Hi everyone!

I hope everyone has had a good weekend and that you are ready for a brand-new week just like myself. I wasn't expecting to be writing this post today but I felt strongly about the situation that happened at the Oscars event so here are my thoughts. Now I must admit that I have never watched the Oscars as I find these award ceremonies a little boring and a little pretentious although I do enjoy seeing what everyone wears. I have however seen clips over the years. So in this year's Oscars, there was a situation between Chris Rock and Will Smith. I don't follow Chris Rock and I have never seen any of his work, I don't think, so I can't say whether this is what his comedy routine is usually like or not. I feel like comedians really need to start thinking about the jokes and how they may affect people especially those that are the butt of their jokes. For many years disabled people have been made fun off by comedians. It's time to stop it. What is fun about targeting someone because of their disability? Disabilities come in all different forms. Both visible and invisible. Each disabled person is affected differently whether that's physical, mentally and can have a huge impact on our lives. Sometimes it can be devastating.
Jada Pinkett Smith has Alopecia which is an autoimmune disorder. The amount of courage it must take for Jada or anyone who has alopecia or associated disorders etc, I can't even imagine it. I can only imagine how much confidence and support it would take for Jada just to be able to leave the house, never mind going to an event like the Oscars which is shown worldwide. I love how she has learned to embrace the situation and take control like she has, so much admiration for her! I don't have Alopecia but I do have a severe form of Kyphoscoliosis (double curvature of the spine) and I am extremely thin, and it really does take a lot of courage and determination to leave the house, wear the things I wear and remind myself that no one is looking at me, or thinking negative about the way I look but then you see something like this happens, and it is so hard to not let it upset you.
I'm just watching the clip of what happened, Will was sitting there laughing along until he saw her face where she is clearly upset by the joke and then he reacts to it. It's making me think of the people who are happy to sit and laugh at jokes on someone else's expenses and only cares if it's about yourself or someone that they love. Meaning unless it affects them directly, then they don't care about other people, their feelings and situations. This is something that I have seen a lot over the pandemic which saddens me. Now I'm not saying that Will only cares about anyone else beside himself or his loved ones but this is a great sample I think. Will Smith has every right to defend his wife but the way he went about it that's wrong. And I'd like to think that he is old enough and wise enough to be able to control himself. I know that human beings are reactive and we get caught up in the moment but that doesn't excuse violence. He has fans from all ages and it is not a good way of defending someone. It is the wrong message. Violence is never the answer. Not in any situation. I imagine seeing this can be triggering for some people.
I hope by what happened here can make a positive change and remind people that people have feelings. Especially those of us who are disabled here often the target of these jokes! Nor should you make a joke about someone's appearance in general. This is not about taste because this is certainly not tasteful humour. Many of these jokes aimed at disabled people are often because of a lack of awareness and understanding. I always ask 'how would you feel if someone was targeting your loved one about their appearance/disability and knowing it was hurting them?'. We are often taught if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say it at all, and I think this should definitely apply to comedians. Perhaps if people learn and understand then maybe we can be kinder to each other. What might just be a joke to one person may be devastating for someone else.
I really hope that both Will and Chris can learn from this. My heart goes out to Jada and to anyone was has been the butt of someone's jokes and I hope that they are all okay.
Thank you for reading,
Love DinkyKt xx