Thorpe Park 'Lunatic Asylum' Halloween Fright Night.

[mignonette]

www.themeparks-uk.com/thorpe-park-guide/events/thorpe-park-fright-nights.html

Take your children to Thorpe Park (or Alton Towers) on the 31st October and enjoy a Halloween event in which you can be chased by 'disturbed and dangerous' patients' around a lunatic asylum.

I'm under no illusions that we live in a country that displays enlightened, tolerant and compassionate attitudes towards those folks with mental health problems. Overt and covert negative messages about mental health surround us.

But there are limits. Please MNers, tell Thorpe Park (and Alton Towers) what you think. Because I do think this is appalling especially when negative stereotyping is deliberately aimed at adolescents.

Okay then harry - let's focus on the words 'patient' and 'asylum' because they're far less offensive in this context aren't they?

Honestly....Same old, same old comment "complaining for the sake of complaining"...It's wheeled out every time somebody is truly offended. And I am. Having spent the best part of 25 yrs working in mental health, then yes I have 'earned' the right to be offended and the patients in yesterdays mental health promotion group I run are also offended. Are you going to undermine their concerns too, harry?.

And as for Thorpe Park's argument....Well we're complaining now.

whilst I agree that this is definatley in bad tast I think it is unfair to target thorpe park in particular..... one only has to look at some of the games available for the various games media to see the same message. Not saying one should not object but perhaps include other games / play media in any petitions or challenges.

I address issues whenever i am made aware of them. We should do what we can.

So just because other people do it too, we shouldn't have a go at a poor old theme park?

What bollocks.

If they had created a scary night around "terrifying black people", "freaks in wheelchairs", "the scariest of gays" or any other distasteful (and yes, my wording is used to prove this) discrimination, people would be up in arms. Why is it okay to both mock and induce fear of mental health?

I did not mean to NOT have a go, of course we should inform them that the connotations are offensive.............. what I meant was that to stop this sort of message getting through to young people we would need to target also games for games consoles etc. They are played every day by probably more YP that attend a theme park.

I remember many games based on this theme and this is a more impression making format fot players than the theme park imo.

.....and actually remember in my very early days of work being involved in assisting people move out from an old assylum so indeed do not find it acceptable to portray patients in this way.

Its far too prevalent. Makes me so angry.