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There has been some debate in the comments section on the Tourette’s post this morning about whether or not there’s anything odd about the girl who can’t help but shout “the n-word” all the time. I made the argument that despite the unimaginable nightmare that this disease poses, I simply don’t understand why it happens to be that word and only that word. Many of you took up one of the following arguments, either that it is simply the struggle with a borderline subconscious verbal connection and her inability to restrain the impulse SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE she knows it’s wrong, or the argument that “Gabe sucks, bring back Lindsay.” I just wanted to simultaneously reiterate my genuine sympathy for what I cannot even imagine this family must go through (although maybe they could have gone through it without being on TV, but OK!), while also pointing out that this article from a 2006 (that video is so old, it turns out!) issue of the Guardian UK that deals with Jessica and her struggle has the following passage (thanks for the tip, Edith):
She takes offence when people call her racist. “I’ve got loads and loads of black friends. When I say it, I won’t make a reaction, I’ll just act normal. If somebody comes up to me and says, ‘What are you saying?’ I’ll say, ‘Oh sorry, I’ve got Tourette syndrome,’ and 99% of the people who are black will say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Even the baddest people, like the girls who are all ghetto and who will smack you and they just go, ‘Safe, safe, that’s fine’, and they’re normally really good about it. People have called me racist in the past and I could just kill them. Accusing people of racism is a bad offence.”
Yikes, you guys. The she has loads of black friends argument? “Even the baddest people, like the girls who are all ghetto and who smack you”? But we’re still going to say there’s absolutely no reason that it happens to be “the n-word” that pops to mind all day long? Should I rest my case, or do you want to rest it for me?
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Gabe, I think that somewhere along the way we all lost ourselves, and forgot that the horribleness of this girl’s affliction is still, on some level, hilarious.
if this were you i doubt you would think it was hilarious. if you only knew how many times a day these kids are threatened, beaten up physically, emotionally and mentally for something that is beyond their control. would you make fun of someone in a wheelchair because they were born without legs? no, because you can see their disability. with tourette you can see and hear but everyone thinks you’re faking or being rude or racist. spend one day in a ticcers shoes, no one hour would do, you might change your tune and stop laughing.
You make a strong point es. But it’s not me, and I’m laughing.
Where do I click for the trampoline accidents?
Gabe, I usually joke around about this kind of stuff and make a complete ass out of myself but in all seriousness in a sense you’re right. Some cases of tourettes can be more intense than others because of an hypothesized theory involving poststreptococcal autoimmune process, which basically means that a cell has fails to recognize its own self and mistakes it as a part or a completely different cell. This is caused by changes in environment or fluctuations in a persons psyche. While not the cause of tourettes this can elevate the severity of the ‘tics’. Therefore this girl isn’t technically “faking it” but her environment is most likely causing her to use the ‘n’ word. A hypothesized way to fix this is homeschooling. In some cases children that were taken out of public education and put into homeschooling programs suffered from less ‘tics’. So, in the long run its really her parents fault for trying to live a normal life when obviously they can not. Therefore, instead of persecuting the girl the parents are really the ones to blame.
I can’t watch/read anything on Tourette’s Syndrome without thinking of the UCB skit.. and saying “Shut Up” in my mind….and laughing- I can’t help it.
I really hate to be a douche, I do
And I LOVE videogum. LOVE it! And love you Gabe
But the sooner you drop this issue, the sooner I can get back to enjoying this wonderful website.
well the girl that says the nword also yells bomb in one of the other videos while checking her luggage to get on a plane….so im gunna go with the idea that you just yell the worst possible thing in any situation
Is Tourettesgum.com already taken?
but honestly, saying you have “lots of black friends” and are therefore not racist is the most (for lack of a better word) ignorant argument in the book. IM NOT SAYING SHE’S RACIST. I’m just saying she could be racist. what?
but SERIOUSLY, it could very well be what others have said: she thinks of the worst possible thing to say in a situation (as we ALL subconsciously do), and somehow her brain can’t stop her from saying it. However, instead of us trying to psychoanalyze with our self-awarded Ph D’s a subject which PROFESSIONALS have FAILED TO UNDERSTAND for decades, let’s just all agree that while this is certainly a horrible affliction, it makes for a funny youtube.
there are like roughly 8 bizillion other words to yell. if you should unfortunately suffer from tourette’s.
I’m all for laughing at people with unfortunate diseases/disorders/etc… but this is just a kid. If you walk around saying the n-word all day, what other arguments are you really going to have for convincing people you’re not racist? Clearly, the “I’ve got tourette’s syndrome” argument isn’t working for you.
I’m with CarolineA up there. I think you need to let this one drop, so we can get back to better posts.
See, it’s ok that we are all laughing about this, cuz we all have loads and loads of friend’s with mental illnesses. If she gets to use that argument works for races, it should work for everything. And it does. Plus Tourette’s is the most naturally funny mental illness. Didn’t you see that episode of South Park or Legend of Neil?
My son has Tourette’s – fortunately no vocal tics. As I was searching to learn more about the syndrome, I read about an American girl with Tourette’s who would say offensive words. She said that part of the reason those things came out was because something would trigger her to think of something she would think that she shouldn’t say – and it would come out of her mouth.
I can’t say that’s true for this poor British girl because there are no two cases quite alike, but at least it gives you an idea of how it can happen. (My son’s impulses come up completely unbidden – no conscious thought of doing those tics, but the screwed up dopamine triggering of the neurons makes it happen as if he had consciously willed it)
Can you imagine if you went around saying the things that you ordinarily would be able to not only restrain but could easily reject as soon as it pops into your head?
(Okay, it’s tempting to bring up Joe Biden here, but it really is an awful disorder to have)