Making Fun Of Gluten Issues On New Cbs Show

[Gfresh404]

It's exactly this attitude that bothers me. It's okay to be rude as long as you don't know someone? This is why gluten-free is considered a fad diet, not a medical diet. It's also why celiac disease continues to be underdiagnosed to the tune of 95%.

Oh you expect everyone to be nice to everyone else? Ya that's not delusional or anything..

Without someone taking offense, racial slurs and hurtful names for those with mental and physical challenges would still be considered appropriate. And where does the misinformation stop?

People being offended is not what stops any of those things.

The point is not so much that the joke was offensive, the point is that the joke makes people watching the show, some of who work in restaurants and prepare food think that this isn't a real medical issue. I don't care if a particular show offends me but if I go out to eat and someone disregards my gluten free order because they think I'm just being picky well that is a problem.

If misrepresentation of our disease is fine with you great. People have very valid reasons for being upset that celiac and eating disorders were referred to in this way. Hopefully your next meal out won't be served by a waitperson who saw the show and doesn't take your needs seriously. I would also suggest that if it bothers you that others are bothered by it this may be a thread you might want to skip over.

I guess I can kind of see what you guys are saying but you probably shouldn't be eating restaurants where the chefs are educated by sitcoms.

In almost all the restaurants with actual Gluten-free menus ie the big chain ones like Outback Steakhouse, the chefs are trained about this stuff and how to avoid cross contamination. I just don't think it's worth getting all worked up over one little comment.

Haters gonna hate.

[saintmaybe]

GFresh404- I think you're deliberately misunderstanding why so many people are upset. In which case, it's not possible for this conversation to be productive. It does bother me me that as a future celiac medical provider, you're not taking the concerns of celiacs seriously. But, then, that's par for the course.

[celiac-mommy]

y'all need to stop attacking each other please and thank you

[Gfresh404]

GFresh404- I think you're deliberately misunderstanding why so many people are upset. In which case, it's not possible for this conversation to be productive. It does bother me me that as a future celiac medical provider, you're not taking the concerns of celiacs seriously. But, then, that's par for the course.

I am not.

It's a TV sit-com. I strongly doubt many people take it seriously. It's not like it was a documentary on Celiac Disease spewing false information.

[beebs]

I am not offended about it in the slightest - it may be the stupidest show ever to come out of the US though -wife swap is better than that. The only thing is, I do agree that there are alot of people who don't believe in Celiac and just think we are just jumping on the Gluten free bandwagon - and this show doesn't particularly help the cause.

[Gfresh404]

I am not offended about it in the slightest - it may be the stupidest show ever to come out of the US though -wife swap is better than that. The only thing is, I do agree that there are alot of people who don't believe in Celiac and just think we are just jumping on the Gluten free bandwagon - and this show doesn't particularly help the cause.

I think people are forgetting - jokes are meant to have one purpose - to be funny.

[psawyer]

I think people are forgetting - jokes are meant to have one purpose - to be funny.

IMHO, this one wasn't.

And since they are funny, should we tell some Polish jokes? How about a Jewish joke? Some jokes are just in bad taste.

Gfresh404, you have made your point, if in fact you had one to begin with. It's time to move on.

[Jenniferxgfx]

I guess I can kind of see what you guys are saying but you probably shouldn't be eating restaurants where the chefs are educated by sitcoms.

Studies have shown doctors (like patients) get their general health info from the media, in the form of drug ads and news bites. I don't think restaurant cooks live in a bubble and are immune to a casual attitude about celiac disease.

[CourtneyLee]

I'M COMPLAINING! This has outraged me.. ohhh my goodness! IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. They wouldn't make a joke if someone who was allergic to peanuts asked for something without peanuts in it, would they?

Coeliac disease is JUST as life threatening in the long term if not treated :angry:

[ravenwoodglass]

I guess I can kind of see what you guys are saying but you probably shouldn't be eating restaurants where the chefs are educated by sitcoms.

In almost all the restaurants with actual Gluten-free menus ie the big chain ones like Outback Steakhouse, the chefs are trained about this stuff and how to avoid cross contamination. I just don't think it's worth getting all worked up over one little comment.

Haters gonna hate.

