Pet Peeve: "short bus" jokes

Actor Crush of the Day: Hugh Laurie (Thanks for the reminder, Dr. A!)

Edit: I also challenged myself creatively! See my Inklings blog in the sidebar.

It's a pet peeve of mine that some people think making jokes about riding the short bus, or related jokes, are funny.

Now, I know that there's people in the world who make jokes about all sorts of potentially offensive things; it's not like I can't handle that. I just thought I'd go off on this one today.

I used to play Star Wars Galaxies* (an online game), and, while I played with other fun-loving adults, it still seems that the "gamer" type, still tended to be the type of person who thought ridiculing the short bus and its riders, was funny.

For those who don't know, the "short bus" being the smaller school bus that disabled and/or special ed children would often ride on, at least when I was growing up.

Not everyone who plays computer games, online or not, and is an adult, fits that gamer stereotype; see my husband and I, for example. Married couples who played were less likely to fit that category.

Some of these "short bus jokers" seemed to get offended, in the mode of, I was trampling on their rights, when I asked them to consider my feelings, and that I had a special needs child. Some of them were like, "Oh, sorry!" That was the exception though . . . Offended isn't really the right word, for how some reacted. Affronted, or put out, maybe . . . perhaps they felt a little guilty, I don't know.

I just don't understand this mentality, although I suppose picking on the different, is something that most creatures do . . . chickens, wolves, sharks probably EAT the weaker of their species (one species, even, the live young, in utero, eat their weaker womb-mates, I guess it's nature's way of toughening them up for the real world . . . (thanks, Discovery Channel Shark Week!)).

Click the title to go see the t-shirt. There's another shirt on this site, that, yeah, while I know it's "labeling" to think of short bus shirt wearers in these terms, it still brings me a sense of satisfaction, to think of; it says, "I see dumb people."

Overgeneralizing too, but hey, we all have our criteria for who fits into our social scene and who doesn't, and wearers of the short bus shirt make it that much easier for me to move on. Although I'd rather that I'd have to find out from conversation, and that there weren't people who'd spend their money on this degrading kind of shirt.

I wouldn't WEAR the dumb people shirt, but it's kind of an internal visceral reaction to seeing the other. Probably just my mother bear instincts.

*The Star Wars link goes to a pic of my main character; I used to dress my "toons" up in Wonder Woman outfits . . . what would a shrink say about that? Lol . . .