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The Asylum "offensive to the mentally ill"

Oddly enough, I was chatting with a producer from work last night about this while we shared a cab home. He was saying in his experience of people complaining about things on TV and radio, it's never someone saying "I have been offended." It's always someone saying "That is offensive to someone else and that offends me."

The people who are supposedly being offended by whatever it is usually have a good laugh at it.

Prime example: When South Park did an episode about Tourettes, they actually got praise from sufferers, who found it very funny. Mind you, I guess if you suffer drom Tourettes, you have to develope a sense of humour to cope with it...
 
There are people who want to be offended by things others do.

There are people who want to be offended on behalf of those people.
 
BUMP:

Here's some news and it's not the best for Thorpe...

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/09/thorpe-park-backs-down-over-asylum-maze-name-row-4180182/

Thorpe Park is reportedly changing the name of its annual Halloween attraction, the Asylum, after an extensive campaign by mental health groups.

Last month almost 6,000 people signed a petition asking the Surrey theme park to change the name of the maze because it stigmatises those with mental illnesses, but initially the park had remained resolute in the face of criticism.

Today emerged reports online that the theme park is now backing down, vowing to change the name for next year.

Nuwan Dissanayaka said on Twitter that he reported the ride name to Surrey police as a hate crime and that Thorpe Park responded to him.

‘Just got letter in response to complaint. Thorpe Park will change the ‘Asylum maze’ for 2014 & apologise for distress caused. Good news’

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust had backed the petition and sent a letter to the park urging it to change the ride name.

Thorpe Park initially defended the maze, which is part of the Fright Night Halloween event, saying it was not meant to be a realistic portrayal of a mental health institution.

Jo Young, director of quality at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said in the letter: ‘We accept that your Fright Nights are designed to appeal to people’s sense of fun around Halloween – but unlike vampires, zombies, werewolves and other fictitious horror figures, people with mental illness are real…

‘Misrepresenting them does cause offense, does reinforce old and outdated stereotypes of people who have experienced mental ill-health, and does reinforce stigma and discrimination.

‘We appeal to your humanity and kindness and ask that you rename this attraction and rethink this concept for your Fright Nights.’

The petition was started by mental health nursing student Katie Sutton, who wanted to ‘take a stand against lazy and damaging stereotyping’.

Last month she delivered a copy of the petition to the theme park dressed as a zombie.

The Asylum maze has been a feature of the annual Halloween events, held in October and in November, for eight years.

Thorpe Park was not available to comment on the possible name change at this time.
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Any views on this?
 
All good and sensible.

No drama, just a simple organised complaint about a legitimate concern and the park has responded in the way it ought to with a look to repackage their product as to avoid future offence.

Everyones a winner.
 
Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me tbh ::)

Yes I complain a lot, we shouldn't always go with that's your answer, you don't like it then tough, it's our right to complain in certain situations, but this is not 1 of them :mad:

Thorpe should not back down or change the name, Asylum is the best maze, I'm offended they plan on changing it!

This all happened because of the Tesco and Asda thing, and being fair they was doing nothing wrong with the naming of the outfits either!

Makes me very :mad: because it's things like this that made the mazes no-where near as scary as they used to be, the dungeons could be so much scarier but we have to go to dungeon nights for this, which Merlin passes do not cover, the fireworks could be so much louder but the residents block it and the courts allow it when everyone else is having them and so on :/

As for Thorpe blast 'You can't burn Jedward' seriously, they was fibre glass models ::)
 
OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
These people need to be culled for the good of humanity!
 
Oh the sweet irony... Despite all of accusations that the Asylum's critics are over-the-top and unreasonable, they have seemingly settled for small changes that barely alters the experience but addresses their concerns. Meanwhile the very same people who accuse the critics for being unreasonable are now making wild over-the-top claims that a name change will make the maze "no-where near as scary" and that these people who dared to criticise and sign a petition for something they believe in should be "culled." Those responses do not exactly scream reasonable or measured to me. ;)
 
This is absolutely pathetic. The whole thing has been nothing more than a snow-balling bandwagon for people with nothing better to do in their sad lives.

