To the Editor:
I was outraged to read The Yale Herald's advertisement for news writers in the Apr. 5 issue which read, "Find out who Kaiser Soze really is. Write for News; Don't be stupid; Don't be a cripple." Obviously you have missed the distinction between humor and a statement that degrades and demoralizes an entire group of people.
First of all, the mandate, "Don't be stupid; Don't be a cripple," in any context, joke or no, perpetuates a false conception that most of the healthy world has about handicapped people. A "crippled" person may be physically impaired, but that has absolutely no relation to his or her mental state. By linking those two phrases together you associate the words "stupid" and "cripple," with complete insensitivity to the loaded meaning that those two words together carry. You also ignore the pain a handicapped person endures every time someone assumes physical and mental debility go hand in hand; like speaking slowly to her so she will understand, or shouting in her ear so that she will hear you.
Secondly, using the phrase, "Don't be a cripple," undermines the struggles, trials, and frustrations disabled people have endured to try to keep up in an un-handicapped-accesible world. You have managed to use this term in a blasé manner, implying that a crippled person is stupid if she does not remedy her situation. Your statement fails to recognize the innumerable alternate strengths a handicapped person has to develop mentally and physically to compensate for her disability. Instead, your ad focused solely on the state of being a cripple, imbuing this word with the connotation of complete helplessness.
Lastly, maybe you went to the bathroom during the last five minutes of The Usual Suspects. Sorry to spoil the ending, but Verbal Kint, "the stupid cripple," turns out to be the brilliant and savvy Kaiser Soze. I fail to see the connection, therefore, between this movie and your advertisement for the news department. All I can see is the Herald's attempt to latch onto a trendy film and make a joke at the expense of an entire group of people. Students at Yale are supposed to be the people who are intelligent enough to see past pure aesthetics. Clearly you did not realize whom you would be degrading or offending. Unfortunately, ignorance is no excuse.
-Dorsey Heine, DC '96
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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