Posted on 02/16/2010 11:12:34 PM PST by wardaddy
Family Guy joke a kick in the gut: Palin Updated 1 hour 55 minutes ago
Disappointed: Sarah Palin said the Family Guy spoof was "another kick in the gut" (AFP Photo: Robyn Beck, file photo)
RELATED STORY: Critics see writing on the hand for Palin RELATED STORY: Palin tells Obama to 'play the war card' Sarah Palin, the former US vice-presidential candidate, is used to finding herself the brunt of jokes but her humour snapped when animated TV show Family Guy appeared to mock her son who has Down syndrome.
The Palin family have called the creators of the show "heartless jerks" after an episode in which a female character with Down syndrome said she was the daughter of an accountant and "my mum's the former governor of Alaska". Ms Palin resigned as Republican governor of Alaska last year.
Ms Palin, who was recently hired by Fox News as a commentator, wrote in a posting on Facebook that the show, also aired on News Corp's Fox network, was a disappointment and "another kick in the gut".
Her post has received thousands of supportive messages.
Instead of elaborating on her views of the show that appeared to mock her 22-month-old son Trig, Ms Palin asked the oldest of her five children, daughter Bristol, to comment, as her reply would be "more restrained and gracious".
Bristol, 19, wrote she had to develop a thick skin as the child of a public figure but insults at her youngest brother hurt too much to remain silent.
"People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront and yet they are some of the kindest and most loving people you'll ever meet," Bristol wrote in a statement on her mother's Facebook page.
"Why could anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them? ... If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed."
However, not everyone has been sympathetic towards the Palins.
Some Family Guy fans say the show is all about mocking people.
"It's their job to make fun of everyone. Get over it," said Tweeter @Little_Siren.
No-one could be immediately reached at Fox to comment.
Show me the insult.
I liked Enchante’s version better.
Teacher317, I think the point is that Trig is being drug into the public arena, when he himself is not a public figure. True, the person portrayed in the cartoon is an older girl with Downs, but the context purposefully highly suggestive of Trig’s situation.
He’s an innocent baby, literally. He deserves the same amount of respect and privacy granted to the minor children of other public figures, like the Obamas. Even if Sarah placed Trig into the limelight because of her profession, Trig never inserted himself into that public arena, and thus should be left alone.
# 2. Why on earth would they bring Sarah Palin and a Down Syndrome child into Family Guy at all, if not to ridicule her over her Down Syndrome baby? Why mention her at all? It had absolutely nothing to do with the story, nor did it add anything to the story line. It was a gratuitopus cheap shot, and part of the orchestrated vicious attacks on Sarah Palin from the Hollywood pinheads(Goerge Lopez, Jennifer Lopez et al), and the liberal media haters, which have exploded in the last few months.
You would be pretty naive or living in an alternate universe if you think this was supposed to be complimentary to Sarah Paling and Trig. I don't often agree with Bill O'Reilley, but he was right on ths one last night. Seth MacFarlane is a hater, and a pinhead to boot.
They spend more time attacking a baby with down syndrome than they do attacking a Sarah.
The liberal rodents despise people with disabilities and want to exterminate them. The liberals are Nazis, there is no difference. Do not barter with them, do not compromise. Execute them on sight.
The hard Left shares this with NAZIs, Marxists and Islamic extremists: They will think nothing about attacking the family to get to their target.
She needs to stop responding to everything.
In case you didn’t know, the writers of Family Guy are really just Manatee in a tank full of balls.....I saw it on Southpark...
And again, why all the talk of "insults", when there is none here? You speak of disrespect, when it is Sarah being disrespected (her wishes to keep Trig's life private), no Trig (since it shows a DS person who seems rather "together" and well-integrated into social settings).
It just seems to me to be a rather poor choice of public response from her political team... but thanks for your measured response.
Not really. The progressives who laugh at these jokes are Stalinist in their tactics. They (progressives, not the show creators) repeatedly use the word "retard" in their own facebook postings to attack those who say anything in support of Palin or Bush.
They need to be exposed as vile haters (real H8) and some have healthy kids of their own. Maybe they'd reconsider their words if they had a more personal association with "retards".
They should have either embraced the positive portrayals of DS people (again, that's a teen girl with DS, not Trig), or should have simply said, from the beginning, "I appreciate the reference in the cartoon, but I hope the media will respect Trig's privacy in the future", and left it at that. The series of articles and responses and carrying on does nothing good for her present or future situation.
Where are the AIDS jokes in liberal cartoon programs? You can joke about ebola but not AIDS. Which death is more horrifying?
Sure, like to be on your ping list.
Seth grew up in liberal elite CT - he’s a true believer esp. re: entitlement.
It is true that Family Guy mocks everything - but in that same note - they used to mock things equally in the first seasons before being taken off the air. Once they starting making new episodes it was evident that BDS had set in and they decided to put their liberal agenda in every episode. I have no probablem with being an equal opportunity offender - I mean it’s only fair - but the fact is they don’t mock liberals or progressive principles as much as they mock conservatives and religion.
South Park on the other hand is an example of how to make fun of both sides... So there is a big difference between the two.
IMHO Family Guy has gone way down hill and I used to be a big fan ~ Sad.
Makes me so glad I pulled the plug on TV.
I don't remember talking about “insults” on this thread.
Irrespective of that, this was a clear attempt to ridicule Sarah Palin and a gratuitous attack on her, in a story line that had nothing whatsoever to do with her.
“Yes, Trig is incorporated by reference... so what?”,/i>
Exactly why is Trig and Sarah Plain put into the story at all if not to cause mischief?
“unless you believe that it is an insult to have DS, be shown on a date with a DS person, to have a former Alaska governor as a parent”
You can put all the DS people you like in your cartoon or whatever, but ..umm..what the heck has that got to do with Sarah Palin and her baby who just happen to be a boy(not a girl), still a baby, and won't start dating for another 15 years?
“There is NO insult to DS people in it”
The girl was a mentally challenged individual, and by linking her to Sarah Palin, this episode was merely re-iterating the shrill liberal media/Hollywood mantra that Sarah Palin is stupid, something that has been repeated in at least 100 articles in the misntream media in the last 2 weeks alone.
“Responsding to a perceived slight when there was non is the second mistake. “,/i>
On the contrary. It was absolutely essential that she hit back and hard at this depraved, bottom feeding, probably drug addled low life from Holywood.
Whether it works or not, I will personally do whatever I can to get my friends and family to stop watching this program or patronize it in any way. It always comes down to money, and there is always a price o ;pay for gratuitous vulgarity, and nasty, brain dead attacks on innocent people.
“They should have either embraced the positive portrayals of DS people “
I am not sure what you are smoking, but it's going to be hard for Sarah Palin to “embrace” a “positive portrayal" that doesn't exist, apart from in your upside down world.
/sarc. Yeah. That's why Fox News is making more profits than CBS, ABC, NBC news and CNN and MSNBC combined. And that;s why most of the MSM(NYT, WaPo, LA Times, etc), have had huge layloofs declining sales, declining profits and big losses, and declining stock prices, even while Sarah Palin keeps getting richer every month, as all kinds of outfits pay her 6 figure sums to give speeches to them?
” Guess what's going to happen in the summer of 2012 now”
Lemme guess...the same thing they did in 2008, which led to her being more popular than ever, selling 2 million books, making plenty of money, and being in demand to give speeches everywhere inlduding the Daytona 500 and in Hong Kong?
No need to be so crude and argumentative. No one provoked you enuff (no one provoked you personally at all actually) to justify you cursing at them.
How about “sorry guys, you’re wrong and here’s why?”
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