> A coalition of disabilities groups is expected as early as today to call for
> a national boycott of the film "Tropic Thunder" because of what the groups
> consider the movie's open ridicule of the intellectually disabled.
> The film, a movie-industry spoof directed by Ben Stiller is set for release
> Wednesday by Paramount Pictures and its Dream Works unit.
> "Not only might happen, it will happen," Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the
> Special Olympics, said of the expected push for a boycott.
> A particular sore point has been the film's repeated use of the term
> "RETARD" in referring to a character, Simple Jack, who is played by Stiller
> in a subplot about an actor who chases an Oscar by portraying a mindless
> dolt.
>
> *curmudgeon*
> "The best read illiterate in the country"