Am I still ok to call people a Joey? Cos I tend to shout stuff like this at Hora when he walks into the pub. Almost like I do actually have tourettes

In fact…. if I say I’ve got tourettes I can pretty much say what I like, you bunch of ****ing stinky bunch of ****ing ****s!!! 😀

IHN – I am certain it was scripted. I do not believe he ever makes a non scripted remark. Its not his nature. PR man thru and thru

Two things that strike me about the debate – 1/ the number of people that seem to think that people with Tourettes only blurt out obscenities and profanities which is not the case (I think it’s less than 10%) and 2/ I believe Cameron was using the term descriptively and it probably is a good descrition of Ball’s continuous, repetitive and unecessary calling out of the same words/phrases.
I know 2 people in their twenties with Tourettes and neither of them swear, one of them however is in full time residential care and the other is in day care; it can be a very serious disbility and is not just manifested through speech (pics, I think those words are called though I stand to be corrected).

A few things sum it up for me:

The Telegraph headline wasn’t about that comment

Including a comment like that would have meant a call to No.10 press office

It was the last thing in the piece

There just happened to be an interview with the BBC lined up the day after the comment was published in which he could immediately apologise.

The guy worked in PR for years, he knows what he is doing.

Camerons tourettes jibe worse than abbots race comments?

no. tourettes is inherently funnier than black people…

/runs and hides….

It depends really alpin. Lenny Henry developing tourettes during one of his Premier Inn adverts would be funny. Best of both worlds! 😀

For maximum comic effect it would have to be a white man blacked up playing Lenny Henry….and then developing tourettes…obviously.

(runs and hides also….)

because tourettes is funny & no one cares…

deluded – Member
All this ‘taking offence’ is amazingly narcissistic – we’re so self absorbed with our own feelings – like children who must be prevented from upset and insulated from other peoples views. I consider it creeping linguistic fascism. If we’re not careful all communications will be rendered inexpressive, banal & stilted. Yes our sensibilities will be unruffled, but Jesus wept it will be boring.

As is often pointed out, it is perfectly rational to point out that someone is being offensive without being offended oneself. Cameron didn’t offend me with this remark. He did however offend plenty of people with a disability with which they have to get through life. There’s nothing wrong with pointing that out is there? It’s quite annoying to be accused of being hysterically offended if one points out that someone is being an offensive cock.

However, I still think this is a storm in a teacup so to speak – if anything it says more about Cameron’s character than anything else. I do enjoy Balls doing the flatlining gesture at Cameron during PMQs – because it winds him up. When Cameron begins to lose his cool, we get to see the nasty little prick that lies behind the thin waxy veneer. See also the “Calm down dear…” and the constant jibing with “brothers” jokes at Miliband. I can just imagine the type of prick he must have been before he had to manufacture the veneer with which he fools much of the public.

Lots of ranting and swear words by DD = me being outraged and offended.

*faints on floor, but then roused with a dose of the vapours and a lace fan*

Lots of ranting and swear words by DD

You think that’s ranting? That’s me being perfectly calm matey. 🙂

Cameron in “being dickhead” shocker. Balls can hardly claim that he’s not though can he?
And that cartoon, balls must be the biggest bully in politics now brown has scarpered ( ok, I know he hasn’t scarpered).
Following all the “victimisation” claims from the abbot supporters, who are all now baying for blood. They are all now doing EXACTLY the same thing; political points scoring to suit their own prejudice.

He did however offend plenty of people with a disability with which they have to get through life

Did he? – I haven’t seen a single Tourettes sufferer come forward saying that so far – I’ve seen plenty of people coming forward being offended on their behalf, and a fair few telling us that it could offend someone that they know/love – but no reliable reports of a single actual sufferer actually saying they were offended.

Funny that!

Yeah I’m sure he regularly makes disabled type jokes especially as its been a good few months since he buried his severely disabled son!!

Z11 i think youd be offended if dave had said ed balls is like you!

What, is Ed Balls a violent fantisist as well? 😀

I think Cameron actually got a bit mixed up. It’s not that Ed Balls has Tourette’s, it’s that talking about Ed Balls makes people speak as if they themselves have Tourette’s, **** that he is.

Zulu-Eleven – Member

What, is Ed Balls a violent fantisist as well?

i think a lot of people become violent fantasists when thinking about ed balls

or cameron, or most mps tbh

I haven’t seen a single Tourettes sufferer come forward saying that so far

Well you ought to pay more attention to the radio in the mornings then Zulu – though I understand you’re feeling the weight of being a downtrodden slurred race after last weeks fun and games; you’re probably not quite on the game. Because the girl who runs this website for Tourettes sufferers was on the radio this morning and she seemed pretty pissed off with his comments. You should have heard the interview, she’s learned to substitute swear-words tics with “biscuit” – must have been bloody difficult. You and Dave would probably have had a good old laugh at it though.

