think he is sounding old and out of touch tbh.

[Enb76]

The 'no platform' thing goes on here too, Germaine Greer for example. I find myself thinking that our liberal society is deciding to become far less liberal. It worries me a bit. The idea that one should police oneself in case of unintended offence, or ban a book, or no platform someone that doesn't hold a particular opinion is a step towards a society that no longer tolerates free speech. I think we should guard against it. We need to debate things to come to a liberal consensus, shutting down particular opinions can't be done unless those opinions are aired in the first place.

[Waltermittythesequel]

I'm sure he'll be ever so appreciative of your championing of him, Blanche.

I don't hate his drivel because I dislike him, I dislike him because of his drivel.

So, you can continue to side with a z list, pompous twat and I'll side with the victims of horrific abuse whom he has spoken of so appallingly.

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

Being President of MIND one would expect him to have a understanding of how sexual abuse can impact people's lives

I don't really care he has this opinion I disagree but I do not think after airing his opinion he should continue to have this position. A charity that is very highly regarded in helping raise awareness and to support people with MH issues many who will have been victims themselves for some the abuse they suffered being the cause of their mental health

[Mishaps]

I do understand what he is saying, but I think the words he used are somewhat unfortunate.

[ghostyslovesheep]

but again Enb76 that's not down to self pitying abuse victims - which is the groups he was blaming

it's clutching at straws a bit to defend his comments because other faction might be militant in their complaining - he was directing it at people who have been raped and abuse not easily offended liberals

[AugustaFinkNottle]

ghostys, he's not talking about bans. He's talking, as I read it, about the sort of stupidity that says to particular categories of people "You shouldn't read Titus Andronicus because you might get upset about it"; he's not suggesting that anyone has imposed an outright ban.

[OurBlanche]

But I am not championing him Walter I am just disgreeing with some opinions.

I am not taking sides, mainly as I did not know there were any to be taken.

I am just expressing my opinion, as are you.

There really isn't any need to make it personal!

[Waltermittythesequel]

Who says that?

[TitaniumSpider]

He is a self important pompous arse and his comments are dreadful.

This. Couldn't have put it better myself.

[BillSykesDog]

I think there is a point to be made about censorship of difficult issues in art. But the way he has made his point is just absolutely atrocious, completely offensive.

Don't forget this is a man who through a huge hissy fit to the point of going missing and having people fearing for his life because he ran away into hiding in Europe. Because some people wrote poor reviews of a play he was appearing in.

Now for someone who's done that to accuse other people of being self pitying is just....the height of hypocrisy.

The only thing I can say in his defence is that since he's got married his mental health seems to have noticeably and publicly deteriorated and I suspect that possibly all is very far from right with him at the moment.

[SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace]

God, I've really gone off him now! He should bloody know about self pity! Maybe if the victims of child abuse were all given bbc documentaries to explore their feelings, they'd be less full of it, but hang on, that's just for Fry, isn't it?

[Goingtobeawesome]

Child abuse victims are an easy target and Stephen Fry is clearly very unwell or an utter bastard to say this.

[Goingtobeawesome]

Abuse victims are not "full of it."

[SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace]

No, awesome, I know they're not, and that was sort of my point!

[Enb76]

I don't read it that way, ghosty. I don't particularly like Fry, but he's using a particular subject to highlight a wider point. You may not like the way he's expressed himself but it doesn't detract from the issue. I've noticed a lot recently that people tend to focus on the micro points of an opinion rather than the macro, which in itself shuts down debate.

[OurBlanche]

Don't forget this is a man who through a huge hissy fit to the point of going missing and having people fearing for his life because he ran away into hiding in Europe. Because some people wrote poor reviews of a play he was appearing in.

Don't forget, as is clearly documented he was off his meds and not at all well at the time.

But suspect that means I am championing him, not just pointing out an unfair comment

[Goingtobeawesome]

Apologies Seek.. No excuse but I'm feeling very battered at the moment and I didn't think about what you might mean.

[BursarsFrogs]

For some self pitying is part of their process of healing, they can feel sorry for the child they were and it can allow you to really be in touch with the most difficult feelings how you felt at the time and it can help to understand how someones actions have shaped you and your life

Yes, this. I usually like Stephen Fry, and I agree the sentiment against cencorship (everything's a trigger to someone anyway - I get triggered by water and cold temperature!) but the "uncle touched you in a nasty place" comment is really trivialising.

[Enb76]

Oh, and this thread is kind of making his point. You're all offended, by what exactly and for whom? Only the uncle part? Or the children getting killed or the self-pity comment? There's more in the quotation than the sexual abuse aspect and even that is generalised. People here want him to step down from MIND because of this.

[raininginspringtime]

So pity yourself.

Do whatever you want or need to do. No issues with that at all.

But insisting everything is about you and has to mind your feelings because of historical abuse?

No.