Hi Gordan,

It's interesting to me to read your response. I think there have really been
a number of schools of thought surrounding this episode. Casual water cooler
conversations actually inspired me to publish a poll and open up a
discussion board on this subject on www.visionconnection.org and the results
of the poll to date have been interesting, with an equal number of
respondents saying that ER acted irresponsibly as there were respondents
saying this was just a tv show. About 24% said they felt the show accurately
depicted what some people might feel.

Rachel

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordan Wahl [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 1:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Complaint Over E R's Depiction of Blindness


Hi Albert,  Suicide is one way of not dealing with life.  I agree it is a
poor story subject, but suicide is usually committed by unstable individuals
with problems they cannot accept.  Unfortunately this story gives age
related blindness a bum rap.  It leaves out the millions of people like
myself who have continued to live productive and useful lives.  At age 82
years I have lived with age related blindness and it is a small price to pay
for life abundant.  Suicide stories have been around for as long as man has
told stories.  I have no statistics to prove it, but more suicides have been
committed over the loss of: money, property, loved ones, jobs, business
failures, alcohol, drugs, depression and the list will never end.  Just
think how Shakespeare could have been such a great story writer if his plays
could not have suicide as the ending of his dramas. Gordon Wahl ###

Albert Ruel wrote:
>
> Here's an article from the Globe & Mail, one of Canada's National
> Newspapers.  Tell me what you all think.
>
> Thx, Albert
> ER episode under fire
>
> CNIB protests over storyline in which vision impairment leads to
> suicide
>
> By Guy Dixon
> Sat. November 22, R-15
>
> Bob Newhart's vision-impaired character on the TV series ER shouldn't
> have killed himself.
>
> So says the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which fired off
> a strong press release this week, a few days after the episode in
> question was aired. The institute which provides support for the blind
> also wrote letters of complaint to the series' executive producer, NBC
> and its Canadian broadcaster, CTV.
>
> But the question is how receptive TV producers and networks are to
> these kinds of complaints, particularly with aging hits such as ER
> looking to edgy storylines to maintain their ratings.
>
> Newhart's character on ER was losing his eyesight due to age-related
> vision problems. Depressed by his illness, and after cutting his hand
> with a knife while trying to prepare a meal, he shoots himself.
>
> "The message this show sends is alarming," the CNIB's president Jim
> Sanders said. People with this condition, age-related macular
> degeneration, still lead "healthy, active, productive lives. This
> episode is so potentially damaging because 80,000 new cases of AMD are
> diagnosed in Canada each year."
>
> The CNIB isn't the only one taking issue with ER these days. An
> American group, the Center for Nursing Advocacy, recently launched a
> letter-writing campaign aimed at NBC and the show's producers,
> complaining about the portrayal of nurses and their roles in
> hospitals.
>
> A Warner Bros. spokeswoman in Toronto declined to comment on the CNIB
> complaint, and an NBC spokesperson in Los Angeles wasn't immediately
> available. CTV said it has no control over the storylines.
>
> Some large-scale boycotts targeting sponsors have gone so far as to
> push shows off the air, said Richard Gruneau, professor of
> communications at Simon Fraser University. But with a particular
> grievance such as the CNIB's complaint against one plot line in one
> episode of one series, prospects of a response are small. "There are
> no mechanisms for that," Gruneau said.
>
> The next question is whether there should be.
>
> -30-
>
> Albert & Janis Ruel
> Victoria, BC, Canada
>
> "Nothing is more tragic than someone who has sight, but no vision." -
> Helen Keller
>
> My daily prayer:
>
> Lord keep your arm around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth!
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> To join or leave the list, send a message to
> [log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply
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> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html


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