"F" as in not FUNNY!!!

It's time once again for Ms. Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday and this week we are studying the letter "F" as in not FUNNY!

What's wrong with some people?  I know we live in the age of social media where often people get themselves in trouble for Twittering or posting something hastily without thinking first.  However, what happened in Atlanta last week took advanced planning.  Did you hear about the Sports Radio hosts who thought it was FUNNY to do a skit mocking a 36 year old former NFL player battling ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)?

Their skit brought back painful memories of my friends battling ALS.  Yes, over the years I've lost three friends to ALS and got to witness first hand their gradual decline until their bodies could no longer sustain life.  Believe me, there was nothing FUNNY about it.  They gradually lost the ability to walk, speak, and swallow.  I believe what ultimately took their lives was heart failure due to starvation.

I took this description from the ALS Association website:

What is ALS?

En español

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.


Hardly FUNNY, but you can click here to listen for yourself.  It's totally tasteless, so I'll give you a quick synopsis in case you don't want to hear it.  They pretend to be interviewing former New Orlean's Safety Steve Gleason and use a robotic voice to imitate the computerized voice he must use to communicate now.  They have "Steve" saying he might be gone by next Thursday and doing knock knock jokes and asking to be smothered.  There was more, but that will give you a general idea of their sick humor.

When I listened to the skit I shed a few tears.  I cried for my friends that are gone, for Steve Gleason, and for everyone battling this cruel disease for which there is no real treatment or cure.


I'm glad to say that these broadcasters have been fired.  In my opinion they should never have access to live air waves again.  How could anyone think that poking fun of a young dying man is FUNNY?

I just don't get it.

Please head over to Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent" for a list of this week's Alphabe-Thursday participants.

 Thanks for listening to my rant.  Can you tell I'm mad?