Palin's offense isn't felt by all disabled people
By: Toni Thrasher
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Opinion/Editorial
Sarah Palin is on the warpath again. This time, she's going against the cartoon "Family Guy" and its creator, Seth MacFarlane. Palin claims that parts of the episode "Extra Large Medium" portray people with disabilities in a negative light. She also claims that a line spoken in the episode was a stab at her 22-month old son Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome.
This isn't the first time Palin has spoken out against people who, in her opinion, make light of people with disabilities. Days before the episode in question aired, Palin blasted White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for using the word "retarded," which she considers a slur. She didn't, however, care so much that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh uses the word all the time on the show - saying Limbaugh's usage was satire.
I've been a fan of "Family Guy" for years. Nothing is sacred - the show has made fun of everything including Sept. 11, drug addiction and babies abandoned in dumpsters. I was interested to see why this episode caused such uproar.
The plot is simple. Chris asks the girl he likes, Ellen, out on a date. During the date Ellen, who has Down Syndrome, rudely asks Chris if he is going to ask her about her life. When Chris asks what her parents do, Ellen replies that her father is an accountant and her mother is the former governor of Alaska. This is the only line in the entire episode that could refer to Palin.
As the night goes on, Ellen continues to treat Chris worse and worse until he finally reached his breaking point, saying, "I thought you were different because you have Down Syndrome, but you're just the same as everyone else."
That line really surprised me, and I finished the episode with a new respect for MacFarlane and the other creators of the show. "Family Guy" is one of the first shows on national television, in my memory, to portray those with disabilities as strong, independent-minded and able to stand up for themselves - not as people who should be sheltered and certainly not as people who are helpless victims.
This isn't the first time Palin has spoken out against people who, in her opinion, make light of people with disabilities. Days before the episode in question aired, Palin blasted White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for using the word "retarded," which she considers a slur. She didn't, however, care so much that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh uses the word all the time on the show - saying Limbaugh's usage was satire.
I've been a fan of "Family Guy" for years. Nothing is sacred - the show has made fun of everything including Sept. 11, drug addiction and babies abandoned in dumpsters. I was interested to see why this episode caused such uproar.
The plot is simple. Chris asks the girl he likes, Ellen, out on a date. During the date Ellen, who has Down Syndrome, rudely asks Chris if he is going to ask her about her life. When Chris asks what her parents do, Ellen replies that her father is an accountant and her mother is the former governor of Alaska. This is the only line in the entire episode that could refer to Palin.
As the night goes on, Ellen continues to treat Chris worse and worse until he finally reached his breaking point, saying, "I thought you were different because you have Down Syndrome, but you're just the same as everyone else."
That line really surprised me, and I finished the episode with a new respect for MacFarlane and the other creators of the show. "Family Guy" is one of the first shows on national television, in my memory, to portray those with disabilities as strong, independent-minded and able to stand up for themselves - not as people who should be sheltered and certainly not as people who are helpless victims.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
Darklady
posted 3/03/10 @ 10:35 PM CST
I am also the sibling of a person with disabilities. My sister is mentally retarded, after 41 years of life we're told it was probably due to some kind of birth trauma, which is something my mother always believed to be true. (Continued…)
republicanblack
posted 3/04/10 @ 12:53 AM CST
Let's get a little real here, Rush is an entertainer so we have to take what he says with a grain of salt. But on that note, I did come across an article on how Rush got Obama into office with an election scheme that backfired, its a must read check it out
http://bit. (Continued…)
Bill
posted 3/16/10 @ 4:23 PM CST
Wow another Palin article.. Like I don't see enough of these on every other news site in the world... Get a life and come up with something original.
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