And Ignorance Abounds…

“When our idea of danger is eating gluten, there’s trouble afoot. Yes, we the people have gotten soft.”

After reading what Jennifer Lawrence had to say about gluten back in October, that it’s the cool new eating disorder, I had hoped no one else would start spouting off about a subject they know virtually nothing about. Unfortunately, as my title says, ignorance abounds.

It would seem that NASCAR is the new bully on the block. A bully? Oh yeah. Bullies make fun of people. Bullies try to humiliate people. Bullies try to draw attention to things that make their victims different. And intentional or not, that’s what ads like this, and flippant comments by people like Ms. Lawrence do every time they belittle very real health issues like this.

Since so many others are writing blogs about this today, I encourage you to stop by the GlutenDude website. He has a list of facts about the damage gluten does to those who can’t (or shouldn’t) have gluten.

For those of you who aren’t aware, I’ve already shared that gluten can increase the risk of intestinal cancers, alopecia, neurological disorders, and thyroid problems and, for people like me, asthma-like symptoms.

It’s not a joke. If health issues are so amusing, why didn’t NASCAR target those with allergies to peanuts or bee stings?

GlutenDude, along with other bloggers, encourage readers to sign a petition to get NBC to remove the offensive ad. I won’t do that. They require your name and address, and I just can’t promote putting personal information like that online. Especially when it comes to petitions. Who knows if that information can be used for other petitions you might not support?

But I do encourage you to click on the YouTube link in the bottom right corner of the video. It will take you directly to the ad on the NASCAR YouTube page where you can give the video a thumbs down and leave a comment letting them know how you feel about them making fun of people who can’t consume gluten.

Let’s not laugh along with the rest of the world. Let’s speak up and let them know this isn’t okay. Because until the world realizes this is a serious health issue, we’ll always be fighting an uphill battle.

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4 Responses to And Ignorance Abounds…

  1. Lynner says:

    I agree that the comment should not have been put on ANY ad, but consider the source. The character this man plays (who I absolutely love!) on tv, Ron Swanson, hates big government, entitlements, most people, and eats meat and “breakfast food” (bacon wrapped in bacon) and would love to spend life in a cave. His character would indeed say something like what is in the ad. He’s like a modern George Jefferson or Fred Sanford from the sitcoms of the 70’s. I think the ad could have shown something else but then again, anything Ron Swanson would say would probably offend someone. If not, it wouldn’t fit his character.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Swanson

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hmm. I’ve heard of the show, but never have seen it. And I can almost understand, but it’s hard. I still deal with some anger on occasion because I resent not being able to go to restaurants anymore. Well, I can go to three, but at two of those, I can’t have croutons, or rolls with my supper. I have to keep an index card in my purse to remember to say don’t use the seasoning on the steak, I can have this dressing, but can you mix the salad in a separate bowl please? At the third, the choices are extremely limited.

      There are other places I could eat, but the employees just don’t take it seriously. The last time I went to Texas Roadhouse, within an hour, it was hard to walk and breathe at the same time.

      Celebrities wield a lot of power, but when they say something like this, even as a joke, it continues to make the gluten issue itself a joke. And because of that, most of us have to stay home and cook everything from scratch. Which isn’t a terrible thing, but I’ve eaten at restaurants maybe three times in the past five months. I’d love to go out weekly, but it’s just scary. One worker who doesn’t take it seriously will make me sick – literally – for two or three weeks, until my body stops reacting to the gluten. And it only takes a little bit.

      If they wanted to make fun of someone, they should have done bottled water drinkers (and I’m one of those too, but our well water sucks, even with softener salts). Or the people who have to order fancy coffees. Yeah, THOSE people are soft, lol.

      But when it’s something like this … that’s just not right. They’d be crucified if they’d made fun of people with peanut allergies. Gluten can cause cancers in the digestive tract, osteoporosis, and even anaphylactic shock in some, which scares the snot out of me since it does affect my breathing.

      Okay. LOL…I’ll stop now. It’s just a subject that I’m pretty passionate about. 🙂

      • Lynner says:

        ‘Ron Swanson’ would definitely make fun of bottled water drinkers .. yep they should have used that! But he loves his ‘breakfast foods and meat’ lol

        • Kristy K. James says:

          LOL…so do I. In fact, if I didn’t need sleep so much, I’d consider making a big breakfast this morning. Instead, I’m trying to figure out the best timing for a nap. 😀

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