A Tale of Two Old Ladies

[MrScorpio]

At a Lincoln (Nebraska) City Council hearing this week to review a proposed LGBT protection ordinance, resident Jane Skrovota delivered a rambling, incoherent anti-gay rant that, for all its obvious bigotry, was mostly just plain weird. http://gawker.com/5909617/is-this-deranged-anti+gay-rant-the-most-deranged-anti+gay-rant

"It was the worst of testimonies, it was the best of testimonies…"

Aged Foolishness.

Original post featuring this clip:
http://aksarbent.blogspot.com/2012/05/video-lincoln-nebraska-hearings-on.html

Aged Wisdom.

She recounts her Steel Magnolia moment 30 years ago when Lincoln first attempted to pass LGBT protection (it was voted down) — among a bunch of homophobic beauty shop patrons with whom she politely took issue — and was backed up by the salon operator.

[badhair77]

1. Aged wisdom wins.

Thanks for posting this 2nd video.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. Aged foolishness?

She has a mental disorder.

Svoboda lives at an assisted-living facility in Lincoln and is listed as a protected person, according to court documents. Her brother, Patrick Svoboda of Ogallala, is her conservator because she is incompetent, the documents say.

"To me, it shows how little society really cares about people with mental health issues," Patrick Svoboda said. "She does have a very tender heart ... but anything she says is certifiably schizophrenic ... she's not some crazy conservative."

http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/video-of-testifier-s-anti-gay-words-goes-viral-but/article_82ec7104-4062-5988-8e56-8effde1ff202.html



Its not OK to target the mentally handicapped.

[MrScorpio]

3. Someone should have thought of that before she was allowed to testify. nt

Why isn't this woman being treated for her mental illness?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

4. How do you know she isn't?

Maybe she is.

But you're correct in that she may not be getting the treatment that she needs. But that isn't her fault, this country as a whole has a serious problem neglecting the mentally handicapped. That isn't a reason for you to mock them however.


And how do you decide who should be able to testify and who shouldn't?

[MrScorpio]

5. This woman is a fine example that too much free speech is not always a good thing

Where the incoherent ravings of the mentally ill is given the same weight as everyone else's in a public forum.

Who's served best by that?

Everyone knows what this woman's problem is and it seemed that her violent speech was perfectly fine to allow in a public forum.

[fasttense]

7. Just because she has schizophrenia doesn't mean her political views are based in her illness.

People with mental disorders are able to form perfectly rational political opinions.

Now I happen to agree that her political opinions are absolutely freaking crazy but it doesn't mean they were based on her mental disorder. I know many a person with a mental disorder that are able to have rational intelligent political views and are able to articulate them with logic and understanding.

I think she has been listening to some crazy religiously insane people and she has picked up on their wacko ideas. What she is displaying though, is a lack of an ability to filter out ideas that are for public discussion and ideas that were fed to her by an anti-gay religious nut that should not be discussed in any serious political environment.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

8. You obviously didn't watch the video.

Her thoughts were disconnected and irrational. I could have told you she had a mental illness after watching 30 seconds.

Again its disgusting how people on this board and all over the internet have jumped all over a mentally handicapped woman. Homophobia isn't acceptable and neither is putting down the defenseless. This is a progressive board and as someone who deals with mental illness on a regular basis this is the last place I'd expect to see this kind of bigotry.

[NinetySix]

6. I loved this one! Comedy gold!

The only way it could be any better is if it were Scott Thompson dressed in those frumpy clothes, reading the same script verbatim (like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin).

There's no parody like self-parody.