Posted without comment:
Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) September 22, 2014
by John Cole| 97 Comments
This post is in: Go Fuck Yourself
Posted without comment:
Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) September 22, 2014
Comments are closed.
[…] Jeopardized twits. […]
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
From where the fuck does this come?
A Humble Lurker
I can think of at least one thing that’s sadder.
Alison
I know something sadder: that Ken Jennings thinks his opinions on other people’s fuckability matter one iota.
Guess what, white dude? They don’t.
John O
I have no idea who Ken Jennings is, but I’ll bet I know which way he votes.
Richard Shindledecker
Go back to ootah Ken – you’ve lost an ‘m’ – I’m sure it’s there somewhere.
Hunter Gathers
Too bad Will Ferrell no longer does Celebrity Jeopardy. A panel with this guy, Sean Connery and Burt Reynolds would be hilarious.
Tommy
@John O: Funny thing he came out as a liberal a few short months ago.
Louise
@Tommy: Can we give him back?
Bill E Pilgrim
I’ll take my foot out of my mouth for $200, Alex.
Adam Lang
@Louise: Maybe trade him for two eight-year-olds and a ‘hot person in a wheelchair’?
Violet
WTF? Where did this come from?
suzanne
Um, what the fuck? He is aware that plenty of people in wheelchairs have romantic relationships. Even sex. SHOCKER.
Though I have to confess that I get filled with anxiety when I see disabled people jaywalking.
Speaking of assholes, my ex-husband told me that he and his wife, Spawn the Elder’s stepmother, are getting a divorce. And Spawn’s stepmom gave her a letter saying that she didn’t want to see Spawn anymore. My kid is devastated and I am so fucking pissed.
Violet
@suzanne:
WTF? Who does that to a child? I cannot even begin to imagine. Did your child like this woman?
some guy
that is some fucked up shit right there, Suzanne.
be there for your Spawn
suzanne
@Violet: Yes, she loved her, and her whole family. Spawn called her parents Grandma and Grandpa. My kid has been borderline hysterical since yesterday.
Perhaps this is dumb, but I am pissed at my ex. Since we broke up, he has had who serious relationships that failed, and his exes encouraged Spawn to be close and affectionate, until they break up and then they’re like SAYONARA to my kid, never to be seen or heard from again. It SUCKS.
MomSense
@suzanne:
Elder spawn’s soon to be ex step mom is a jerk. Sending you and your daughter hugs.
Anne Laurie
@suzanne:
On the not-very-plus side of the equation, at least now your ex-husband can’t blame the estrangement on you… which seems to be the go-to move with divorced idiots ‘explaining’ such things to their kids.
Although if about-to-no-longer-be Stepmom wrote anything beyond “it’s not you, kid, it’s him and/or me,” she can climb aboard the fvck-you-very-much train, too.
suzanne
@MomSense: The ultimate irony is that she’s a middle school teacher. One might think she would have some insight into how emotionally damaging this is.
LT
Why is that assholish?
Time Travelin'
@LT: If you have to ask, you probably shouldn’t.
LT
People are putting their own thoughts about “in a wheelchair” into this. Could mean any number of things. Including Jennings himself, with a broken leg.
LT
@Time Travelin’: Do you have special problems with people in wheelchairs?
suzanne
@Anne Laurie: My ex, a sometimes-recovering alcoholic, has made it clear that he realizes that he is the one who fucked up in a major way, and that he is jealous of the fact that I have my shit together and he still does not. However. That gives me no satisfaction right now, because my kid is still freaking out.
Tommy
I dated a women in college who didn’t have part of her leg. She hated a wheelchair but at times need to use it. Her leg didn’t always work for her. She was just a good person that lost most of her leg.
LT
@Alison:
What in the unholy fuck?
Violet
@suzanne: Oh, no, that is awful. Who does that to a child? Did she say anything in the letter that was at all redeeming? Like, “I love you but it’s too hard for me to see you right now”? Or was it just ,”Sorry, now we’re broken up, it’s over for you and me too. See ya.”?
That is just terrible for your daughter. I hope you can help her through it. May leave some unfortunate trust issues, though. Maybe she can see it as a learning experience of how not to behave. Miserably tough lesson though.
