Colbert Drops the Ball on Mental Illness

[Shiranu]

As much as I love Colbert, he really dropped the ball with this piece.

Mental illness is not a joke; 9 million people living in loneliness, as he points out in his own bit, which includes elderly who have lost everyone they love or young people who feel they have no future due to terrible economic situations committing suicide, is not a joke. But there was no comedown to the joke; it was just punch line, punch line, punch line and progressively more and more harsh.

When mental illness is still unbelievably stigmatized, it is not acceptable for one of the leading voices of American "progressives" to be actively encouraging that stigma.

[Unbeliever]

I agree that loneliness is not something that should be taken lightly, but I think his point was about the bureaucratic solution - apparently he thinks it too much tied to the government. But at least they recognize the problem and are trying to do something about it.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/world/europe/uk-britain-loneliness.html

[Munch]

Okay Shiranu calm your tits please, well, you don't have tits, but calm whatever puckered up when you watched this.
He isn't making fun of people with loneliness, he's making fun of the bureaucratic method the government here is tackling it.

[Draconic Aiur]

It's funny as fuck and I'm lonely too

[Shiranu]

Okay Shiranu calm your tits please, well, you don't have tits, but calm whatever puckered up when you watched this.

He isn't making fun of people with loneliness...

Never said he did.

... he's making fun of the bureaucratic method the government here is tackling it.

And what exactly method is the bureaucracy suppose to use? Even within the context of using the medical system as a private entity, it is still a bureaucratic means of addressing the issue.

The problem is even progressive countries, which I think England and London has unfortunately over the last 10, 20 years have taken the United Kingdom out of the category of, tend to be weak on mental health issues. Yet when they take actions to address it (which lets be fair, this is largely a more ceremonial and empty step than an actually useful one), and acknowledge it as a problem... our gut reaction is to laugh at them.

Listen when Colbert says the created a, "Ministry of Loneliness"... he cant get through saying Loneliness without laughing, and the audience is chuckling and like, "really?". There is nothing bureaucratic about that statement; the punchline is, "Loneliness". The punchline is, "They have created a group to deal with the 'problem' (lolol) of Loneliness!".

Americans in particular laughing about another country addressing mental illness, even if it's in an extremely half-hearted manor, is problematic... and it becomes even more so when someone who is arguably one of the strongest voices for progressive causes in the United States is the one making the jokes. We have a major issue with mental health in our country that is almost completely overlooked, but both the right and the left do nothing about it. If the left, progressives, were to take actual steps to address the horrible lack of support for people with mental illness, or addressed the fact that 1 in 5 Americans suffered from some form of mental illness the last year and that 9.3 million Americans suffered from severe mental illness... then yeah, they have a right to laugh. But when you are unwilling to address a problem, then you do not have the right to laugh at people for trying to fix that problem. You are free to laugh all you want, but your an asshole, plain and simple.

And as a whole, the American people do not have a right to laugh at another country for trying to address that issue, because as a whole we as Americans do not give a shit about people with mental illness. I'm not saying that in the, "You should be banned from laughing at it!" right, I mean that in the, "You don't have the right to laugh about it and not be called a douchebag".

[Shiranu]

http://www.newsweek.com/nearly-1-5-americans-suffer-mental-illness-each-year-230608

[GSOgymrat]

I understand why Shiranu perceived that Colbert was minimizing loneliness. I hate performing an autopsy on a joke but for me what made this funny was "Ministry of Loneliness" sounds odd and Victorian to American ears, like Earl of Sandwich. If Theresa May called for a task force to address the effects of social isolation there would have been no joke.

I love Poldark.

[Unbeliever]

Also, "minister of loneliness" sounds like something from Monty Python.

[Munch]

everyone else see's the funny side of it.

Never said he did.

Well you kind of are with lines like "It isn't a Joke!", missing the point entirely.

[Baruch]

I understand why Shiranu perceived that Colbert was minimizing loneliness. I hate performing an autopsy on a joke but for me what made this funny was "Ministry of Loneliness" sounds odd and Victorian to American ears, like Earl of Sandwich. If Theresa May called for a task force to address the effects of social isolation there would have been no joke.

I love Poldark.

Yeah, Cornwall is pretty corny ;-)

Yes, there is a serious need to deal with mental illness, unfortunately the crazies are the ones in charge ;-(

[Munch]

Yeah, Cornwall is pretty corny ;-)

Yes, there is a serious need to deal with mental illness, unfortunately the crazies are the ones in charge ;-(

I dunno, I don't think May's crazy, just ineffectual. She's just another typical bureaucrat and so far hasn't made much of an impact. 

[Baruch]

I dunno, I don't think May's crazy, just ineffectual. She's just another typical bureaucrat and so far hasn't made much of an impact.

The second woman prime minister is like the first US Black President.  Don't worry; Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron ... preceded her in cutting crooked deals that helped them after leaving office.  Our Barak Obama is trying to be the next Bill Clinton.

[Draconic Aiur]

Never said he did.

And what exactly method is the bureaucracy suppose to use? Even within the context of using the medical system as a private entity, it is still a bureaucratic means of addressing the issue.

The problem is even progressive countries, which I think England and London has unfortunately over the last 10, 20 years have taken the United Kingdom out of the category of, tend to be weak on mental health issues. Yet when they take actions to address it (which lets be fair, this is largely a more ceremonial and empty step than an actually useful one), and acknowledge it as a problem... our gut reaction is to laugh at them.

Listen when Colbert says the created a, "Ministry of Loneliness"... he cant get through saying Loneliness without laughing, and the audience is chuckling and like, "really?". There is nothing bureaucratic about that statement; the punchline is, "Loneliness". The punchline is, "They have created a group to deal with the 'problem' (lolol) of Loneliness!".

Americans in particular laughing about another country addressing mental illness, even if it's in an extremely half-hearted manor, is problematic... and it becomes even more so when someone who is arguably one of the strongest voices for progressive causes in the United States is the one making the jokes. We have a major issue with mental health in our country that is almost completely overlooked, but both the right and the left do nothing about it. If the left, progressives, were to take actual steps to address the horrible lack of support for people with mental illness, or addressed the fact that 1 in 5 Americans suffered from some form of mental illness the last year and that 9.3 million Americans suffered from severe mental illness... then yeah, they have a right to laugh. But when you are unwilling to address a problem, then you do not have the right to laugh at people for trying to fix that problem. You are free to laugh all you want, but your an asshole, plain and simple.

And as a whole, the American people do not have a right to laugh at another country for trying to address that issue, because as a whole we as Americans do not give a shit about people with mental illness. I'm not saying that in the, "You should be banned from laughing at it!" right, I mean that in the, "You don't have the right to laugh about it and not be called a douchebag".

God your such a bore

[Munch]

The second woman prime minister is like the first US Black President.  Don't worry; Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron ... preceded her in cutting crooked deals that helped them after leaving office.  Our Barak Obama is trying to be the next Bill Clinton.

Blair was a villain with a joker smile, so you could make easy parody from him. Brown was thrumpy and had an excessive diet so theres was humor to be had their. Cameron had the whole pig thing, so that held something to make fun off.
Having leaders with faults and something to make fun of is at the least more grounded, even someone like trump is an asshole, a illiterate moron, and sleazebag, but then so are many people in real life, so you can draw something from either hating or loving people like that, like characters in a soap.
May.. just doesn't have anything relatable to her. She's not crazy, she's not vulgar, she's not unintelligent, she isn't overly happy, she doesn't turn the tide, she's just.. there.

[SGOS]

Also, "minister of loneliness" sounds like something from Monty Python.

I was going to say SNL, but yeah, Monty Python.