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Keri (keri) wrote in fandom_rant,
@ 2010-08-21 10:25:00

Current mood:

GRRRRRR

not funny.
Okay, so I know that the community I'm ranting about is kind of made for people who are obsessive and/or compulsive about lists and correct data and having everything Just Right. That means there are going to be jokes and comments about OCD, since a lot of what appeals to people of this community might come across as OCD-type things to people who don't give a shit.

But, seriously, folks? It's getting old and Very Unfunny. The first time I saw the "CDO is like OCD, but better: it's alphabetical, like it should be" "joke", I thought it was dumb, but made sense for people who don't really know about OCD except for media depictions. But people keep using that joke. And it is not funny. It's not funny the same way the "dog = god" dyslexia "joke" isn't funny. It trivializes a very real disorder and creates misunderstandings of what it really is.

Also? It doesn't fucking make any sense. Why "should" an acronym be in alphabetical order? if you unpack it, the word-order doesn't work, and besides, not everyone with OCD insists on absolutely fucking everything being in alphabetical order, even if there is a preference to shove every little thing into some arbitrary ranking or order, because there is an understanding that language doesn't work that way.

Mostly, though, I'm sick of seeing this "joke" all the time, when it's not funny, and it's kind of insulting, and people keep persisting in using it, even after other people spoke up and said "please don't" the first few times it came up.

Someone has even created a little graphic for it, because they trot it out so many times.

This isn't really something serious enough to wank about at said community, and waste everyone's time, but I really needed to bitch about it today. :/

Maybe I'm a bit sensitive because of all the "jokes" I already hear too much of, about my gender or sexuality or asperger's syndrome or hobbies or just about every other aspect of my life (it seems, some days), and now this OCD one is just too much. I don't know, but it's irritating the hell out of me.

(Post a new comment)

seca
2010-08-21 04:05 pm UTC (link)

Don't feel bad about ranting about it as you do have every right to be angry about it. Especially after people have spoken up and said they are not comfortable about this joke and people continue to go on with it.

It sounds like those people joking really don't get why OCD is considered a mental illness and just see it as something quirky, which is sadly how it tends to be portrayed by popular media.

As someone who suffers from an anxiety disorder (social anxiety in my case) it personally pisses me off to see people so willing to not understand the issue at all as it's another example of the general lack of understanding of anxiety disorders in general. And I would have just unloaded a many paragraphs rant about how the joke isn't funny or even anything close to actual representation of what OCD is by now.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

keri
2010-08-21 04:38 pm UTC (link)

I wouldn't feel bad ranting about it, except that I worry I'm blowing it out of proportion - I mean, how many times, as someone with an anxiety disorder, have you been told that? (I can't count, myself) Hell, how many times have people said that because the person complaining is the non-privileged in that particular instance... :/

It does remind me of the stupid "lol i'm so addicted" comments that fandoms with large populations of collectors get, too. I can't stand the trivializing of addiction those cause - if the people saying such things really are addicted, they should seek help. (I used to bitch about that all the time on the doll forum I modded. Eventually the regulars started to tone it down, but I hear bitching second-hand now that such comments are as common as ever.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

seca, 2010-08-21 05:15 pm UTC

re_weird, 2010-08-23 05:15 am UTC

beccastareyes
2010-08-21 04:55 pm UTC (link)

My little brother has OCD. In his case, he didn't get all the 'check all the things' or insisting on arranging things. His was mostly that once he got a thought, you couldn't dislodge it with wild horses. Which interacted in all kinds of not-fun ways with his teenaged boy hormones and autism. Add in that the stress of this was making him prone to depression and all of us were relieved when he got meds and slowly he came back to being a mostly-happy young man, as opposed to a miserable teenager.

(I have an anxiety disorder of some sort as well -- it's on paper as general anxiety -- but before I got on meds, I occasionally got the 'crap, did I leave the oven on', at 2 AM when visiting my mother halfway across the United States. And have to spend precious sleep time talking myself down or distracting myself because my brain wouldn't accept that 'there is nothing you can do about that, so go to bed, dammit'. And don't even get me started about airplanes...)

Telling horrible stories is kind of my way of sympathizing.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

rosehiptea
2010-08-21 06:46 pm UTC (link)

His was mostly that once he got a thought, you couldn't dislodge it with wild horses.

That's the way it manifests itself in me. And sometimes the thoughts are so ridiculous and trivial I don't even want to tell anyone what they are.

