Injudicious Judy

November 15, 1999

Judge Judy, on tour in Brisbane, Australia to hawk her new book, "Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever" was asked how she feels about Australia's program to prevent AIDS and Hepatitis by providing clean needles to addicts. She hatefully replied, "give them all dirty needles and let them die." Judge Judy was surprised her hateful remark would get picked up back home. Little did she know her AIDS/addict blast would be picked up in the U.S. by none other than the nationally syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington (www.ariannaonline.com), who referred to the TV judge as a "sharp-tongued, dull-witted jurist." Bob Aldred, Chief Executive of Queensland's Alcohol and Drug Foundation in Australia, called Judy's remarks, "callous and deplorable." The arrogance of a TV celebrity using the tragedy of young lives struck down by drugs for her own commercial gain is repulsive. Craig E. Thompson, Executive Director of AIDS Project Los Angeles added: "It is sad when a person who with the ability to reach millions makes such an ignorant and thoughtless comment. Fortunately, she's merely a judge on a syndicated TV show and no longer an influential legal authority." Dr. Dawn Day, Director of the Dogwood Center, a nonprofit research organization that fights drug addiction and the spread of AIDS said, "Everyone of us should be appalled by Judge Judy's comments. It's a tragedy that a person who is widely known should make such damaging statements." Judge Judy has since posted two statements on her website (www.judgejudy.com) declaring her stubborn refusal to rescind her draconian opinion on the subject. Judge Judy has a motto on her site, "You get what you deserve!" MACC concurs in the case of Judge Judy. She most certainly should get what she deserves, a boycott of her TV show.

Update on Judge Judy link

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For an intelligent discourse on the subject of harm reduction go here: http://harmreduction.org

More intelligent (sardonic) discourse here: http://www.ariannaonline.com

For an unintelligent diatribe go here: http://www.judgejudy.com