An Apology

AudlemOnline yesterday received the following email from a regular reader following the 'Alternative Thought of the Day' from Colonel Blimp we published earlier in the week. It said:

"Very disappointed that your usually excellent website should give space and prominence to a Thought for the Day which reinforces the damaging stereotype portraying mentally ill people as violent killers.

"Tongue in cheek I know, but still offensive, especially to those with family members fighting the stigma of schizophrenia."

In subsequent correspondence it was pointed out that off hand remarks/jokes of this nature can cause genuine distress to the 1 in every 3 of our population (and that includes the population of Audlem and our readers) who will have mental health problems at some time in their lives.

We have responded to our reader with an apology, as follows: "We are very sorry if the Thought caused offence. It is, of course, always a risk with so much humour, or as you may prefer to call it, attempted humour, which can cause offence to some group or individual.

"Many thanks for letting us know your feelings on this obviously sensitive subject to you."

We also offered to publish this apology on the website (as above) and to discuss the complaint at our next webteam meeting.

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