adambeyoncelowe
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Agreed. He's just sorry that they've been called out for it. May the lot of them never work again, and be forced to retrain in an industry they hate.
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New Forum Software Installed (Still a few issues but reopening the forum) More details.
Netflix "Afflicted" - ME included
zzz
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
This article was updated a couple of hours ago, and now contains a fair amount of new material. It's now entitled How Netflix’s ‘Afflicted’ Failed the Chronic Illness Community, with the subtitle "According to participants in the docuseries, producers promised compassion but delivered exploitation instead." The article is also listed as one of the main stories on HuffPost's front page, so it's getting lots of exposure.
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inox
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
It's a 'Netflix Original', so I assumed it was funded by Netflix?
MsUnderstood
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Here's an article by Julie Rehmeyer posted on today's LA Times website:
Netflix is televising prejudice against the chronically ill
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-e...series-on-chronic-illness-20180917-story.html
Also today, I believe, Ben HsuBorger of #MEAction has started the following petition:
Remove "Afflicted" Docuseries from Netflix Now
https://my.meaction.net/petitions/r...tflix-now?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button
I'm not usually one to sign on-line petitions, but the message in this one is so clear and well-crafted, I just might. When I first viewed it, there were six signatures. Now approximastely half an hour later, 86 signatures.
Netflix is televising prejudice against the chronically ill
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-e...series-on-chronic-illness-20180917-story.html
Also today, I believe, Ben HsuBorger of #MEAction has started the following petition:
Remove "Afflicted" Docuseries from Netflix Now
https://my.meaction.net/petitions/r...tflix-now?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button
I'm not usually one to sign on-line petitions, but the message in this one is so clear and well-crafted, I just might. When I first viewed it, there were six signatures. Now approximastely half an hour later, 86 signatures.
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inox
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
It's available in Norway at least, but I think it's mostly in the US Afflicted has caused an uproar? In Norway, and maybe Europe in general, there isn't much talk about things like electricity sensitivity, lyme or mold. Or spending that much money om treatments, legit treatments or not. So someone watching it over here will likely just shake their head and think "only in america".
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EzzieD
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Same here. But, I discovered that if I try the Google Cache version, I can read it - the formatting is all over the place, but it is at least possible to read the article. See if it works for you (I use Firefox, am not sure if this will work for all browsers): http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...20180917-story.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
(Scroll down to get to the actual article.)
Kalliope
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
This was excellent!
For those who can't access it, here is how it starts off:
Ableism kills.
I’ve watched my fellow patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, suffer and even die from the ignominy of a suspect disease. Patients often can’t get effective medical care, their disability insurance applications are rejected, their marriages are torn apart, they’re abandoned by their families, they end up in poverty and food insecurity, and sometimes they die, occasionally from the disease itself, more often fromsuicide.
As terrible as this litany is, nothing has brought home to me the dangers of prejudice against those who are chronically ill like the new Netflix documentary series “Afflicted.”
She gives several good examples on how TV shows like this is harming patients and how "Skepticism chokes the flow of research dollars".
Kalliope
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Opinion piece in the Guardian based on Rehmeyer's article:
Frances Ryan - Sorry, Netflix: we don't need another freak show
When groups are stereotyped on TV, it does not just reflect the prejudices of the time but can be key in perpetuating them. Distorted depictions can be particularly damaging for people with chronic illnesses – who are typically disbelieved and told: “‘It’s all in your head,” but this goes for many minorities whose lives are used as entertainment fodder for the majority.https://amp.theguardian.com/society...-another-freak-show?__twitter_impression=true
Frances Ryan - Sorry, Netflix: we don't need another freak show
When groups are stereotyped on TV, it does not just reflect the prejudices of the time but can be key in perpetuating them. Distorted depictions can be particularly damaging for people with chronic illnesses – who are typically disbelieved and told: “‘It’s all in your head,” but this goes for many minorities whose lives are used as entertainment fodder for the majority.https://amp.theguardian.com/society...-another-freak-show?__twitter_impression=true
wdb
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
It's also cached a little better here:
https://web.archive.org/web/2018091...series-on-chronic-illness-20180917-story.html
Sly Saint
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Kalliope
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Maya Dusenbery in Pacific Standard: An open letter accuses Netflix' "Afflicted" of abandoning ethics and science
It's hard to imagine that Afflicted would have turned out the way it did if chronically ill people had been involved at all levels of the production and editing process.
Instead, a show that had great potential to be a major step forward in raising awareness about the plight of patients unlucky enough to be suffering from conditions that medicine doesn't yet understand became, as one viewer put it, "every chronic illness patient's worst nightmare."
It's hard to imagine that Afflicted would have turned out the way it did if chronically ill people had been involved at all levels of the production and editing process.
Instead, a show that had great potential to be a major step forward in raising awareness about the plight of patients unlucky enough to be suffering from conditions that medicine doesn't yet understand became, as one viewer put it, "every chronic illness patient's worst nightmare."
The media often generates interest through controversy, conflict, and sensationalism. Manipulating, or persuading their audience towards certain view points and emotions. "Afflicted" is one such example.
On a much smaller scale I have experienced the media whipping up controversy where there was none, misquoting statements, and misrepresenting an article as their own. Not all are like this, but I have been burned by some of my experiences with this profession.
On a much smaller scale I have experienced the media whipping up controversy where there was none, misquoting statements, and misrepresenting an article as their own. Not all are like this, but I have been burned by some of my experiences with this profession.
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