Sarah Palin Revisited

Old news, I know, but I haven't posted since this happened. Sarah Palin was very offended by Family Guy's Extra-Large Medium episode because a character who is a "Down Syndrome girl" says her mom was the former governor of Alaska. I'm assuming they chose to call her a "Down Syndrome girl" because the media referred to Palin's son as a "Down Syndrome baby" (which always irked the hell out of me).
Remember when Palin defended Limbaugh for his satirical use of the word "retards" to poke fun at liberals? That was funny- satire at it's best!!!
Here's an excerpt of a Huffington Post article with direct quotes from her Fox News interview:

Palin also used her platform to continue a call for the president to rid himself of his closest advisers. On Attorney General Eric Holder, she labeled his handling of captured terrorists -- "allowing them our U.S. constitutional protections when they do not deserve them" -- a firing offense. On Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel, she said his comments calling liberal groups "f-ing retards" was "indecent and insensitive" and cause for his dismissal.

But the former governor went to great and sometimes awkward lengths to insist that when conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the same exact term to describe the same exact group, it was simply in the role of political humorist.

"They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh," she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups "retards." "Rush Limbaugh was using satire ... . I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'f-ing retards,' and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there."

But when Family Guy hires an actress who has Down Syndrome to play a character with Down Syndrome it is very offensive and insensitive. I understand her disliking the personal reference poking fun at her, but the satirical depiction of a girl with Down Syndrome shouldn't be objectionable based on her criteria that defended Limbaugh.

I am very sensitive when it comes to people with special needs being made fun of, and honestly, when I saw the preview for that Family Guy episode I thought that it would be offensive to me. However I didn't find it offensive. I am a fan of Family Guy, and I certainly don't find all of their jokes funny. So I am not defending them as a die hard fan.

They've had "autism" and "retard" jokes that didn't offend me either, though both of these conditions are much more personal to me than Down Syndrome. Besides all of this, we must remember that Family Guy is known for its offensive style of humor. They aren't going apologize for something that some find offensive. The makers would probably just tell you not to watch the show.

By the way, the autism joke was when Peter and Lois were role playing and Lois dressed up as Grimace. She said something about stealing hamburgers and Peter told her it was the Hamburgler that stole hamburgers. "Grimace is Ronald McDonald's autistic friend." It's kind of funny because Grimace is socially awkward and seems a little different than the other McDonald's characters. My only issue would be in putting the disability first: autistic friend rather than friend with autism. Still, I realized that I was watching Family Guy so I didn't let it bother me.