Anyway, to the OP: Yeah, I can really see why this irritates you. What got to me was when a friend said "I don't have OCD but it might come in handy for cleaning." Um, no, actually being obsessed with making everything perfectly clean (which not all people with OCD are) can result in sitting in the middle of the mess feeling hopeless.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sorchar, 2010-08-22 04:19 am UTC

rosehiptea, 2010-08-22 04:22 am UTC

sorchar, 2010-08-22 04:41 am UTC

(no subject) - ealusaid, 2010-08-23 03:33 am UTC

	sorchar 2010-08-21 10:18 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, God, this. That was the way my OCD manifested, and the thoughts made me suicidal. So yeah, not so funny. (Reply to this)(Parent)

luxshine
2010-08-21 05:10 pm UTC (link)

You shouldn't feel bad about ranting. It is a bad joke, and it does trivialize something really serious. I don't have OCD, but I have friends who do, and I can't get why someone would think it's just "quirky" or "funny".

I think that there are some jokes that might be well received in certain circles, if the people in the circle don't mind them and you know them well enough to know that it's really ok to say them and that they're joking. But you shouldn't repeat them in a wider forum because they *are* offensive for the majority. (Like, for example, I am mexican, and I might joke with my mexican friends that all mexicans are lazy, but I wouldn't repeat those exact same jokes in an international forum since I don't know if a mexican living outside of Mexico would find them funny too)

(Reply to this)

spacelogic
2010-08-21 05:37 pm UTC (link)

I haven't ever seen that before, fortunately. And it's not even a well-constructed joke. It's badly-worded and convoluted. Why would anyone think that was funny?

I can sympathize with your frustration at this type of joke. My little sister is severely dyslexic and I had to intervene just recently when her best friend -- who knew about her dyslexia -- made one of the "dog = god" jokes. These days, I get as angry as she does about that sort of thing. (Particularly since dyslexia does not work that way. Funny how these "jokes" are both based on a misconception of what the disability in question means, isn't it?)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	luxshine 2010-08-21 07:19 pm UTC (link)
	Funny how these "jokes" are both based on a misconception of what the disability in question means, isn't it? I bet that's because the people who create the joke in the first place don't have/don't know anyone with the disability in question. (Reply to this)(Parent)

kirarose
2010-08-21 07:47 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, OCD is 'not fun'. Nor is it useful and it is stressful and people just don't always get it. I'm medicated but still have issues because my medicine doesn't magically take care of all issues. And I was without my meds for two weeks and went into withdrawal on TOP of the anxiety and OCD and I ended up having a damn breakdown in the middle of the local clinic's waiting room.

The receptionist helped me find a doctor and they went ahead and prescribed me fifteen days worth of medication. (My regular doctor left the country and I've been having an awful time finding a new one.)

Anyway, point is, even though my family KNOW I have these problems they STILL don't get it and they live with me. They should KNOW better. And even they don't get it. It's frustrating.

(Reply to this)

	judyhazeleyes 2010-08-22 02:18 am UTC (link)
	That's pretty much my reaction to "I'm Schizophrenic, and so am I." It's treated as the height of wit, and it's not even correct! ARGH. Schizophrenia is not funny. End of story. (Reply to this)(Thread)

keri
2010-08-22 02:22 am UTC (link)

Oh, eurrrgh, I forgot about that one, but I would've added it to my list, along with the "I'm addicted to buying/watching/playing [insert item applicable to fandom here]". Oh, and those stupid shirt about "I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to" that are oh-so-witty.

I'm so glad that other people are in agreement about the OCD thing being unfunny. Every time it gets brought up on those talk boards, someone new replies with a LOL. :(

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-22 02:36 am UTC

sorchar, 2010-08-22 04:20 am UTC

	sorchar 2010-08-22 04:19 am UTC (link)
	Amen. (Reply to this)(Parent)

staroverthebay
2010-08-22 06:26 am UTC (link)

I wish there was a way to beat into people's heads that Schizophrenia != multiple personalities -- they're not even relate in most cases! It's a huge, huge stretch to say that someone suffering from multiple personalities is therefore suffering from schizophrenia.

I knew this in high school, no less, because I *paid attention* in class. *sigh* People are so STUPID.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-22 07:18 pm UTC

(no subject) - ealusaid, 2010-08-23 03:35 am UTC

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-23 10:55 pm UTC

sandglass, 2010-08-24 02:37 am UTC

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-24 06:03 pm UTC

staroverthebay, 2010-08-24 08:54 am UTC

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-24 06:01 pm UTC

staroverthebay, 2010-08-24 08:55 am UTC

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-24 06:07 pm UTC

staroverthebay, 2010-08-26 03:06 am UTC

	redwarrior 2010-08-29 01:34 am UTC (link)
	That one bugs me more because of a lack of research. Scdhizophrenia is NOT Disassociative Identity Disorder. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kittikattie 2010-08-22 06:13 am UTC (link)
	....I've said that phrase once. I am sincerely sorry for saying that, and I will not do so again. (Reply to this)

staroverthebay
2010-08-22 06:23 am UTC (link)

I sympathize.

