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Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals
OpinionComment
Alice Wu
Alice Wu

Opinion | Ridiculing those with mental health issues is a bad joke

  • Parody souvenir items alluding to mental illness have popped up online, following a string of violent attacks in the city
  • These items, and the mocking comments they draw, only serve to perpetuate the stigma that deters troubled individuals from getting the help they need

Reading Time:3 minutes
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Flowers are seen in Plaza Hollywood, in Diamond Hill, on June 3, after two women were killed in a knife attack. The incident is one in a recent string of violent attacks in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee
Alice Wu

Laughter is a strong medicine, which helps to relieve stress, release endorphins and even boost the immune system. I strongly recommend it; cultivating a sense of humour would surely help us along life’s rough terrain.

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Indeed, humour can be a force for good – it can disarm, engage and enlighten. However, it can also trivialise serious issues and reinforce harmful stereotypes. And if there’s something worse than a bad joke, it must be a joke that leaves everyone worse off.

Last week, as social media posts showing tote bags and T-shirts went viral, Hong Kong customs officers saw fit to launch an investigation. Why? Some of these “souvenir” items carried not only the Correctional Services Department emblem, but also jokey labels like “Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre Discharge Commemoration”. Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre happens to provide treatment for prisoners and detainees with mental health problems.

Another parody souvenir design featured Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong’s oldest psychiatric hospital and a subject of punchlines for as long as I can remember.

These items seem to have popped up on online shopping platforms in response to a string of violent attacks in the city.

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In a tragic case early this month, two women were fatally stabbed at a shopping centre by a suspect said to have a history of mental illness. Days later, a vegetable stall supervisor was attacked by an apparently disgruntled former employee wielding a meat cleaver. Barely another week passed and a McDonald’s manager was injured in another knife attack.
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