Michael G
I bet hacked account.
If it’s legit, I’m going to be sad.
Anne Laurie
@suzanne:
It does suck. But your kid is learning that we can love people who aren’t going to turn out to be reliable, which is better than learning that people are just flesh-lego interchangeable units, here today, gone tomorrow. The kid version of better-to-have-loved-and-lost. I know people who’ve grown up in both circumstances (and, unfortunately, sometimes passed the family fvck-up along to their own kids) and the Broken Hearts always seem to function better than the Frozens.
Alison
@LT: Well, what do you think the point of his comment was? I mean, he didn’t mean hot temperature-wise.
If you seriously see nothing wrong with what he said……..oy.
Violet
@LT: So Ken Jennings in a wheelchair with a broken leg is calling himself hot? That’s worse.
LT
Hold on – I took this as hot – temperature wise. That people would think he meant hot as in attractive I think is just weird.
LT
@Alison: Just commented on that – that’s exactly what I thought it meant. Didn’t even occur to me he might have meant attractive.
PurpleGirl
@suzanne: That was a mean and nasty thing to do. If she felt that way toward your daughter she could have written the letter and then burned it or thrown it out but not given it to your daughter. A grade A a**hole.
suzanne
@Violet: It was a bunch of “blah blah I don’t want to interfere when your dad has a new girlfriend,” that kind of shit.
@Anne Laurie: I just want my ex to pick people who have better character. Mr. Suzanne would absolutely, undoubtedly, 100% stay involved for Spawn if, FSM forbid, we ever broke up. My ex is a serial monogamist who jumps into relationships too quickly b/c he, like most men, doesn’t want to be ALOOOOONE.
Violet
@LT: Why would there be “nothing sadder” than a temperature-wise too-warm person in a wheelchair? That makes no sense at all. Why is it even a bit sad?
Deciding that a very good looking person “being stuck in a wheelchair” is “very sad” makes more sense, but it’s a horrible thing to say.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Anne Laurie:
It absolutely should not be anyone in a parental position who teaches you that. I had a friend/roommate in college whose father (the author of a bestselling series of crappy mystery novels who a bunch of you have definitely heard of) was of the opinion that parents should habitually lie to their children so that they learn not to trust people. Needless to say, said friend was seriously fucked up.
LT
@Violet: “Why would there be “nothing sadder” than a temperature-wise too-warm person in a wheelchair? That makes no sense at all. Why is it even a bit sad?”
Why would it be sad to see some person in a wheelchair on a very hot day? Are you kidding?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I”m guessing you don’t own a Philco, and haven’t been down to the movie house to see a picture since you had an “I like Ike” button on your lapel.
Alison
@LT: Oh come on. What on earth would it have meant that way? Why would it be “sad” for someone who was hot, temperature-wise, to be in a wheelchair? It’s not like sitting down makes you hotter.
If he meant that, he would have said “sweaty” or something.
Anne Laurie
@suzanne:
So… your ex’s about-to-be-ex is a “fixer”, who’s now decided that your ex can’t (won’t) be fixed.
You no doubt have heard this before, but just as the children of alcoholics tend to grow up & become either alcoholics or teatotallers, they also tend to migrate to the “helping” professions — teachers, nurses, first responders. It’s cold comfort now, but your kid is seeing from experience that alcoholism is not a disease that can be “fixed” from the outside, not even by a trained professional with the best will in the world. She’s got you and her stepdad to help her now, and the current sadness will be useful to her later in life (like so many horrible experiences, ugh).
Violet
@suzanne: That’s just chickenshit on her part. Do you know her at all? Would it be worth you talking to her or is that just not even realistic?
I can understand her needing some space, but cutting your daughter out like that is terrible. Poor kid.
LT
You all are killing me. Have you never been near a wheelchair?
2 seconds on Google:
http://www.teenavs7train.com/thinking-up-titles-for-my-posts-is-becoming-more-and-more-difficult/
LT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What is a “Philco”? And who is “Ike”?
