Palin & Family Guy

Lisa Simpson said:
I don't get Sarah Palin's outrage. I'm the parent of a disabled teenager and I can be pretty sensitive to insults against the disabled. But I watched the whole episode. The Ellen character was funny and self-assured. How exactly is this insulting to Sarah Palin or Trig Palin?
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I have said many times, as far as I can tell, the outrage is over the suggestion that someone with Downs Syndrome may actually NOT be cute and lovable, like Corky on "Life Goes On."

(interestingly, the actor who did the voice for the show was actually ON Life Goes On; but how about Seth McFarlane actually getting a DS actor to do the voice? It would have been real easy for them to do it themselves in a mocking fashion (like they do with the Greased Up Deaf Guy), but he actually had a DS actor; methinks there's actually a lot more behind this than just a joke)
 
She considers it a pot shot. I think it was meant as an insult to her but a fairly light one especially considering the nazi with the McCain/Palin button that was mentioned before from the time travel episode.
 
I think half the reason this thing has become a controversy is that the joke was a poor joke, just like all the "jokes" on Family Guy. I'm pretty sure it wasn't offensive, but since it was poorly crafted it left itself open to that interpretation. Probably not a wise thing to do when you're on the topic of Down's Syndrome.

I'm honestly not offended by the comment, but if it gets conservatives to force Family Guy off the air then you won't get any complaint from me.
 
Bosozoku said:
I think half the reason this thing has become a controversy is that the joke was a poor joke, just like all the "jokes" on Family Guy. I'm pretty sure it wasn't offensive, but since it was poorly crafted it left itself open to that interpretation. Probably not a wise thing to do when you're on the topic of Down's Syndrome.
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Yes, that's the way to make good comedy, nothing that could possibly be interpreted to offend anyone...

Isn't this discussion forgetting that Peter himself is mentally retarded?
 
Ferguson said:
Yes, that's the way to make good comedy, nothing that could possibly be interpreted to offend anyone...

Isn't this discussion forgetting that Peter himself is mentally retarded?
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Everyone loves offensive jokes, no doubt about that. You just have to pick your words carefully when you're dancing around topics like Down's Syndrome, because nobody is really going to find it amusing if it appears you are going after people with Down's. Well, Family Guy's audience may like that sort of thing, but it won't play well with most people.

I want to reiterate that I don't think it was intended to be offensive - the joke just didn't make much sense and that led people to believe it was a swipe at Trig or Sarah Palin or whoever.
 
I don't really consider it a joke. It was a throwaway line having nothing to do with anything in the episode just like most of the "comedy" in Family Guy. Take it out and it has no impact on anything except it wouldn't have created the frenzy it did. Palin attacks it. People attack Palin for attacking it. Everyone gets dumber.
 
If disabled people want to be treated equally, then they should be treated equally. This includes being the butt of jokes sometimes. I'm Japanese and Family Guy is constantly making fun of Japanese. I don't mind, because they make fun of everything, showing how silly and stupid stereotypes really are.
 
I detest Palin. I think her "playing the victim" role is getting old. She uses her children for political mileage every chance she gets. The funny part here is that the reference to her was vague and not about her kids. She MADE it about her kids; she's the one victimizing her own grandchild.
 
bigtim said:
I detest Palin. I think her "playing the victim" role is getting old. She uses her children for political mileage every chance she gets. The funny part here is that the reference to her was vague and not about her kids. She MADE it about her kids; she's the one victimizing her own grandchild.
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This for the win.
 
Policenaut said:
She considers it a pot shot. I think it was meant as an insult to her but a fairly light one especially considering the nazi with the McCain/Palin button that was mentioned before from the time travel episode.
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But how is it a pot shot? I don't care if she considers it as such or not. How was that line (My father is an accountant and my mother is the former Governor of Alaska) an insult or pot shot?
 
Lisa Simpson said:
But how is it a pot shot? I don't care if she considers it as such or not. How was that line (My father is an accountant and my mother is the former Governor of Alaska) an insult or pot shot?
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It's making fun of Palin using "parent of a Down's kid" as political currency.

That she reacted to it in the way she did means it struck home.
 
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Lisa Simpson said:
But how is it a pot shot? I don't care if she considers it as such or not. How was that line (My father is an accountant and my mother is the former Governor of Alaska) an insult or pot shot?
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If it isn't a pot shot, then there was zero rationale for scripting it.
 
Cynic said:
If it isn't a pot shot, then there was zero rationale for scripting it.
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I've given the most reasonable explanation of the line in question several times.

The selfish and domineering character, Ellen, is being snarky.

It makes no sense to treat it as some kind of a "pot shot" at Palin. What is the insult? That Palin's son Trig will grow up to be an unpleasant teenaged girl? That Palin is the mother of a kid with Down syndrome? (If she takes that as an insult, she's seriously screwed up, given her choice to have Trig.)

As several of us have mentioned, the satire and (very mild) shock value of the Ellen subplot is that a person with Down syndrome is shown as less than cherubic, dependent, and innocent. In fact, she is portrayed as a very unlikable and unpleasant sexual being.

I suspect Palin has a problem with this portrayal.

Either that or she thinks she owns Down syndrome. No one but her may make any reference to it--not even an actress with Down syndrome.
 
Andrew Wiggin said:
I still think Gerald Ford was a laugh fest. Slapstick/physical comedy, but still a laugh fest.

A
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That's a good point. For years Chevy Chase took "pot shots" at Gerald Ford. Why no outrage from him there? Chevy Chase clearly over exaggerated Ford's clumsiness because he wasn't nearly as clumsy or dim witted as Chevy Chase made him out to be.

Why did Gerald Ford never say anything about people taking "pot shots" at him, but Palin cries "foul"?

Says a lot to me about both people.....
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
Either that or she thinks she owns Down syndrome. No one but her may make any reference to it--not even an actress with Down syndrome.
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That would be the same actress who was compelled to offer her political wisdom about how and why S.P. transports Trigg.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
I've given the most reasonable explanation of the line in question several times.

The selfish and domineering character, Ellen, is being snarky.
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I appreciate that you think it's the best explanation, and I'm not suggesting that I disagree. But! What would her character's motivation for referencing Palin be? What makes it snarky?
 
Cicero said:
You seem to be oblivious, or indifferent, to the bottomless reservoir of Biden gaffes.

Biden Asks a Gentleman in a Wheelchair to Stand Up
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That's one. Please name four more in the past two years and also explain how these gaffes reflect negatively on Biden as a person.
 
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