Is it just me...
...or is the idea of an "I'm not a psychopath...I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research." T-shirt possibly NOT the best idea the BBC could have come up with as a marketing ploy?
I mean, leaving aside the fact that if you "do your research," you find that both psychopath and sociopath are outdated clinical terms that have little tangible meaning nowadays (apart from their use in insults by a misinformed public that thinks most non-neurotypical people are dangerous), and that that's a quote that has always bugged me on a whole boat-load of levels, I think the question really is:
Do we actually think it's a good idea to make a joke of mental disorders and put it on a t-shirt?
Because let's be clear here - it is a joke. That is the point of wearing a t-shirt with a flashy soundbite: to entertain yourself and passers-by, not to be thought-provoking. The entire BBC Sherlock t-shirt series is made up of a whole lot of in-jokes from the show.
In its rightful context in the show, you have two people arguing. Anderson insults Sherlock in a rather ablist way; Sherlock reclaims the insult and one-ups the situation. It's not exactly a crowning moment of awesome for either character, but it's a minor victory of brains over ignorance and it's a snappy quote that fans clung onto. If it's funny, if it's memorable, it's because of the characters involved and the way they clash.
Divorced from most of its context and on a t-shirt though? It feels like they're making a joke about mental health. It feels like people wearing it are claiming a personality disorder because they think it's cool by association. It feels tacky, at the very least.
I mean, leaving aside the fact that if you "do your research," you find that both psychopath and sociopath are outdated clinical terms that have little tangible meaning nowadays (apart from their use in insults by a misinformed public that thinks most non-neurotypical people are dangerous), and that that's a quote that has always bugged me on a whole boat-load of levels, I think the question really is:
Do we actually think it's a good idea to make a joke of mental disorders and put it on a t-shirt?
Because let's be clear here - it is a joke. That is the point of wearing a t-shirt with a flashy soundbite: to entertain yourself and passers-by, not to be thought-provoking. The entire BBC Sherlock t-shirt series is made up of a whole lot of in-jokes from the show.
In its rightful context in the show, you have two people arguing. Anderson insults Sherlock in a rather ablist way; Sherlock reclaims the insult and one-ups the situation. It's not exactly a crowning moment of awesome for either character, but it's a minor victory of brains over ignorance and it's a snappy quote that fans clung onto. If it's funny, if it's memorable, it's because of the characters involved and the way they clash.
Divorced from most of its context and on a t-shirt though? It feels like they're making a joke about mental health. It feels like people wearing it are claiming a personality disorder because they think it's cool by association. It feels tacky, at the very least.