LT
I pray I don’t have to tag that last comment…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LT: one of those new-fangled machines people use to watch Gleason on the Dumont Network, a silly fad that will never replace the radio.
Anne Laurie
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Your friend’s father sounds like a sociopath, probably someone who was raised by another sociopath. No cure for sociopaths, unfortunately for the rest of us.
LT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Good Christ. The comment did need a tag.
Violet
@LT:
I don’t think it’s any sadder to see a person in a wheelchair on a hot day than a person not in a wheelchair on a hot day. It’s the hot day that matters. I also don’t think it’s “sad” either way. It’s uncomfortable for the people who are hot. But it’s not sad. Why is it sad?
If he meant a person unable to care for themselves, that’s different from a person in a wheelchair. People in wheelchairs are generally capable human beings and want to be seen as such. If they’re too warm, they’ll wheel themselves somewhere else so they can cool down.
If he’s referring to someone unable to move their wheelchair without assistance, that’s another thing entirely. But that’s not what he said.
PIGL
@suzanne: Your Spohn has a loving heart… I hope it’s strong enough to survive this cruelty. Forgive me for butting in but I just wanted to hold out some kind of sympathy maybe apologize on behalf of all right thinking people.
Alison
@LT: Okay, sure. But if that’s what he meant, wouldn’t it have been phrased “a person in a wheelchair on a hot day”? Come on.
Plus, a shit ton of people called him out, and if he did NOT mean “a hot looking person”, he would have said so, don’t you think? A second tweet saying, “People, I mean overheated!” Not that most of us would believe him, because, sorry, that’s a wee bit too gullible for me.
Suffern ACE
@Violet: I wouldn’t talk to her. She’s made up her mind that the child is not what she wants after the marriage has ended. There’s not a lot of point in Suzanne chasing her down to convince her to – do what? Stay in touch? Tell the daughter directly that she meant what she wrote in her letter?
LT
@Violet: There was a guy who lived in my little town in Oregon. He only ever got around on his wheelchair, and he was overweight. He’d lug his guitar around with him – he came to my open mikes sometimes. In summer’s doggiest dog day, when we got over 100 for a couple weeks, he’d be huffing and puffing, sweating profusely, struggling to get his wheelchair across a road, down a sidewalk. Hills were especially bad.
I felt fucking horrible for him. It was what one might call a “sad sight.” Maybe that’s not the perfect way to express oneself about that – I’m sure you and the others her on Olympus would do better.
Violet
@Suffern ACE: Well, sometimes people do things in emotional moments that they later regret. It might be possible that this is one of those times. If Suzanne knows her then she could make that call. You’re probably right that it’s not the right thing to do but people have been known to make mistakes, not know how to fix things, and being offered an opportunity to do so is welcome.
suzanne
@Suffern ACE: That’s my feeling on it, too. Like, what can I do? At best, she’ll begrudgingly take Spawn out to lunch or something. What I want is for her to stay in her life in some capacity because she loves her.
Ugh. Fuck. So fucking pissed.
LT
@Alison: He might have meant hot as in attractive. It might have been a really bad attempt at humor, by a guy who has been a funny and fearless advocate for lefty causes. I hope it wasn’t, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it either.
Violet
@LT: Calling someone in a wheelchair “sad” is a judgment on their situation, no matter the weather. It can be seen as pitying them. Most people in wheelchairs do not want pity.
LT
@Violet: Hoo doggy. What’s the weather like on Olympus? Hope it’s not too hot!
Violet
@LT: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Alison
@LT: OMG, no one here is losing sleep over it. We’re noting that it’s fucked up, tone deaf attempt at a “joke”. And I dont give a shit that he has supposed “lefty” credentials – plenty of so-called liberal dudes are still sexist, racist, or otherwise ignorant, and this kind of reaction ALWAYS happens – “Hey, come on, it was just a joke, and he’s a LIBERAL so it’s totally okay.” No, it’s not. I expect more from liberals, not less. I expect them to not make jokes with marginalized people as the target, and I expect them to understand why they shouldn’t.
I’m not losing sleep over this little douche. I’m just noting his douchiness. I have every right to.
LT
@Alison: Sure seems like you might lose sleep over it.
