Out for blood

First of all, I find Family Guy to be hilarious. But at the same time, I find the success of Family Guy to be a paradox because the series rely almost exclusively on politically incorrect jokes in our politically correct world.

I missed the recent episode that stirred up political controversy, but I heard all about it after the fact. In case you missed it, the uproar was over how the show mocked Sarah Palin's actual handicapped 1 year old son through the portrayal of a fictitious mentally handicapped character in the episode. People at work said "it was clearly sarcasm, what was all the fuss about?" Without having seen the show, I couldn't comment.

But now I have seen the clip, as well as Palin's response to the episode. After seeing both, I must say that I didn't find the Family Guy scene to be particularly funny, and I sympathized with Palin. Occasionally choked-up, Palin said she couldn't believe how cruel people can be in making fun of a little child that already is going to grow up with a difficult life. To her, Trig is like every other child, happy and enjoying the world. In that moment, listening to her describe her parental perspective, all I saw was a mother defending her child from a vicious world.

No matter what one's political persuasion, I just couldn't believe how people could hate someone so much to think that such a low blow was in any way fair game. It just made me stop and think about how ugly things have become. It is as if blood has been tasted and the kill must be completed. Is this really what our mainstream culture and media is all about nowadays?