Funny short video about ME by Iannucci Armando

[Esther12]

@Esther12, do you or anybody else know if Armando has any relation to ME or what prompted him to make the video and if he spoke about ME ever again?

No idea I'm afraid.

Am I the only one feeling a little uneasy about this video ?

He often does comedy that is a bit uncomfortable. I think that it's very much making fun of the way those with ME are often treated unfairly though.

 

[Quilp]

At first I was going to reply with "Oh for god's sake!" But on a 2nd take I will give a more considered reply. To anyone with ME or who knows anyone with ME, it comes across (apparently) clearly as a sardonic swipe at the misunderstanding and mistreatment of PwME. But on the other hand, if I were someone who believes all the guff about PwME and none of the truth, this could just as easily come across as lampooning PwME, and reinforcing all lies (but which they believe to be the truth). If a group of disbelievers watched this down the pub one night, they would probably all roll around laughing at how if anyone knows the truth jesus would. It's actually a very ambiguous bit of humour. Do we know which meaning is really intended?

I agree it's a fine line Barry53,and I accept that it can go either way.
Given the personal struggle that I have faced trying to convince those around me that this illness is so much more than about depression, or tiredness, perhaps I would have preferred that line to be a little wider.

What I will say in reference to my own struggles is that the worse I feel the harder I find the comedic value in a video like this. Maybe the bigger picture is harder for me to see when I'm looking at four walls and contemplating a way out
( Not now but back then )

What I will say in all sincerity is that where any of us can find laughter we should embrace it and never feel guilty or uncomfortable.

 

[TiredSam]

@TiredSam to what did you attribute the silence and frowns; too little understanding, or too much?

This joke was doing the rounds at the time and always got a laugh, which was why I told it. The problem was I was telling it in the wrong company, because it suggests that the average German worker is workshy and lazy. I was telling it to a table full of union representatives of factory workers, who probably spent a lot of their time involved in employment disputes and didn't take kindly to this social stereotype.

I swear this is true - 10 minutes later the waiter came up to the table and started telling exactly the same joke. He got as far as "Jesus walks into a pub ..." before I said "Don't bother, wrong company".

All my other students loved the joke whenever I told it.

 

[Hajnalka]

Probably true. But I still think those subtleties would be completely lost on the drinkers in my example.

Yep, absolutely possible! And it's a video I would rather send to other pwme and family/friends/allies and not one I would put on a public advocacy site (but that's out of the question anyway because of the "religious offense" (don't know the right term)).

 

[BurnA]

I think this is a good discussion about the need to seperate humour and offense.

It does have [ explicit ] in the title so be warned.

 

[Esther12]

I think this is a good discussion about the need to seperate humour and offense.

It does have [ explicit ] in the title so be warned.

Gervais has done some shit and thoughtless ME comedy that really lazily plays into ongoing social prejudices.

 

[Hajnalka]

Given the personal struggle that I have faced trying to convince those around me that this illness is so much more than about depression, or tiredness, perhaps I would have preferred that line to be a little wider.

I hoped the video would help convince these around me to show what I'm up against. How can I expect my GP to care if even Jesus can't muster compassion? Important for me is, that the person with ME doesn't mention tiredness at all. Jesus concludes only from the name CFS, that he's tired (like everybody else does). So I hoped it shows what the ridiculous name CFS does to us. (In Germany CFS is officially called "chronic tiredness syndrome". My GP keeps talking about tiredness and I didn't mention it once. I'm never tired.)

What I will say in reference to my own struggles is that the worse I feel the harder I find the comedic value in a video like this. Maybe the bigger picture is harder for me to see when I'm looking at four walls and contemplating a way out
( Not now but back then )

I'm homebound, mostly in bed and feel caught. The video somehow made me feel understood. It condensed what I feel I'm up against. E.g. people call to ask my parents about tiny ailments/injuries ("Didn't you say your little finger hurts 2 weeks ago? How are you doing?") while nobody ever asks about me.

Just my personal reaction, I appreciate that everybody has his own intuitive feeling/reaction to the video. I can understand the other viewpoints.
And as the video is 16 years old it won't influence the discussion about ME.

 

[Barry53]

I think this is a good discussion about the need to seperate humour and offense.

It does have [ explicit ] in the title so be warned.

Yeah, it's good. And it does clarify the distinction between laughing at a condition or action, versus using black humour as a medicine to get over it. Roughly paraphrasing RG, "Do you want humour to help you get over good sh*t or bad sh*t? I don't need it to help me get over the good sh*t, I need it to help me get over the bad sh*t. Humour has evolved in people to help us get though it." He's right in that I believe; humour is no accident of evolution.

 

[Quilp]

Thanks Joh, you've helped me to understand the other point of view. I never really looked at it that way. Now I get it !
( Though I'm still of another persuasion )

When I first became ill in 1995, before the internet was widely available friends of mine came to my house. The discussion revolved around ''depression''. They had diagnosed me as depressed, saying they too had a ''bit of ME'' in the past. I often wonder where they got their information from. Who told them that ME was depression; that depression was ME. I know it wasn't from looking at me, because they said I ''looked well.''

I might watch the video again and try to summon a smile

 

[Hajnalka]

When I first became ill in 1995, before the internet was widely available friends of mine came to my house. The discussion revolved around ''depression''. They had diagnosed me as depressed, saying they too had a ''bit of ME'' in the past. I often wonder where they got there information from. Who told them that ME was depression; that depression was ME. I know it wasn't from looking at me, because they said I ''looked well.''

Hi @Quilp, I can 100% relate. For 14 years I was psychologized and had actually the official diagnosis depression (they told me it's a special form of depression that expresses itself only through physical symptoms, so it doesn't matter that I don't feel depressed!).
I explained over and over that I feel like I have a severe flu and have run a marathon every day combined with a hangover (I found my descriptions verbatim in the IOM report!) and that everything started with a flu. In my first psychosomatic clinic they drew a picture for me how I had a flu but now my subconscious mimics the flu to express inner hidden conflicts. 2 clinics, a psychosomatic rehabilitation center, antidepressants, weekly psychotherapy - I did the whole program and only got worse. The rehabilitation center even interpreted my inability to do the things I so desperately want to do as sign of a personality disorder.
When I finally sat in the Charite in Berlin after 14 years and got a questionnaire that asked "Do you feel fluey?" I couldn't believe it, it was a revelation.

Sorry, a little long and off topic. Can't stop myself when I start writing about it, it's still so upsetting.