A quote from her blog on Cameron’s comments for you, because I doubt you’ll bother your arse to read it:

The reality is that Tourettes is a complex condition which can be both physically and socially disabling. The assumption that it’s only about swearing makes it even harder for the 90% of people who have it but who haven’t ever ticced an offensive word.

let’s face it, regardless what Cameron says anytime about anything, and I include the step by step details for curing cancer, he’ll still be a **** in most peoples eyes.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqI3xsPrtq0[/video]

On the other hand, not everyone takes offence at every comment they hear ever which is magnified cause they don’t like someone

he’ll still be a **** in most peoples eyes

They all will. People aren’t stupid; they know that Dave, Ed and Nick are military grade ****s of equal measure. The next ones probably will be too.

For Zulu who hasn’t been paying any attention today:

Fast forward to 1.21

🙄

Darcy – I saw her article in the Guardian

is there a quote that actually says she was offended?

Typical comment from the usual Tory hating lefty STW.

Darcy – I saw her article in the Guardian

is there a quote that actually says she was offended?

No use trying to untie yourself Zulu – I’m not playing your **** little quote game that TeeJ falls for all the time. Read the blog. Listen to the interview and you tell me yourself how you think she feels, you poor downtrodden white man.

the girl who runs this website for Tourettes sufferers was on the radio

So on the plus side that looks like a positive outcome – when did Tourettes sufferers last have a chance to raise awareness in national media?

Typical comment from the usual Tory hating lefty STW.

This is hilarious!

“My initial response was confused…”

confused, not offended.

sort of shoots your point on the foot really darcy…

I’ll leave it there.

So on the plus side that looks like a positive outcome – when did Tourettes sufferers last have a chance to raise awareness in national media?

You’ll have to explain that one a bit further – are you saying that it’s great that a disabled person gets to raise awareness in the media because the Prime Minister has made a joke about the disability? Please say that’s not what you’re saying…

Mr Mojo – come off it – compare this to the rightwing ranting about Abbot – shows the hypocrisy of those ranting about abbot a bit more clearly don’t it?

There they were – Zulu et al shouting out Abbott is a racist but apparently this is a bit of fun and the lefties are making too much fuss over it 🙄

Have you read the blog yet Zulu? Come on now, I know you’re a bit embarrassed about this…let me help you:

Of course a weak apology has been issued. But it’s too late David. You’ve revealed a hateful attitude towards disability. Your ‘Off the cuff’ comment was a desperately cheap joke and no-one’s laughing.

I’ll leave it there.

No, no, come back and tell me why you think she’s not pissed off about this. Are you revealing something about yourself as well here? Jesus, your desperation to defend Cameron beggars belief sometimes.

Please say that’s not what you’re saying…

Ok, here goes. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that there has been one positive outcome, which is a raising of awareness of the condition. Or would you rather people remain ignorant of conditions like this? Keep it hidden so that no-one needs to be worried? The way conditions like this used to be dealt with?

Zulu et al shouting out Abbott is a racist

I think you’ll find that what “we” were saying, is that the people claiming what Abbot said was not racist, were by and large hypocritical given their own castigation of people like Alan Hansen for using the word coloured, and that the real problem with the Left, was double standards.

and anyone who claims what abbot said was not racist or offensive, is on rather a weak bat trying to complain about what Cameron said. Either both of them made comments that were offensive, or neither of them made comments that were offensive – either/or, you can’t defend one, without defending the other.

Darcy – still no magic quote then?

he is the Prime Minister, not the President.
we shouldn’t just be voting for him and judging him on popularity and his public gaffs – but for what he does, what he says he will do and what he stands for.
he’s said so himself.
he’s still a **** though.

Cameron made an error, Abbot made an error. Both apologised and you can make you mind up on speed and sincerity etc. Shows you how hard it is to be an MP.

I think throwaway lines often reveal a lot of truth though – and that is where I think DA’s error was “slightly” worse than DC’s. It showed a clear underlying resentment of white people which is frankly racism. DC was more insensitive and mistaken but without the accompanying malice. Surprising that he should be so insensitive given his family history. Neither were sensible though and glad that both apologised.

But frankly both were molehills in the grander scheme of things! We are too quick to take offence.

Zulu, read the blog and you tell me whether she sounds confused or offended. Why are you so desperate to defend someone making a joke about a disability? Stick to the point in question and actually defend what Cameron said. Argue with TeeJ all you like about racism (not that you’d know anything about it anyway as we showed last week).

We are too quick to take offence.

No, we are too quick to think we are offended when we are told that we should be offended, when really we should 1) think about whether we should be offended 2) not be so easily offended.
Unfortunately the situations in which we take offence and the point at which we become offended is constantly shifting based on people becoming more and more impressionable and persuaded by the barrage of opinion they are subjected to in the press/ media.

tmh has it

Why are you so desperate to defend someone making a joke about a disability

Because I support freedom of speech, which includes the freedom to offend, and the freedom to ridicule and take the piss out of anyone.