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I was stunned to read the review (July 10) of Dan and Paul Dinello’s film Shock Asylum, shown at the Chicago Short Comedy Video and Film Festival. Depicting patients in a hospital being threatened with physical harm and being terrorized and tortured is cruel and dehumanizing. To set up an audience to laugh at intentional human suffering degrades the audience. Probably the Dinellos would not make a comedy film about prisoners subjected to medical experiments in the concentration camp at Auschwitz or expect audiences to laugh at violent scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. People who suffer from brain disorders deserve to be respected like all other groups of people.
If the Dinellos want a target to satirize, I propose the health insurance industry, for their obstinate refusal to provide coverage for illnesses of the brain comparable with illnesses of other organs. They willfully ignore studies and experience that show equitable coverage brings minimal or no additional cost.
