As a person with type 1, I also get snarky comments from people (the blame the person with D stuff) that people with type 2 get far more often. I think it comes from not just an attitude of superiority, but it makes them feel "safe" - they won't get it because they behave. Problem, is there are slim health lifestyle people with type 2. It is important to me to get the correct info out there, in hopes that at least one person will recall that type 2 runs in their family and they will get tested before the vision problems et al sneak up on them. This is made worse by terms like "diabesity" that continues to place the blame on the person with diabetes. I hate that term and am disappointed that it was supposedly coined by Francine Kauffman, a well-respected Peds Endo.
You hit some really good points there, artwoman. One I'd add is that healthy lifestyle behavior has progressed from being something we should do, to something that is a status symbol, and that's turned it into a competition, a basis for judgement, and social strata.
I'm old enough to remember just going to the gym to exercise. No one really thought about much more than that when we were there. Fit people, fat people, beautiful people, ugly people -- we were all the same "status": Working out.
Those days are long gone. You can measure the growth of the workout fashion industry as a fair measure of the degree to which fitness has become a means of social positioning detached from actual fitness, to the extent that there are now people who go to the gym -- decked out in hundreds of $$ of workout fashion -- and barely work out at all.
I'm not necessarily offended, but jokes about diseases? I tend to agree with one commenter who said "it's not funny."
Can anyone think of another disease that is joked about?
Plus, jokes, IMO, only add to the torrents of misinformation already out there.
It's the 21st Century, for crying out loud.
Adding to your point, I recall when living in Southern CA, you had to already look like a movie star in order to even start attending a facility! Nevermind - they aren't getting my business!
That's a great joke! Look, after 31 years with T1D, if I didn't have my sense of humor, I wouldn't have anything at all. I joined a Facebook page called "Type 1 Diabetes Memes", and they have all kinds of funny things they post. One was a picture of the old George Reeves as Superman winking and it said, "When I say I can't get it up...I'm talking about my blood sugar." Stuff like that. I really appreciate diabetes humor, but like you say if it's done accurately and of course not in an insulting way.
You've obviously never seen that great concert film that Julia Sweeney made about dealing with breast cancer. Sometimes laughter is the best medicine!
Amen! Love that comment!
Yeah, and the people in those "gyms" do more socializing than exercising.
I'll stick to Gold's :-)
Can anyone think of another disease that is joked about?
You're kidding, right? I didn't even have to think more than a picosecond:
Alzheimer's.
There's a long, long list of ailments, infirmities, diseases, handicaps, etc. that are the butt of jokes constantly.
If you tell me you've never heard a blind joke I simply won't believe you :-)
Fellow PWD, lighten up and grow a thicker skin. We're not special as targets for insensitive humor. In fact, EVERYONE is a target in one way or another, from time to time, in their lives.
Some people have even joked about the Holocaust. In terms of justified umbrage, I feel like a piker as a diabetic juxtaposed against a Jew hearing a holocaust joke. Funny thing is, the few times I've heard one, it's been a Jewish comedian, and it was damn funny.
Context is everything, folks. Look to generally not get offended in life, and I guarantee you be much happier and have more friends, even though all that offensive stuff is still out there.
There were a lot of jokes told about different things...a long time ago.
And I feel it is quite alright to joke about something with which you yourself live; I joke about myself a lot. But more respect should be shown to all those who don't feel like laughing and who don't have anything to laugh about in their current situation.
Last Holocaust Day, I heard a presentation by someone who lost his entire family. He wasn't telling any jokes about it.
I just thought up this one. Only a diabetic (of a certain age) would understand it.
A boy of seven (Jeffrey) was visiting with his grandma (of old but indeterminate age). They both had Type 1 diabetes.
"Hi Grammy!"
"Hello, Jeffrey! What have you been up to this week?"
Looking at his Mom, he said, "Mom had me change my infusion set by myself for the first time yesterday and calibrate my CGM, too. What about you, Grammy?"
Grandma looked a bit confused but said, "I had a reaction last night that really tired me out for today!"
Jeffrey looked confused, too and Grandma couldn't stand not knowing. They both looked at Jeffrey's Mom and said at the same time,
"What is she talking about?!!"
"What is he talking about?!!"
Understanding and empathizing with people who have suffered greatly does not require one to also defer to bitterness.
In my opinion, any diabetic that views their condition such that, "don't have anything to laugh about in their current situation" have urgent problems well beyond just diabetes that should be addressed.
Diabetes is difficult, yes. But it's not the end of all happiness, mirth, fun, play, humor, etc. If it is for you, please talk to a professional, and I don't say that sarcastically.
