Reason #354 on Why I Should Move to the UK

In the US we have a show called Fat Camp and in the UK they have a show called Tourette's Camp. Nobody exploits people's issues and troubles lik the British. Honestly, this show alone has got me on the next plain out of here.

Among the many unfortunate things about Tourette syndrome is that people find it amusing. As if it wasn't enough to have violent tics and a habit of blurting out extremely inappropriate and offensive utterances, you've got people laughing at you as well. There's no denying the comedy in the affliction, though. Even the title of this programme, Teenage Tourette's Camp (ITV1), is enough to produce a little giggle. You can picture it: a bunch of kids at what looks like a normal American summer camp with outdoor activities - boating, hiking, stuff like that. Except they're all twitching, and shrugging, and shouting out "Fuck off!" and "Fatty!" at each other.

And that's exactly what it is like. It's very sad, you feel extremely sorry for these kids. And yet it is funny. They find it funny themselves. When Kyle involuntarily shouts out "Jen gives head!" over and over again, the whole class falls about (except for Jen, who gets a bit upset). And when the five English Touretters at the centre of the film go on a day trip to Chicago, lovely, gentle Sam starts shouting out "Twin towers!", to the enormous amusement of his mates, though less so to the Americans out shopping.

There was much to be moved by in this film, though I would have liked a little more on the syndrome itself. Why is it always bad stuff that comes blurting out? Are we all very bad people - offensive, racist, cruel, sex-obsessed - but most of us have the necessary in-built filters to hide it?

I can't wait till this comes out on DVD here. An hour episode of Maury isn't enough to enlighten me on the issues of this dreadful syndrome! And yeah I kind of want to laugh at them too, but only because I'm really jealous. I wish I could shout out "fatty fo fuck" whenever I wanted.

[The Guardian] [Thanks to Rosemary]