From: rdippold@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.correct
Subject: Re: Superman's Death Stigmatizes Mentally Ill
Date: 14 Sep 92 20:08:16 GMT
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA

Some incredible stupidity from OC types, graciously posted for us by
Ms. Riba in rec.arts.comics.  What's funniest of all is at the end
where they suggest that some other group be stigmatized.  Pure PC.

lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba) Quotes:

>The following is quoted directly from a front page article in Saturday
>September 12th's Boston Globe:

>  For the creators of the comic book series Superman, kryptonite and Lex
>Luthor have proven no match for planet Krypton's man of steel.  But
>what's this?  More powerful than a locomotive comes... the Rhode
>Island mental health community.
>  POW!!
>  Mental health workers and patients are leading a verbal assault on DC
>Comics Inc., publisher of the weekly comic book series.  They are also
>taking "politically correct" to places not even the mild-mannered
>guardian of truth, justice and the American way might have foreseen.
>  In the comic book slated to hit the newsstands Nov. 18, Superman will
>die.  His killer will be a "superlunatic" escapee from a "cosmic
>insane asylum," accourding to Michael Carlin, an editor at DC Comics.
>  Surely a downer for Superman buffs, but an insult to members of the
>mental health community who say they are tired of "lunatic" villains
>stigmatizing their illness and perpetuating the myth that mental
>illnes breeds violence.
>  "This is stereotyping at its worst, pitting the ultimate evil against
>the ultimate good--and promising to make life difficult for the
>mentally ill into the next generation," said Daniel J. McCarthy, one
>of two Division of Mental Health administrators for the state.
>  Carlin is taken aback by the criticism.
>  "I'm terribly sorry if some people have been offended," he said,
>adding that he was unaware until recdently of the groundswell of
>discord headed his way.
>  McCarthy, one of the most outspoken critics of DC Comics' choice of
>assassins, said he plans a letter-writing campaign to "educate"
>Carlin, as does Eileen Elias, Massachusetts commissioner of mental
>health.
>  Jann Campbell, a spokeswoman for 250 mentally disabled members of the
>Coalition of Consumer Self Advocates in Rhode Island, said her group
>will send an "information delegation" to Carlin's office in New York
>next week "whether he wants us or not."
>  In Washington, where the Alliance for the Mentally Ill is holding its
>annual convention, several members have vowed to bring the "lunatic"
>stereotyping to the attention of the 2,000 conventioneers.
>  Few readers expect Superman's death will last much longer than the
>surge in orders for mid-November issues, now running 10 times above
>normal, according to several retail comic book stores.
>  For example, Wonder Woman came back to life from mud about a month
>after her death last spring.  Other heroes and heroines have been less
>fortunate. 
>  Captain Marvel has not recovered yet from the disease that killed him
>in the late-1970's.  The Flash remains subdued by Antimatter, and
>Supergirl disintegrated forever--so far--by Antimonitor in 1985.
>  This will be Superman's first death since 1938, the year of his
>inaugural comic book appearance.
>  "Superman will die fighting to save Metropolis from a superlunatic
>called Doomsday, dressed in a straitjacket and escaped from a comic
>insane asylum," Carlin said.  There is strong speculation he will
>return by Christmas, either cloned or, in the spirit of the season, as
>Lois Lane's child.
>  Killing Superman may have been a good publicity stunt, but Carlin
>concedes the ploy has turned somewhat bittersweet.
>  "Frankly, I'm very surprised that this is all being taken the wrong
>way.  We're in the comics business.  We specialize in stereotypes," he
>said.
>  Therein lies the rub, according to McCarthy.  Time and again,
>national statistics have shown mental health patients to be no more or
>less violent than the general population.  Mental illness is a disease
>treatable with drugs, he said.  Yet fictional stereotypes promote a
>fear that extends to the workplace and housing market.
>  It remains unclear what, if anything, DC Comics can do about
>Doomsday, were the publisher inclined to placate critics.  Comic books
>are a half-billion-dollar retail business, with DC Comics garnering
>about 20 percent of the total, according to Maggie Thompson,
>codirector of the Comics Buyer's Guide.
>  Doomsday has gone to press already.  He will start appearing in comic
>books to be distributed next week.
>  Campbell said it is time to give the mentally ill a break.  Perhaps
>other illnesses should take a turn.
>  "If someone who is ill is going kill Superman," she suggested, "how
>about an escapee from a cosmic cancer ward?"
-- 
Technique:  A trick that works.