If you think the joke is too offensive, I would be glad to read your reasoning. I think the joke has a few interpretations, and some are more offensive than others, so hearing someone else's thoughts would be interesting.

But it's hard not to read this comment as an attempt to stir shit up for kicks.

It's not the best joke but he's also not wrong btw. Let's not suggest that having shriveled up wheelchair legs is a boon in the dating market. It's just not nice to point out such inconvenient truths.

I really really wish society to learn forgiveness. Life is too short - and the internet can be so incredibly destructive in its current lack of grace.

My comment is already getting too political and culture wars-ey to be suitable for HN, for me, but at the risk of pushing that further I would like to add this: the moral nitpicking and flogging of public figures needs to end.

There are real villains out there, like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby who need to be and have been held to account, and there are real issues out there, like ageism and sexism in hiring processes. Focusing on trivial matters like this not only doesn't help the movement to justice, but actively harms it.

A recent quote from Andrew Yang:

> “I would say, ‘Hey! I’m running for president!’ to a truck driver, retail worker, waitress in a diner, and they would say, ‘What party?’ And I’d say ‘Democrat’ and they would flinch like I said something really negative or I had just turned another color or something like that.” Yang told CNN host Don Lemon during a panel.

> “So you have to ask yourself, what has the Democratic Party been standing for in their minds?,” he continued. “And in their minds, the Democratic Party, unfortunately, has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life that has been declining for years.” [1]

[0]: https://twitter.com/KenJennings/status/987423884436647936

[1]: https://nypost.com/2020/11/07/andrew-yang-calls-out-democrat...

You are not the authority on what constitutes "trivial matters". You read as someone extremely privileged, and entitled, who would rather have their own trespasses swept under the rug.

I don't, by the way, give a fuck about the Democratic party. I am not a member. I do not care what their reputation is.

Also, disabled people often date each other, which comes with some downsides (like not having an able-bodied partner to be a caretaker), but means you're shielded from that icky stigma and you don't have a partner who's ashamed of you.

Yes it's a horrible thing, yes it's horrible to tweet about... but you know what, it's also horrible to try to act like it's just not a hinderance and this kind of thing needs to be called out. It's great, in fact it's easier! No, it's not. It's significantly harder life. Nobody thinks "man, if I just woke up tomorrow without the use of the lower half of my body my dating life would be so much easier" because it wouldn't be easier, it'd be a great hurdle. In fact nearly everything would be harder. Again this doesn't mean you can't find happiness or that nobody will ever like you for you, I think that's literally impossible in this world, but this is unfortunately sure as hell not an easy path to either of those things. <- this also means you don't have to be in the same situation to not be "ashamed" of your partner, though some may certainly be it's not a requirement of how society operates.

I'm not sure you can make the jump "you could say the same thing about trans people" (more power to you) as the alternative to being or liking trans people is lying to yourself about who you like while the alternative to being disabled is being abled. One is all about who you are attracted to and who's attracted to you, the other is about being able or unable to use part of your body. Of course being true about the former leads to greater success in dating, the latter seems a bit of a stretch.

I've had partners who were ashamed of me before. My current partner isn't but still gets grossed out when my joints dislocate, though they know it's bad and try to help me when that happens. It varies.

An anecdote: someone like Dave Chappelle is wildly popular on both the left and the right. Several friends of mine on the right devour his specials like a gourmet buffet. So when Chappelle gets up on stage and talks about his experiences with racism, police profiling, and inequality (as he did on yesterday's SNL monologue [0]), those same people on the right listen. They hear him. It moves the needle of justice forward by reaching an audience who otherwise wouldn't necessarily hear these stories.

[0]: https://youtu.be/Un_VvR_WqNs

In some countries, freedom of thought and speech is a basic human right.

You clearly can have the right to state your opinions. Other people also clearly have the right not to do business with you based on those stated opinions.

Could be wrong! But that was how I felt reading through this.

Do I defend the remark in question? No. But at least people should cut the shit and admit that saying something horribly inappropriate once in a while isn’t actually that weird. Funny how we all have people we know that have done this, often people like our close family members, then act like it’s the end of the world when someone moderately popular does it.

Let’s be realistic: nobody should care about this tweet. If it stops them from getting a job six years down the road, I would find that immensely more fucked up than the inappropriate joke itself. If Ken Jennings is actually a terrible person, it would probably manifest in more ways.

edit: Not that anyone thinks it would, but my opinion on this is not going to change due to a low score, so if you are stopping by to leave a vote please consider commenting to explain why you disagree. Otherwise, I am left puzzled.