I was a chef for many years and was well trained in dealing with allergies and intolerances and attended health department training also but I still realize now that I was not dealing with CC issues as well as I needed to for a celiac. Our own families have a hard time at first understanding how serious just CC can be for us unless we were close to death at diagnosis and many of us get no help from doctors with how cautious we have to be. If doctors are as ignorant as they are about celiac you can bet that it is not something that is taught in any real depth in most cooking schools plus many chefs are taught on the job except ones in the high end restaurants.

I love stupid sitcoms and actually enjoy the stupidity of this show except when they make light of a very serious illness.

I also think there are very, very few actual haters on this board.

[Skylark]

Has anyone actually watched the show? Max is racist, rude, and insensitive. She's a perfect portrayal of how not to act. NOTHING that comes out of her mouth is politically correct. She makes racist slurs, sexist slurs, and picks on disabled people. If anything it's encouraging to have her making flip comments about someone ordering gluten-free in that context. It's a negative example - "Don't do this!"

[Jestgar]

Max is racist, rude, and insensitive. She's a perfect portrayal of how not to act. NOTHING that comes out of her mouth is politically correct. She makes racist slurs, sexist slurs, and picks on disabled people.

I haven't watched television in a long time. It makes me sad that this sort of thing is what many people believe is "comedy".

[Gfresh404]

I was a chef for many years and was well trained in dealing with allergies and intolerances and attended health department training also but I still realize now that I was not dealing with CC issues as well as I needed to for a celiac. Our own families have a hard time at first understanding how serious just CC can be for us unless we were close to death at diagnosis and many of us get no help from doctors with how cautious we have to be. If doctors are as ignorant as they are about celiac you can bet that it is not something that is taught in any real depth in most cooking schools plus many chefs are taught on the job except ones in the high end restaurants.

I love stupid sitcoms and actually enjoy the stupidity of this show except when they make light of a very serious illness.

I also think there are very, very few actual haters on this board.

Sorry that wasn't very clear but by "Haters gonna hate" I just meant that other people are always going to make fun of other people - No matter how stupid/insensitive the jokes are.

[Jestgar]

Sorry that wasn't very clear but by "Haters gonna hate" I just meant that other people are always going to make fun of other people - No matter how stupid/insensitive the jokes are.

That doesn't mean that I should avoid saying something. I refuse to give tacit approval to something I think is wrong, simply by being quiet.

[joelmw]

I've only been diagnosed for a couple of months now (I was very sick, tired and close to depression before and am happily improving in health--both physical and mental--since being gluten-free) and this was one of the first threads I read on the forum. I've contemplated replying several times and finally decided today is the day. I'll endeavor to keep it short.

My attitude has changed a little since those first days and it will likely continue to evolve. Who knows if my future self will agree with the me who writes today.

I certainly empathize with stress over eating out (we do a lot, but much less since my diagnosis) and frustration over ignorance ("you can't eat whey, right?" or "we have a low calorie menu").

Moreover, I'm not going to tell anyone to not be offended--and if I tell you to lighten up, it's probably because I'm being deliberately provocative (though, I like to think, with the best of intentions ). For one thing, I realize telling someone to not be offended is most likely to have the opposite of its intended effect and for another sometimes offense can be productive. Speaking out, for instance, is generally a good thing and if being offended is what it takes, well, by all means.

However . . .

• Humor, IMO, is all about making fun of things that aren't quite right or that we don't understand--including people.
  
• Jokes about race, religion, ethnicity, medical condition, death, etc. can be funny. Or not. If they're not funny, I tend to not laugh at them. If they are, I do. I'm not even going to try to start to unpack "funny"--and I'm sure it's a little different for each of us. A couple of the things that make me laugh quite consistently these days (it's an inside thing, so please don't feel obligated to LOL or whatever ) are the statements "that's a completely inappropriate thing to joke about" and "some things just aren't funny." My wife and I frequently use these remarks as a followup to something we're sure someone would find offensive.
  
• As a "fer instance," my wife of almost 25 years (not the current one; you'll see in a moment how that would be necrophilia or necromancy) died quite suddenly and unexpectedly almost five years ago. Laughter is part of what got me through that day . . . and the weeks, months and years since. FWIW, she had one of those memorial services at which people were laughing--and I am quite certain she would have preferred and enjoyed it that way. I routinely joke about death, illness, the tragedy of that particular day, etc. That doesn't mean that I'm never serious or somber or that I don't also weep.
  
• Most sit coms are crap, as others have already attested--even the old sit coms, as far as I'm concerned. A few are hilarious; a few more are mostly fun. I avoid the genre as a general rule and am deeply suspicious even of those that come highly recommended.
  
