A California amusement park is shutting down a Halloween thrill ride after mental health advocates claimed the attraction “stigmatizes and denigrates individuals with mental illness.”
The virtual-reality attraction featured a possessed girl in a hospital, something Knott’s Scary Farm says is “designed to be edgy” and is geared towards an “adult-only audience.” Knott’s released a statement, saying “over the past week, we have heard from a number of people expressing concern that one of our temporary, Halloween attractions —Fear VR—is hurtful to those who suffer from mental illnesses. Contrary to some traditional and social media accounts, the attraction’s story and presentation were never intended to portray mental illness.”
Among the critics are Saddleback pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, who sent an email to the park on Tuesday. They originally took issue with the attraction when the name was first announced as FearVR: 5150 (which was then changed to just Fear VR). The 5150 was in reference to a section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code, which allows a peace officer or clinician to involuntarily confine a person suspected of having a mental disorder that makes them a danger to themselves or others. The Warrens’ son, Matthew, was confined several times under 5150 before he committed suicide in 2013 at age 27.
“I get that someone wouldn’t know what that’s like unless they have a family member or themselves going through this pain,” Kay Warren said. “We wouldn’t use a person suffering from cancer or heart attack and leverage it to create a thrill ride. It glorifies stigma and exacerbates people’s pain.”
Others, however, see this as an overreaction to something that is meant to be entertaining for those seeking a thrill.
Latest thing to trigger snowflakes: Halloween attractions. pic.twitter.com/CioHgF6CIR
— neontaster (@neontaster) September 28, 2016
Everything that is good and fun in the world, leftists find problematic and seek to ban. https://t.co/I55JWdqZbT
— Kayla (@VixenRogue) September 28, 2016
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