I'm not one to get into this.  I'm not one to jump all over someone over their language.  I'm not one to be oversensitive and get my panties in a twist over a movie.

But it finally happened.  I am upset over the upcoming movie Tropic Thunder.  I'm not going to link it and give it any hits. 

Maybe you've heard of it.  It got some press because Robert Downey, Jr. is in blackface during the movie.  But I bet you haven't heard about the major subplot involving Ben Stiller's character.  Ben Stiller portrays an actor who tried desperately to get Oscar recognition playing a character named "Simple Jack".  The marketing for the Simple Jack movie includes the tagline "Once upon a time…There was a retard".  Nice, huh?  But that's not it, not all.  There's more.

Stiller: There were times when I was doing Jack when I actually felt retarded. Like really retarded.

Downey: Oh yeah. Damn.

Stiller: In a weird way, I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that it was okay to be stupid or dumb.

Downey: To be a moron.

Stiller: Yeah.

Downey: To be moronical.

Stiller: Exactly.

Downey: An imbecile.

Stiller: Yeah. When I was playing a character.

Downey: When you was a character.

Stiller: Yeah, I mean, as Jack. Definitely.

Downey: It’s like working with mercury. It’s how science makes art form.

Stiller: Yeah.

Downey: You an artist.

Stiller: It’s what we do, right?

Downey: Everybody knows you never do a full retard.

Stiller: What do you mean?

Downey:  Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, Rainman,
look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your
cards. Autistic. Sure. Not retarded.

You know Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces
on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and he won a ping-pong
competition? That ain’t retarded.

You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.

But, that wasn't what did it for me.  What did it for me was this description of a scene between Ben Stiller's character and Matthew McConaughey's.

In a conversation with his agent, played by Mathew McConaughey,
Stiller’s Speedman talks about his plans to adopt a child. “At least
you get to choose yours,” says the agent, looking sadly at a photograph
of himself with a slack-faced teenaged boy who appears to have an
intellectual disability. “I’m stuck with mine.” (The teenaged boy turns
up with his father on an airplane later in the movie, staring vacantly
out the window.)

This is what gets me.  As if a child with a disability is not good enough.  Not wanted.  Just not perfect.  Liam, while not perfect in any way, is a beautiful child.  Sweet, charming, loving, funny, smart.  But because he's not chromosomally perfect, he'll never be good enough.  He'll be made fun of, mocked, never given a chance just because of one tiny difference.  And, it's this perception, that people with disabilities are not fully human, that this movie capitalizes on.  It's the punch line.  Liam is the punch line. 

So I ask of you, do not see Tropic Thunder.  Do not give your money to DreamWorks studio or any of the actors associated with this movie.  Pass the word around to your friends. 

Because when you laugh at this shit that passes for comedy, you laugh at Liam.

For more information, please visit here and here.

P.S. Lest someone read this and think I'm overreacting…My husband and I laugh at offensive jokes.  Ones that should offend us instead.  Life is funny.  There's a lot to laugh at and about.  Words only have the power we give them, but in this case, it's excessive.  It's too much.  There's only so much I can take.  It's crossed the line for me.  Maybe not for you, but for me.  And that's why I'm saying what I am.