Help us find Annie
Lunatic Asylum, indeed
Quoting from a Breitbart story :
WESTON, W.Va. (AP) - It's an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits, phone calls and tour tickets: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.To some, the title acknowledges history by readopting one of the many names previously held by the long-vacant, 19th century mental institution known most recently as Weston Hospital.
But others say the new owners of the massive Gothic Revival hospital have gone too far, disparaging the suffering of former patients and reopening wounds with planned events like "Psyco Path" dirt bike races on the grounds.
They say words like "lunatic" and "retarded" have gone the way of "colored" and "Negro" and should never be resurrected.
"It's like turning back the clock to a time we don't want to go back to," said Ann McDaniel, executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council, one of several mental health advocacy groups to object. "I think they could still do what they want to do without being offensive."
Scott Miller, director of Mountain State Direct Action Center, said one former patient burst into tears after seeing the name on a sign.
"It's not just that I'm a liberal and I think it's not a good idea; it's seeing people physically hurt," he said. "That's about all I needed to know."
Rebecca Jordan, whose family owns the 307-acre complex, sees things differently.
"This part of history is vital, and you cannot bury what you don't like," she said. "Should we take down the Holocaust museum? Should we completely deny all that happened because it's not favorable? Because it might hurt a few feelings?"
The daily tours that began last week—which cost $10 to $30, depending on duration—focus on issues such as the evolution of mental health care, the Civil War, the Great Depression, even architecture.
...After struggling to find a suitable, sustainable use, the state sold it at auction last summer for $1.5 million to Jordan's father, Joe, an asbestos demolition contractor from Morgantown.
The Jordans plan events on the grounds year-round: "mud bog" races, in which trucks try to speed through a pit without getting stuck; a reunion of former employees; "Hospital of Horrors" haunting tours in October; and a "Nightmare Before Christmas" tour on Dec. 23.
But their approach to marketing "cheapens and denigrates the whole field of psychology," argued Jerry Kirkpatrick, an international business and marketing professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
"They are sending mixed signals about the nature of the product they are selling. Are they selling history? Or dirt bike races and Halloween nights?" he said. "Sooner or later, one of these themes will have to move to the forefront and the other will fall to the side."
...Glenn Brown Jr., who lives within a stone's throw, is happy about the change.
"We don't want to see it deteriorate. We want to see it grow," said Brown, environmental services director for the hospital for 26 years. "I see something in the future. Before, I'd look at it and say, `Nah. It's going to sit there and just rot to the ground.'"
Historian Joy Gilchrist-Stalnaker has worked for nearly a decade to save the building where three of her ancestors died. She said the new name serves as a reminder of a past no one should forget.
The genealogy society she founded, Hackers Creek Pioneer Descendants, worked for six years in the Weston Colored School, another National Historic Landmark.
"There were those people who were upset with us because we used the name. But that was the name, and the community was proud of it," Gilchrist-Stalnaker said. "It was part of them."
The Jordans, she says, "are trying to treat things with respect."
...
Predictably, the pecksniffs came out of the woodwork in droves, like cockroaches scuttling across the kitchen floor when the light is turned on at 3 AM. One comment on Breitbart read:
Dear Jordan family:
I recently read an article about Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and am disappointed that you take such a flippant attitude towards mental illness. Were you simply renovating a historic building and providing educational tours for the public, i would understand your business plan and agree that we cannot gloss over history. However, your “psycho path” program, although punny, is incredibly disrespectful and undermines efforts by those who work to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness. As a person who has to care for a mentally ill mother, I find this quite distasteful and harmful to the public. Terms like “psycho”, “crazy”, “nuts” are devastating to a person who is fighting to simply get through the day in addition to their families and advocates working on behalf of those who are suffering. Further, by creating a novelty environment where mental illness is perceived as “frightening” (your Halloween and New Year’s Eve program) is appalling. In the AP article I read, Rebecca Jordan likened this facility to the Holocaust museum. I live in Washington, DC and recently visited the museum - the mood is somber and reverent - with the utmost respect paid to the victims of the Nazi regime– it’s an audacious analogy and I suggest the Ms. Jordan avoid making it again. Ms. Jordan’s claim that you aren’t creating a “freakshow” is a disingenuous one; it is apparent that you are more concerned with your bottom-line and attracting rubberneckers than educating the public on a very pertinent issue that touches many families.
The level of disrespect you have for those who were interned in the TALA is unacceptable and I sincerely hope that you reconsider your strategy in attracting visitors and take advantage of a potentially powerful educational tool.
Another one bleated thus:
People who like to abuse and degrade people(or to make money using any questionable method they please) ALWAYS use the bogus BS excuse of free speech; just like the boors here in favor of this renaming. That was never what free speech was supposed to be about.
It’s laughable to see some of you, and the owner, try to pretend that it’s to preserve a dark period of history so we can learn from it. She’s doing it because she’s a greedy lowlife using the cheapest tactics she can think of to generate buzz from people of your type. She’s pretty much akin to Jerry Springer and you people are the audience. It doesn’t matter that it’s her private property either. It’s open to the public; that makes a difference. We aren’t talking about a private residence here.
The more people I come across the more I believe free speech should have limits because it’s being misused and used as an excuse by all the wrong people. If you can’t use it responsibly with common sense you shouldn’t get to use it at all.
All this horror reminded just how accurate Lenny Bruce was when he observed that "... it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness."
In the interest of avoiding my own controversy, I won't quote Bruce's night club routine directly on this page. Wikipedia's entry on Lenny Bruce cites it under "sourced quotes." Also, Honey Bruce talks about this bit, and there's a tiny clip of it on the YouTube clip "Swear to Tell The Truth Three." The pertinent/offending material begins around 01:40. Or if, heaven forbid, you want to read his exact words, click here, using the password "NotAPrude".
My personal conclusion: IF YOU ARE SO HYPERSENSITIVE THAT THE UTTERANCE OR WRITING OF A WORD, EVEN AN INSULTING ONE, SETS YOU INTO A TIZZY, OR A MURDEROUS RAGE, YOU WILL ALWAYS FIND YOURSELF BEING CONTROLLED BY SOMEONE WHO IS WILLING TO UTTER THAT WORD. TO EMPOWER YOURSELF, GET OVER IT !!!