• I'm actually more likely to accept an insult from someone close than from a stranger--because I know in some form or another the person that's close loves and/or likes me. The stranger, for all I know, may just be a hateful a******. It's a matter of whether a comment is mean-spirited or not. As before, if it is, it offends me; if it isn't, it usually makes me laugh (I admit, if I'm in a pissy or defensive mood, I might get offended anyway). And, as before, there's a lot that goes into determining out whether something's mean-spirited.
  
• Let's face it: people, though we are (or can be) glorious and though we do have all sorts of grand potential, usually act like idiots and, at the very least, are extremely annoying much of the time. That includes restaurant workers, sit com viewers and, gasp, celiacs. If I couldn't laugh at them (and myself), well, by golly, I might just have to put a bullet through my brain (or maybe just get hooked up with some serious medication).
  
• To amplify what someone else already said, characters in sit coms are usually big NOT pictures--even, in significant measure, the good guys, let alone the jerks. It's a comedy: flaws, dysfunction, ignorance, etc. are amplified for, wait for it, comic effect. Funny how that works.
  
  I said I'd make this short (that's funny--or, well, it is to me; it might just be offensive to some of you), so I'm gonna cut it here, with a few final major points (ha, again):
  
  
• As others have noted, anyone getting their facts strictly from sit coms is an idiot. Regrettably, as I've already noted, people are idiots. Alas, no amount of censorship, political correctness, stern lecturing, legislation, etc. can cure that idiocy and, alas, IMO, they are likely to add misery to our already lamentable and mostly incurable idiocy and ignorance. I acknowledge that some legislation and a modicum of stern lecturing might help a little but they won't cure the core idiocy; I also acknowledge that I have no tolerance whatsoever for most forms of censorship and I have mostly mockery for political correctness.
  
• I believe that a sit com (even a crappy one in poor taste--see, I'm willing to take your word for it) making bad jokes about gluten intolerance is actually a good thing. Yes, a good thing. If there's anything that gets people's attention it's humor. And I tend to mostly agree with the maxim that there's no such thing as bad press. At least a bad joke full of misinformation (and, please, how many jokes--even good ones--aren't? yeah, a joke can be factual and informative, but that's typically not the point) gets them thinking about it. And imagine having a discussion with someone in which they say something like, "Well, I know you're wrong because remember that episode of the Simpsons when Homer ate the deadly blow fish . . ." Yeah, it can happen, but, seriously, if you can't beat that logic you've got no business trying to explain anything to anybody, let alone gluten intolerance to the ignorant masses.
  
• I would so much rather the media be full of bad jokes and half truths about gluten (as they are about everything else) than that people have absolutely no idea what gluten or celiac is. Who knows but that that horrible joke on that crappy sit com prompted some intrepid fool to go googling "gluten" and maybe they came across some actual science along the way.
  

If nothing else we can use crappy jokes in poor taste as teachable moments. Heck, we can beat them to the punch by making our own jokes about gluten intolerance. My favorite shtick is to melodramatically refer to gluten as the embodiment of evil and my arch nemesis. I ward it off with signs of the cross and conjure overblown gestures of disgust, fear and loathing whenever we cross paths. I've decided that I'm gonna start calling it the great satan. And, sometimes, depending on the context, if someone offers me bread or a doughnut or whatever I'll say something sarcastic like how I love to eat a doughnut with an arsenic chaser every morning for breakfast. I know, you're thinking, that just sounds pathetic and corny. You're probably right, but it makes people laugh--or at least smile a little. Besides, so far I'm not allergic to corn, just wheat, rye and barley (though I've been avoiding oats too). And, yeah, they could be laughing at me, but, hell, that's gonna happen anyway; I might as well enjoy it.

[Chad Sines]

I love that show. I do not recall her ever saying or doing anything racist; however, she is definitely rude, jaded, and very hard. That is her character. I actually found the comment hilarious because it fit her style.

[Booghead]

Doesn't bug me too much. Don't let the little things put a cramp in your day. IMO I love sitcoms and TV, and it's wrong and I know it but I love mean humor. Picking on people is just good laughs. I am not a mean person. Its just what my family finds funny. Family guy makes fun of jews and people with downs syndrome. I love my butt off every time. My best friend is jewish and I help special needs kids 2 times a week. Love them to death. We gotta have humor in our lives, though I never particularly liked this show

I prefer Big Bang Theory or The Office