Sue Goetinck People express their prejudices carefully these days. Sexism and racism and supposedly taboo Jokes about physical handicaps are condemned as tasteless.
Nobody shuns cancer patients any more.
But people with mental illness are still fair game. When John du Pont was arrested on murder charges, TV comedians exploited his mental illness for a few laughs. George Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist, lampooned the Americans With Disabilities Act for protecting people with mental disorders, U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in his book on renewing America, lumped the mentally ill in with dangerous criminals. It's easy to make fun of. But it's apparently not so easy to understand.