I'd invite many of these 'campaigners' to submit themselves for psychological treatments, as their issues with helplessness and desires to try and have some control over other groups of people need to be addressed. I find the entire campaign to be selfish and deliberately confrontational, it has come across as nothing more than ego-massaging for people who claim to be above and beyond the 'simple man who enjoys such barbaric attractions'. All they've been telling you throughout is that you are wrong, you are bad and you are incapable of rational judgement - or thinking for yourselves.
 
Urgh, this name change will most likley mean a re-theme for the whole maze. Thus making it crap and boring.
 
I'm sorry, but I don't see where they aim to go with this? Go and raise money and awareness, help people with mental health issues with support and care. This whole 'campaign' was a pathetic attempt to make the critics look like saviours of mental health, and Thorpe/Merlin look like the evil wrong doers who only want to harm and cause offence to vulnerable members of society. When actually, nothing admirable or spectacular was achieved.

Congratulations on bullying a company into changing something that has been around for eight years.

By the way, where were you eight years ago when it was set up? Didn't seem to be harmful then.
 
Nuwan Dissanayaka said on Twitter that he reported the ride name to Surrey police as a hate crime and that Thorpe Park responded to him.
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This makes me very angry, and is exactly why I hate 'social justice' so much.

A hate crime is being attacked on the street. A hate crime is suffering from a campaign of abuse - both physical and mental. A hate crime is suffering these things just for who you are.

A hate crime is NOT being offended by, or on behalf of, something as trivial as the name of a horror maze.

I say this as someone who has had prejudice-fuelled abuse thrown at them: labelling this a hate crime trivialises what 'hate crime' is. THAT is the real crime here.
 
Do this people not know the difference between, fictional horror movie stereotypes and the real life stereotyping that causes hate crime?

I wonder how many of people that signed the petition, have actually visited Thorpe and been though the maze.

Right I am off to write a strongly worded email to sky about the name of a program on Sky Atlantic, called 'Mad Men' ;)
 
As if being offended by this wasn't enough, they went to the police. The police! "Officer, Officer, quick, stop hunting down those paedos, murderers and rapists, there's a theme park attraction with a name I don't like!"
 
Don't know why the park have backed down to be honest, they had a perfectly good case to just tell the critics to shut up. Makes them look weak.
 
Tom said:
This is absolutely pathetic. The whole thing has been nothing more than a snow-balling bandwagon for people with nothing better to do in their sad lives.
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Apparently members of this forum have nothing better to do than jump on a bandwagon against vulnerable peoples who DARE to criticise our beloved theme parks!!! ::)

If its sad to spend time complaining about a socially questionable (that's not to say that it is definitely offensive just that it is questionable) attraction, then surely it is needless to say that it's even sadder to complain about people complaining about a socially questionable attraction. :p

I have to say, it is rather amusing to watch the pathetic frenzied over-reaction to what is ultimately a tiny insignificant change made to make the attraction more inclusive.
 
Makes me wonder if this is one of the reasons The Sanctuary was removed. I just don't buy into the "not making sense now The Smiler is on park" reasoning.

It complimented it perfectly.
 
"2) Donate the profits from this year’s "The Asylum" to a mental health charity such as Rethink Mental Illness or Mind."

Obviously talking to the wrong entertainments group :p

This is utterly ludicrous, she mentions "damages" caused by the park in the petition, but I struggle to see what has been so damaging about it, I am yet to see a horde of people crying in front of the maze because of its offending nature and yet to hear stories of trauma caused by a name. This is a case of small minded people choosing to be offended, its hardly like its being forced down her throat, if you don't like it don't look at it, simple. Some of the best films and books created revolve around mental health and could be perceived as stigmatising, so should we remove them from shelves too? Its in the same category as a world war film, unfortunate but with its own dark and assassinating theme that would be a waste not to explore.
 
How can they tell what 'profits' were made from Asylum though? That's near damn impossible to judge...

As for the reporting it to be a hate crime, there are no words for that at all...

Who wants to go live in Belgium?
 
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