Making fun of people with mental illness, should be strictly verboten, as it only adds to their stigmatized status.

Sadly, The New Yorker’s new humor series, “Shorts & Murmurs,” is a shameful attempt to create humor at the expense of an already abused social group.

In the first video, titled “Pets Allowed,” inspired by a similarly silly article by Patricia Marx published last year, The New Yorker writer Marc Philippe Eskenazi tours New York with a series of assistance animals intended to appear absurd, beginning with a pig and touching on a turkey, before proceeding to a llama.

This is blatantly an act of making “fun” of (and trying to shame) people with disabilities who require assistance animals in order to enjoy the everyday activities of life. 

The reactions of most New Yorkers he comes across are captured on film by video camera. Eskenazi shows bystanders a letter from a therapist (obtained online) which he presents whenever he is questioned. His demeanor is clearly mocking those who have assistance animals.

The New Yorker will soon be reminded, we live in an age where mocking the disabled is not only frowned upon, but appalling and morally bankrupt..

Some commentators are already noting the problem with this piece: “No thanks Patricia Marx for this article. You and The New Yorker just contributed to the negative stigma of mental illness. This mocks anyone actually benefiting from an ESA. This article encourages people who are on the fence to seek help with a disorder to not seek help. The next time there is an act of violence committed from someone with a mental illness … Think about this article of mocking and bullying that you have written and published…and consider that you might have contributed to it. Perhaps you should write an article that shows the benefits of an ESA.”