Someone at work made a "joking" comment that "Adderall is just like meth" and it was all I could do to not rip his head off. Adderall is an amphetamine, but it is NOT even remotely like meth, for fuck's sake, and I resent the implications that a drug that makes life better for some people is "just like" a drug that ruins lives. My father takes Adderall (I take Ritalin, because Adderall doesn't work for me) and I resent this idea that "stimulants = meth"

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	sandglass 2010-08-24 02:34 am UTC (link)
	See also: calling antidepressants "happy pills". I wish they made me happy, but I have to settle for having the slight potential of being happy and pay out the nose for the privilege. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

staroverthebay, 2010-08-24 08:58 am UTC

judyhazeleyes, 2010-08-24 08:55 pm UTC

sandglass, 2010-08-24 11:26 pm UTC

hitwoman
2010-08-22 08:09 am UTC (link)

I have OCD but not enough that it's debilitating. Mine is mostly order--things HAVE to be in order, whether it's my DVDs (alphabetized by genre) or my hot rollers or my radio presets or the cans in the pantry. But the worst I usually deal with is not being able to sleep for thinking about something not in order and having to get up and fix it, which may explain why joking about it doesn't bother me overmuch. I think it makes me feel better about it in a way--almost as if it can't be that big a bugabear if people joke about it so much. I have a thing about doorknobs, and I've joked about that myself.

I also have a social anxiety that manifests itself by picking--I pick, usually at my cuticles, until I can't pick any more, to the point that my fingers bleed and are painful. The more stressed I am, the more I pick. I hide my hands a lot. I will also pick at scabs or sores, and when I was younger I picked at blemishes. I find this humiliating and somehow feel shamed by it, and never tell people. Ever. I talked about it in my LJ several years ago, and posting here will be the second time anyone else ever found out. Thinking about the whole thing, if this were ever to become the kind of topic people joked about, I'd probably be offended. And even more ashamed. So I'm going to think twice about joking about the other stuff now.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

kirarose
2010-08-23 08:11 pm UTC (link)

You have no idea how much of a relief it is to know I'm not the only one that 'picks'. I usually call it 'pinching', but picking is probably a better description. The more nervous or upset I am, the more I will pinch/pick at myself, especially my arms. My arms bear the biggest brunt of it. And it is now to the point I don't let myself get tan at all, because of the scars showing up worse. As it is, my arms are very blotchy. I also bite my nails/cuticles.

People that notice me doing it, give me such a strange look. And yeah, I feel ashamed when caught.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hitwoman, 2010-09-09 05:58 am UTC

anonyrat, 2010-09-09 03:43 am UTC

hitwoman, 2010-09-09 05:55 am UTC

anonyrat, 2010-09-09 08:46 am UTC

ealusaid
2010-08-23 03:38 am UTC (link)

Funny, isn't it, how the people who think those jokes are OMG SO FUNNY tend not to have OCD.

I have never known anything so mortifying or... personally degrading, as my OCD. It was torture, and even though I'm so much better, in my abnormal psych class we had to watch a video of ERP where a little girl with OCD had to sit with jam on her hands for five minutes, and I almost had a panic attack, and then I almost burst into tears.

It's not fucking funny.

(Reply to this)

	miome 2010-08-23 11:16 am UTC (link)
	I apologize - when I saw this I thought it was funny, and showed it to a friend ( but didn't repost it online, thankfully ). But it really isn't funny at all. Thank you for having the courage to speak up about it. (Reply to this)

	duraniedrama 2010-08-24 12:57 pm UTC (link)
	It's about the same thing as people talking about being "out of spoons" when they're just a wee bit tired or "bi-polar" when they go from energetic to exhausted like normal people do. There needs to be a word for when people wear conditions they don't actually have as some kind of badge of honor. (Reply to this)(Thread)

sandglass, 2010-08-24 11:27 pm UTC

duraniedrama, 2010-08-25 12:59 am UTC

redwarrior
2010-08-29 01:31 am UTC (link)

I personally think it's necessary for non-neurotypical people to acquire a sense of humor. That way, the slings and arrows thrown at you won't sting as much.

(For the record: I ~~have~~ had OCD as well, and so does my dad (still). I thought that joke was hilarious. I also have Tourette's, and I am usually the first person to crack a Tourette's jo-FUCK YOU!!!!-ahem, excuse me, it's the tics again...a Tourette's joke when the occasion presents itself. In addition to the fake corprolalia on message boards/journals (as demonstrated here), I also joke that the cause of my motor tics is that I was born with a cattle prod stuck up my ass.)

In other words, I don't take myself seriously and neither should you. (And most of the time, the only reason I get offended at jokes directed towards the groups I belong to is because I can think of MUCH better, MUCH funnier ones.)

(Reply to this)

	barbara1taylor 2011-11-17 07:47 pm UTC (link)
	Call to each one of the listed companies and ask who is the manager there, that deal with carpet cleaning services. There is no need to communicate with him/her, the important thing is to get the name and end the call by saying “ Thank You very much, have a nice day!”. ___ house cleaners Sydney (Reply to this)

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