CONTROVERSY OVER THE LONE RANGER

I had not heard about this; but I'm glad I now have.  Apparently in the movie "The Lone Ranger", released earlier this month, there is a villain portrayed in the movie.  And how did the film's producers try to make him even more scary and signify his evil ways?  They gave him a cleft lip.  That is, they gave him a facial difference.  So a facial difference is a good sign that you're a bad guy, eh?  Thankfully parents of children with cleft lips and other facial differences are protesting; you can read more about it here:

You know what I think is most sad?  When contacted for their reaction to this, the people at Disney had no comment.  Come on--you guys can do better than that.

But I think my friend David Roche says it better than anyone--I'm sure he won't mind if I copy here what he said on Facebook about this just today:

"Seeing and accepting one’s “flawed” condition is a core spiritual experience for ALL human beings, an essential step in developing emotional maturity. It is part of the work of being fully human, and it is hard work. There is no turning aside; we have to come to grips with this task, and to do it with a sense of love for self and others. If we ignore it, we remain fragmented and powerless, vulnerable to fear, addiction and the metaphor of victimization.

A more powerful metaphor of the scarred face is available—one that holds more truth as well as the possibility of healing.

I am proud to be part of the culture of disability, where the artistic metaphor of the scarred face can be one not of fear but of personal integration. For most of my life, I was very ashamed of my appearance. My shadow side is on the outside, where I have been forced to deal with it. Paradoxically, I have found wholeness through, and with, what at first seemed to be my flaws. Working through my fear and shame, I have come to discover that I am whole. I have come to see my face as an elaborately disguised gift. That personal journey is one that we all have to make. 

Those who believe they can—or must—present a flawless image to fool others are the ones in reality most disfigured. To deny one’s own self-loathing by pushing it off onto the disabled is a personal failure. To pander to this fear by crude and lazy manipulation of images of disability is a failure of artistic vision. The metaphor of disfigurement is best known and best defined by those who live it."

Amen.