P.S. I don’t know what he meant by that. Neither do you. You’re guessing, and getting outraged about you’re guess. I find that weird.
Bubblegum Tate
Ken Jennings is awesome, and his Twitter is one of the very, very, few actually worth reading.
Alison
@LT: Fine, whatever. Like I said, if he meant what you think, he would have responded to people on Twitter, rather than letting everyone’s incorrect assumption stand.
And no, as i said, I’m not losing sleep over it, FFS. Please stop inferring hysterics where there aren;t any.
LT
@Alison:
‘ And I dont give a shit that he has supposed “lefty” credentials ‘
You misunderstand. His history as a thoughtful, funny, caring, smart person, and as a Lefty, which I think can affect the formers, affects how I’m going to assess a situation. The same way that a person with a history of being an uncaring asshole, and a Righty, which also can affect the former, would affect an assessment of that person. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Annamal
@suzanne: Needless to say it is a shitty thing to do.
If you want to take some action, would it be possible to write a letter explaining (in as matter a fact a way as possible) just how hurtful this particular episode has been to Spawn and that any child deserves better from the people her parents have in their lives.
At the very least it is worth letting this woman know that her actions have consequences for other people.
cckids
@suzanne: What completely horrible human beings. That is so, so low. Mean & spiteful.
A Humble Lurker
@LT:
Doesn’t mean he didn’t say something stupid now.
hitchhiker
Uh, Mr. Hitchhiker is in a wheelchair. He landed there 13 years ago. Broken neck. Not really interested in whether Ken Jennings thinks he’s hot, sweaty, sad, sexy, whatevah.
For my money, there’s nothing sadder than a comedian who makes unbelievably stupid jokes.
LT
@A Humble Lurker: Which I have acknowledged.
LT
Who or what is putting my comments in moderation?
EDIT: Except for this one.
suzanne
@Annamal: I may do that. But I’m going to wait, because I am righteously pissed and I don’t trust my emotional judgment at the moment.
Arclite
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read “hot person” to be too warm as well. I figured he was remarking on the fact that not being able to get out of a hot vinyl chair on a hot day must suck. It wasn’t until I read the comments that I realized there was another reading.
Arclite
@Alison:
1. Who knows why people phrase things the way they do? Tweets especially never go through consideration or rewrites before firing off.
2. If the person was visibly sweating already they would have been a “hot person”
TriassicSands
Wow, what an amazing amount of arguing over one inarticulate/stupid Ken Jennings tweet.
LT, if someone as smart as Jennings were talking about temperature, then he should (and probably would) have phrased his statement something like this:
In that sentence, Jennings would be referring to the day as hot, not the person, and the reason for the person’s discomfort would be clear. Today, in common usage, when a person is referred to as “hot” it is invariably a reference to “sexiness,” not temperature. Whether or not that would be synonymous with “fuckability” would depend on the individual making the statement. Had Jennings worded his tweet as in the sentence above, the meaning of the sentence would at least be clear, if a little strange — surely there are many things sadder than a person in a wheelchair on a hot day. That’s discomfort, not tragedy. It’s a stretch to call this sentence ambiguous, but if Jennings really was referring to heat and not sexiness, then he needs to work on his language skills.
Another Holocene Human
Thread: derailed.
Congrats, LT, I would have given my left nut to be able to troll that successfully back when I was 17, grossly immature, and just got access to my university’s big old pipe to the internet (complete with both real usenet and DejaNews, weeeee!!)
Halcyon
If we’re taking a tally, I also read it as referring to someone overheating and was confused at why John thought it was awful until I got around to the comments.
Randy P
@LT: I guess this thread is probably long dead, but just in case, I’m guessing you’re not a native English speaker, right? Or at least not an American English speaker?
Because your reading is not really possible for an American.
If that was the intended meaning, I would have to assume that “Ken Jennings” was not a native speaker.
Aimai
@suzanne: have you thought about writing back to her and just saying
” look, you seemed like a good person all these years and you and your family formed a relationship with my child that exists whether you are in a relationship with my ex or not. Can you not imagine continuing the relationship as a kind of great aunt or friend? You dont have to continue as step mom but how about aunt?
