Psycho Donuts and mental health
Is a bakery with a crazy theme offensive, or just plain fun?
"Psycho Donuts": Fun, or offensive?
(Corbis/KG-Photography)
Jordan Zweigoron wanted an "edgy" doughnut shop, said Lauren Cox in ABC News, and he got it. Zweigeron called his California store "Psycho Donuts," then dressed his cashiers in old-fashioned nurse outfits, built a padded room where customers can be photographed wearing straight-jackets, and came up with menu items like his "bipolar doughnut" -- half chocolate frosting and nuts, half coconut flakes. Maybe he should have anticipated the protests by advocates for mental health advocates that have followed.
Fans of Psycho Donuts say it's "simply lighthearted fun," said Pete Earley in USA Today. But "for those of us with loved ones who suffer from severe mental illnesses, Psycho Donuts is no laughing matter." Words can hurt, by marginalizing and trivializing the suffering of people from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, severe depression and other mental illnesses that are "no funnier than breast cancer or heart disease."
Give it a rest, said Soheil Rezaee in the San Jose Independent Examiner. "I'm an advocate of equal rights and a more tolerant world toward all people of different races, religion, gender, and sexual orientation." But "not every damn group" in the country is entitled to protection from all harmless ribbing. "So just ignore the disruption and enjoy a tasty donut."
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9 Comments
Posted by mjg, Monday, August 17, 2009, 2:57 pm Remember that Dan White used the twinkie defense after shooting San Francisco's Mayor Harvey Milk and another to death. His defense prevailed and he received only a 5 year term. The devil sugar made him do it. He killed himself as soon as he was released. In light of the Harvey Milk case, the Psycho Donut name may not be so funny to some.
Posted by kw, Monday, August 17, 2009, 3:05 pm As most people probably do, I have had serious doubts about my loved one's sanity and my own at one time or another. But, satire has been afforded legal protection as long as it has been around. I'd like to think that as such a progressive country, we won't throw our sense humor lighthearted fun out in an effort to promote equity and civil rights. Laugh at yourself and the world laughs with you...
Posted by outcast, Monday, August 17, 2009, 3:13 pm KW why don't you inherit schizophrenia, manicdepression, OCD, plus a robust dissociative identity disorder and then get back to us after a few years after experiencing all the fun and frolic these diseases will afford you. You can laugh at cancer victims too while you're at it. But in the end you'll be crying. Laugh and the world laughs with you? How about: cry and it'll laugh even harder.
Posted by dj spellchecka, Monday, August 17, 2009, 3:44 pm if he needs a name change, i'd suggest calling it diabetes donuts....then he could have the nurses let customers experience all the fun of fake amputations....
Posted by Diane, Monday, August 17, 2009, 6:17 pm Coming from a family who has a history of mental health issues, I think this could even be theraputic for some.I was thinking how clever it would be to have a 'Dough Nuts' shop the theme would be like Wall Street, and what a lot of different doughnuts could be made with dollar and cent signs put on them in green frosting.I think this person has created a place where people don't have to think of the fear associated with emotional and mental difficulties they've shone a positive light on the topic. Kudos!
Posted by Jordan Zweigoron, Monday, August 17, 2009, 7:36 pm Please refer to the Psycho Donuts blog at psychodonuts.blogspot.com, for the Psycho Donuts official response.
Posted by well-huh, Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 1:06 pm It strikes me as really, really weird that articles such as Pete Earley's in USA Today seem like cut'n'paste jobs of all the other articles of all the other articles.1 Dismissive description of the donut shop2 Assertion that it somehow hurts people3 Quote a Big Number or two, with no real connection to donuts4 Comparison of banning donuts to Rosa Parks or similar analogy pulled out of thin air.
Posted by DRH, Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 1:12 pm Oh, but the way there IS a food place that references heart disease. The heart attack grill in Arizona.The thing that the Offended seem to be missing here is that their assumption that people with mental disorders or heart disease are not being made fun of ... the diseases ARE. Making fun of Bad Things is an important part of human survival. These people might also want to ponder the idea that learning not to place such a high value on Being Offended is also a very important survival skill.
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