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Friday September 3, 2010

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Kids Dying of cancer is NOT FUNNY

Posted by: Bob Maumill | 4 June, 2009 - 11:37 AM
Bob's Blog Humour brightens our lives.

Humour can turn a really rotten day into something that becomes manageable.

Humour brings people together.

Want to become friends with someone? Share a laugh with them, tell them a joke.

Laughter, as they say, is the best medicine and a way of building bridges.

Australians have a long tradition of finding humour in most situations. Politics, sport, drought, flood, and war.

Even in the most desperate situations Australians can find something to laugh about.

But there are boundaries, and the makers of ABC TV series The Chaser crossed the line and lapsed into shocking, hurtful, bad taste when they cruelly mocked the Make A Wish Foundation and made dying children the focus of a comedy skit.

Sure, in the past The Chasers have made me cringe, and yes their humour can upset some people, but before last night they had never directed barbs at dying children and mocked them.

The Chaser crew won us over when they attacked pompous celebrities, big name politicians, big institutions, the bureaucracy and people and organisations who took themselves too seriously.

But there are some people who should be left alone, who should not be lampooned, mocked and ridiculed and used as material in a cruel tasteless skit.

No matter how clever The Chasers think they are, there is nothing funny about kids dying of cancer.

Blog comments Your Say

  • i was under the impression the skit was directed at the "make a wish foundation" instead of the children. didn't the chasers know, very well, the children and parents involved in that skit? if so, that would imply a modicum of understanding between the producers and the cancer victims and their parents - that there are better ways to spend donation money than on holidays and movie stars' accomodation.

    Aaron Sice Thursday 2 July, 2009 - 2:56 PM

  • I don't think that there could be a sensible perspective in relation to the Chaser.
    The spin on this is ridiculous.
    The worst part of this debarkle is this the fact that ABC and The Chaser think all of this is OK - " Let's just defer episodes"

    Sara Saturday 6 June, 2009 - 1:10 AM

  • dolledBob,
    You have been for me a beacon of common sense amongst the crass rubbish that most of the media serves up. You have been the proof, for at least 20 years (off and on, when you were'nt sacked for speaking your mind)that there is an element of the Fourth Estate which has the ability to take an issue and think about it. For that, thankyou. More power to you, Bob. On this occasion, please find a small thought for deadlines, panics, "well, we haven't got anything else, fr' Christ sakes", and general running out of ideas. Give them a dignified way out before tearing them another one - as our American friends so delicately put it...............
    Paul. 0424901787

    Paul Hubbard Thursday 4 June, 2009 - 5:01 PM

  • Shamefull and totally outrageous.These guys need to go and get a real job and do something constructive to help rather than criticise.

    Jean Rispoli Thursday 4 June, 2009 - 3:05 PM

  • this is why I don't watch the s*** the chasers & ABC are bloody disgusting, heartless to say the least! to even think that this was remotely funny!!! they should be taken off air and be ordered to make a sizeable donation to the fund!

    Michelle de Vattimo Thursday 4 June, 2009 - 1:44 PM

  • I have never watched the Chasers as I don't find making fun of other people that funny - and it appears these guys have a habit of stretching the boundry. There is no doubt they did on this occasion. Bob, you are spot on.

    Allan McLean Thursday 4 June, 2009 - 1:35 PM

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