Aimai
@suzanne: needless to say my suggestion is only for if you really like and respect this woman. If you dont it is better to treat the situation as what it is: not uncommon. Your ex husbands girlfriends/wives are not coparents. Hang on to the letter and hold it in your exes face next time he pfoposes using your kid with his new relationship.
Rook
Who the hell is Ken Jennings and why the hell should I care what that mentally disabled person has to say about anything? It sounds like his mind needs to be in a wheel chair.
Howard Beale IV
@Rook: Ken Jennings had one of the longest winning streaks in Jeopardy history.
dmbeaster
@LT:
The only thing weird here is your obsession over defending your minority view of what was meant by the tweet. Yes, it is possible to have mistaken the probable meaning of the tweet as you did, but you should recognize that you have gotten it wrong, which is no big deal. Usually, when someone refers to a “hot person”, they rarely are describing his or her temperature.
chopper
@LT:
i think he actually meant ‘haute’, as in ‘high’. which really means like someone who’s totally high as hell and needs to sit down in a wheelchair cause they’re having trouble walking. totally sad!
you’re an idiot.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@suzanne:
Bloody hell! WTF?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Violet:
I think he’s trying to explain what life is like when you’re thick (for clarity, I mean stupid)
shelley
Watch out, Mr. Jennings. Karma’s got you on his short list now.
Paul in KY
@suzanne: Did she take out a restraining order on her too?! Jeezus, a letter…
Paul in KY
@LT: I took it as ‘attractive physically’.
Paul in KY
@Violet: I have heard that people who are paralyzed have a much harder time regulating body temperature.
Paul in KY
@Violet: I know they don’t want pity, but for someone who was born able bodied & is now in a chair, I feel some pity.
There are others, who you can see that being able to move around in a wheelchair is a great thing, that I do not feel an pity for. In fact, I am glad they have the technology to make their life easier.
CONGRATULATIONS!
so much total win in this thread.
Mnemosyne
So let me get this straight — what we have here is an entire group of men who claim that whenever a topic like “who’s hotter, Scarlett Johanssen or Kate Upton?” comes up, their immediate thought is, Well, obviously Johanssen is hotter because Upton is usually wearing those scanty bikinis and there’s no way she’s staying warm in those.
Rrrrriiiiiggggghhhhhtttt.
Linnaeus
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Your wise men don’t know how it feels to be thick as a brick.
BobbyThomson
@Alison:
That’s actually how I read it and it didn’t make much sense. Not that it makes much more sense the other way.
Donald
Since some people in this thread did read “hot” to mean “high temperature”, it’s possible that KJ meant it that way and one should wait to find out before becoming outraged. Though if we did that sort of thing regularly it would take all the fun out of the internet. Carry on then.
kahn
@Mnemosyne:
Is it because they find it ridiculous that Jennings might be implying that anyone in a wheelchair could be sexy? I suppose that would make more sense than assuming that multiple English-speaking internet users have suddenly blanked out the ubiquitous colloquial meaning of “hot” in popular culture.
Of course, if we change the tweet to “Nothing sadder than an overheated person in a wheelchair” it still comes off condescending as fuck. It’s the sentence structure, which is more appropriate for describing things or situations than people. I suppose it’s possible that Jennings is just a terrible writer. There’s nothing sadder than poor grammar.
LT
@Randy P: I’m American, born and bred, a professional user of the language, and a Twitter follower of Jennings, a very funny human, and not someone who does mean comedy, as far as I’ve seen, and I could not figure out what the fuss was about until I’d made a few comments here. It *did not even occur to me* that he could have meant “attractive.” It just didn’t. I have not ever myself been confined to a wheelchair, aside form hospital requirements for transport after broken bones and stictches, but I have spent a really lot of time as an aide of developmentally disabled people in wheelchairs, and I immediately thought of “hot day” and wheelchairs, which, geniuses here aside, are actually an uncomfortable pain in the ass.
@Donald:
‘ Since some people in this thread did read “hot” to mean “high temperature”, it’s possible that KJ meant it that way and one should wait to find out before becoming outraged. ‘
NO WAY!