Palin & Family Guy

I would have respected Palin just a wee bit more...if she had the brains to blow this off with a funny remark.

But....alas....

...though, she can still do it, if she acts quickly.

but if she instead decides to play victim...against Family Guy???

she is gonna lose.
 
Loss Leader said:
How is this worse than when Stewie found a McCain-Palin button on a Nazi uniform?
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Wow.

That's brilliant.

This makes me want to start watching the show again.
 
pgwenthold said:
As far as I can see, the whole outrage is over the fact that FG had the audacity to treat a DS child as a real person and not just the lovable Corky from "Life Goes On."

But jeez, to actually have a non-DS person have a crush on someone with DS and ask her out? That's very progressive, and notable. In a good way.
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I've known several people with developmental disabilities and they are not all sweetness and light. They are people and treating them like symbols or accessories does everyone a disservice. It's very similar to expecting dying people to be happy and never complain no matter how bad they feel.
 
pgwenthold said:
As far as I can see, the whole outrage is over the fact that FG had the audacity to treat a DS child as a real person and not just the lovable Corky from "Life Goes On."

But jeez, to actually have a non-DS person have a crush on someone with DS and ask her out? That's very progressive, and notable. In a good way.
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That's what I thought.

(I'd forgotten about the line about her mother being an ex-governor of Alaska. Since the character was a girl, I thought it was meant even within in the fiction to be a dig at Palin and not to suggest that Palin's gig will grow up to be like this.)

I thought it was more or less like casting someone with cerebral palsy as a bad guy. It was meant to challenge a stereotype of DS people as little asexual angels who remain babies forever.
 
Beerina said:
Aside from her mother is "the former governor of Alaska". :rolleyes:
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Still not named but I'll grant that this was certainly supposed to allude to her.

GStan said:
This.
Made fun of =/= attacked.
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But this, was she made fun of? Was anything negative said about the girls mom? Did the girl say her mom beat her or was an idiot or something?
 
Roadtoad said:
What's interesting here is that she's taking her cue from -- of all people -- Dan Quayle, and his silly criticism of the "Murphy Brown" show.
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Yup. I referred to that in the OP.


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korenyx said:
I've known several people with developmental disabilities and they are not all sweetness and light. They are people and treating them like symbols or accessories does everyone a disservice. It's very similar to expecting dying people to be happy and never complain no matter how bad they feel.
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Exactly. Well said.
 
Already a thread on this non-political topic over here:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167564


Donal said:
I have a problem with going at her through her kids, though. It's one thing to rag on her for the dumb thing her and her husband do. I think its over the line when you shoot at the kids.

Doesn't Sarah herself provide enough material?
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The episode did not go after her kids. The character with Down syndrome in the episode was a middle-school aged girl.

The satire was in depicting a character with Down syndrome as being other than an asexual, angelic, ever-happy infant.

There was clearly nothing directed against Trig. If anything, there was a barb at Palin for treating a real person as a political tool.
 
Beerina said:
Aside from her mother is "the former governor of Alaska". :rolleyes:
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But again, since the character in the show was a teenaged girl, this obviously is not a portrayal of Trig. In fact, I think it was meant to be a devious remark even in the fiction of the show. (Again, showing that a person with DS is not necessarily without guile.)
 
Policenaut said:
Also this episode contained zero funny. The part about the down syndrome chick being the daughter of the former governor of Alaska seemed like a last minute addition to me. They figured "Hey how can we make this stupid joke slightly more offensive and get a bunch of press. Oh yeah attach it to Palin." The inclusion of that tidbit of info didn't make the story funnier or have any impact on it. For the record I didn't think it was offensive at all. Sadly this is Family Guy so it was also devoid of comedy.
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De gustibus non est disputandum.

But see above about that line about the mother being a former governor of Alaska.

And Palin's outrage isn't about a matter of taste or preference. She's arguing with Family Guy the same way Quayle argued with Murphy Browne.

____

This really isn't a discussion about Politics in any shape or form, is it? I'm requesting this be merged with the thread I started on this topic yesterday.
 
Well let me say first of all I thought the episode in question was very, very funny.
When they first introduced the down syndrome character I immediately thought of Sarah Palin and the reference to having a mom being gov of alaska sealed the deal but on reflection it could be argued that the character was lying about her mom. Because the real down syndrome Palin is a baby boy (I am not researching this,if someone tells me I am wrong then nevermind). And it would be "in character" for her to lie about it because of her personality.
I can also kind of see Palin's point of view on the matter, she is very sensitive about her family and if there is even a hint of personal attack on her family she isn't going to wait around for clarification before attacking. (the David Letterman joke comes to mind).
 
Fnord said:
Why complain? It's free publicity for both sides. Dog knowns that Ms. Palin needs it.
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Good point. And "both sides" right now work for Fox.

Someone who really had a principled stand against something produced by Fox might refuse to work for them!
 
Just watching the episode now, and I think it's one that Skeptics would enjoy.
They make fun of Psychics. :)
 
Scootch said:
Well let me say first of all I thought the episode in question was very, very funny.
When they first introduced the down syndrome character I immediately thought of Sarah Palin and the reference to having a mom being gov of alaska sealed the deal but on reflection it could be argued that the character was lying about her mom. Because the real down syndrome Palin is a baby boy (I am not researching this,if someone tells me I am wrong then nevermind). And it would be "in character" for her to lie about it because of her personality.
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Yes, Trig is a nearly 2 year old boy.

The character on Family Guy is a teenaged girl named Ellen.

I don't know about it being "in character" but if you read the purpose of this subplot to be to challenge the image of a person with Down syndrome as a cherubic, asexual, guileless baby, it is certainly in keeping with that.
 
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Andrew Wiggin said:
Duuuuude...

Wait, what?

A
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Just the clip I saw seems to treat the girl with respect and sympathy.

Screw Palin if she is offended. Nobody has any reason to care.

The only direct referencer to Palin or her larvae suggests that Trig could still be one of the more worthwhile people in the family.
 
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