Sarah Palin: Media Critic

A lot has been made about this Family Guy Episode.

People are declaring the producers evil and decrying that they would make fun of Trig.  And yeah, generally speaking?  Making fun of a kid with Downs Syndrome is pretty bad.  And many people feel that Family Guy has crossed a line.

I agree they did cross a line, but not the one many think they did.  First off, Trig is not the punchline.  Trig is not being mocked.  Sarah Palin is the punchline, but even there, it’s hard to truly say she is mocked in that moment.  Is Chris’ date presented in a way that she is being ridiculed?  Hardly.  She appears bright and capable.  She’s smart.  So, this is not a negative portrayal of a person born with Downs Syndrome.  It is a one off joke about Sarah Palin.  But it isn’t really mean towards her either.  The joke, in fact, is pretty casual and not remotely mean.  They never say anything bad about Palin or Trig.

The Family Guy did cross a line though.  It’s not a funny joke.  It has no point.  Sarah Palin has a kid who has Downs Syndrome.  Aaaaaand?  I mean, biting satire makes you wonder if you should be laughing at the joke.  Why would anyone laugh at the joke?  Seriously, unless you think getting hit in the groin with a football was the height of comedy?  It’s not a funny joke.  Heck, it’s not a joke.

The angry responses are ridiculous, but not shocking.  Sarah Palin likes to trot her kids out as shields.  She often mangles facts to do so. Letterman makes a joke about Bristol Palin and she distorts it to be that he was making a statutory rape joke about her fourteen year old.  Now she, again, trots out Bristol to speak for her.  So, forgive me for being skeptical about Palin and her victim hood status in this situation.  You want to complain about this Family Guy joke-complain about the only factual aspect of it…it isn’t a joke.  Complain that it should have been killed in the writer’s meetings.