I agree with a lot of what Pavlak says here. (My one or two minor quibbles are due to differing worldviews and are not relevant to the post.)
Basically – even though it wasn’t perfect, Meryl Streep’s speech made a lot of sense to a lot of people. Also, the incident that got her angry DID happen, even though some prominent Trump supporters (and Trump himself) are now saying it didn’t. (*Eyeroll*)
Of course, it’s not a perfect speech. It doesn’t exactly do much critical analysis of Hollywood for perpetuating ableist stereotypes – in fact, she applauds actors and Hollywood for being able to step into different people’s shoes and so on. See Carly Findlay’s Facebook page for some awesome links about this, as well as supportive links.
Also, I now can’t get “Think of Meryl Streep“, a song from FAME! The Musical out of my head… It talks of saving up one’s emotions to use at a good time. It also comments on the perception that making a scene emotionally is bad, outside of acting, though it does so unintentionally. (Feminist and critical analyst of what I hear, read and watch? Moi? You jest…) It’s a good song.
Speeches like Streep’s are important, even if they’re flawed, because ableism exists in society in very casual ways so always needs a rebuttal. See this link for an example.
To prove that the mocking of the disabled reporter did occur, Pavlak has included video of it. Warning for ableism. Pavlak dissects things very well in the article linked below.
I’ve seen some pieces flying around the internet lately about “The Mandela Effect.” In short, this refers to the sensation that you’re living in some kind of parallel univer…
Source: Revising Reality
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