Depression is a very common, and very damaging complication of diabetes.
So families who have experienced a "death-in-bed" event should be able to laugh at diabetes, or they need professional help? You're kidding, right?
And, yes, some other's situations may be so dire there is nothing funny about them.
Not everything is funny and joke-worthy.
And just because people do it, hardly makes it right.
B-R-A-V-O Artwoman YES!!!!
Grinning with glee
Enjoy frowning about it then -amused shrug-!
Dour is more dangerous than diabetes will ever be. The combination is entirely lethal do not submit to dour.
I should realize that diabetes is often more of a problem and fear for loved ones than for those of us who live with it. Of course, I think that comes from the fact - at least in my case- I'm got the steering wheel and it is my foot on the gas pedal. I.E. I know what's going on, I know that an occasional rogue number is just that - not a major trend etc. I keep my D very much to myself because of those family issues.
like someone else said in this thread, my friends and i can joke about my diabetes and my brother does a great imitation of a low me following a transatlantic flight. "CHICKEN!? YOUVE GOT CHICKEN?? WHERE IS IT!?!", in a crazy person voice.
i dont mind if people i know joke about MY diabetes, things we can make light of. for a moment i can laugh about it, and have someone else in on the joke.
the diabetes memes page is excellent, i love it.
sometimes though, i see jokes on television, on series that joke about everything, where nothing is sacred, and i am left open-mouthed. i dont even have any emotional stores left to feel offended-everything in me is overwhelmed by how gobsmacked i am that theyd even make such jokes! i think seeing my face on hearing the D jokes on shows like american dad etc are possibly funnier. there have only been a few times where i felt genuinely offended. mostly i can laugh because even though they are awful, theyre FUNNY.
No, people should not joke about tragedy, like dying in bed.
But that's not what we're talking (arguing) about. We're arguing over a rather sweeping statement you made:
"But more respect should be shown to all those who don't feel like laughing and who don't have anything to laugh about in their current situation"
In the context of having diabetes.
I stand by my criticism of this statement, and that I do not believe that in all your experience with diabetes, nothing funny has ever happened.
Rather, I'm coming to understand that you're in a lot of pain over something bad that DID happen as a result of diabetes, and can not really think this through rationally. Claiming that no one jokes about any other serious conditions, when this is so obviously untrue, demonstrates to me some bitterness and lack of reasoned analysis.
I accept that, for you, any joke about any serious disease is an aweful, rude, uncivil thing to do. I do not accept people that hold such an attitude asserting is as a general principle, and then criticizing the vast majority of the public who don't share that view.
I get offended by a joke that is intended to put down someone else. For whatever purpose.
But this gets back to intent, then, doesn't it? I'm actually a very intelligent person (stop spitting out the coffee, everyone!), but have been at the receiving end of "blond" jokes my entire life.
As a kid, they were always mean, intended that way.
As an adult, I encounter blond jokes all the time (as do all of you), and most of the time its purely meant to be good-natured kidding around.
Now I can either get all pissed off, talk about how insulting that is, that blonds are no stupider than anyone else, yada yada yada yada, -OR-
I can join in, say something stupid in a deliberately exagerrated way, and have a good laugh with everyone else. Even better, come up with a witty retort and throw it back at em, which is what i usually do.
End result, the entire episode lasts less than a minute, everyone's having a great time, and we move along.
The other approach poisons the situation, makes people that intended no offense feel unjustly criticized, the whole mood of the group turns sour, all over someone's stubborn insistence that it is their interpretation, and their offense, that must control the situation.
Interestingly, I don't have too many friends like that. In fact, I can't think of any. Must be that I really just don't like to spend time with people that use the precious minutes of their short lives grousing about things they can't change (non-D's and their unchangable ignorance about D), and are really purely a matter of attitude.
I just don't have time for that in my life.
Rather, I'm coming to understand that you're in a lot of pain over something bad that DID happen as a result of diabetes, and can not really think this through rationally.
Now THAT is funny. Apparently, you're smart enough to psychoanalyze me without ever knowing me. Laughable.
I had a co-worker whose sister died in her sleep from a hypoglycemic event. But apparently you believe if someone can't laugh at a disease they are irrational? Correct me if I'm wrong.
I have a sense of humor, but I also believe there is a time and place for everything, and, yes, certain things should be off limits. If that bothers you or anyone else, so be it. And, yes, there are different circumstances for different PWD. Generalizing by joking about them fails to respect those different life situations. Having diabetes should make us more empathetic, not more judgmental.