This is one of those rare situations where a middle aged white dude is more vulnerable than two black guys.
I think this is throwing a lot of people.
It's deeply unusual. It's something that I actually think is uncomfortable and is difficult to acknowledge in itself - perhaps because some people don't want to because if they do it once they fear they they've somehow betrayed their own cause, allyship or given away ground in what they believe and value. Except they haven't really.
It's goes against the current trend of acknowledging certain oppressions. Well in this case you don't get to acknowledge oppression by shaming someone who is powerless and unable to control what he's doing. That's punching down on someone in an active and visible state of crisis who is possibly showing signs of distress whilst doing it. That's not cool no matter how you feel and how valid your cause is in other circumstances. That is being part of the problem and being an oppressor in its own way. That's hard to process and reconcile. I do get that.
It doesn't do your own cause much good to act in this way.
This is why balancing rights in UK law is difficult for people to get their heads around but does make sense. No one is ultimately at the top of the tree. There are different scenarios in which one group is the most vulnerable but in another they are the problem. It's about identifying the greatest and most immediate harms and acting to limit further harms as much as possible. You can only do your best to manage a difficult situation at times. Sometimes not everyone will be happy no matter how fair you are and will backlash against it.
Tourettes sucks. Really sucks. It makes people say offensive stuff but they aren't being abusive. Your own trauma in scenarios like this is something for you to manage as best you can not to lay down on others who are already baring their own burden. They really don't need your shit and guilt trip on top of their own issues. They haven't meant any malice or hurt. If you are hurt by someone who hasn't done something deliberately you just get on with it because honestly there isn't much else you can do without actively ending up being the one who is doing active harm.
People with Tourettes can't manage and control their condition. That's really the worst bit about it.
My friend has moments where she says she is the worst person alive and that she's not worthy of love because of what she does. She feels this tremendous sense of guilt and burden. The shaming and the desire to punish her you can see and hear when you are with her. An explanation rather than apology tends to stop that. An apology isn't helpful if the next thing she says seems to contradict the apology. If you live like this all the time, apologies almost become meaningless and more about self preservation and preventing you from getting your head kicked in. You can't be sorry for your own disability without it being a form of self harm in its own way. To constantly lie prostate begging others for forgiveness isn't good for your own sense of self worth and place in the world. You feel very firmly you are at the bottom of a pile of those 'worthy of compassion'. Think about it. Think how humiliating it is.
Those asking for yet more demonstrations of remorse really really don't get what they are doing and how they are contributing to the problem that John highlights in the film in question itself.
It's jarring. It's difficult. It's not easy to deal with. Someone yelling offensive things isn't the person you naturally assume to be in a state of massive vulnerability. You perhaps aren't inclined to be nice to someone who appears to be acting in a way that's horrible and antisocial. Except it's not antisocial and abusive. That's the point. It's a loss of control and full capacity. That must be terrifying for someone to not be able to control their own body.
On a good day you can't tell. The first time I met my friend I had no idea. It was completely normal. In fact I didn't know she had Tourettes at all until I met her another time. She never told me in advance. I didn't need to be told to be fair as she was shouting obscenities all over the place and ticking wildly. That was an experience and a bit of a crazy night! She doesn't have many friends. It's hard to deal with on a bad day. Her husband is a fucking saint.