By now we have all heard about Sarah Palin being incredibly upset about last Sunday’s episode of “Family Guy”. If not, to wrap it all up, the episode features a girl named Ellen who has Down Syndrome and who Chris happens to have a crush on. In one particular scene, Chris asks, what do your parents do? She responds in regards to her mother by saying she is the former Governor of Alaska. Kind of a cheap shot at Palin especially considering she does have a young boy with Down Syndrome, but none the less not directed at her son, and it was all done in good taste. I personally feel this just further degrades the already “tainted” view of republicans. She even had her daughter make a statement about how horrible it made her feel actually calling the writers “heartless Jerks.”

  I think this is bull shit, especially considering the actress who did the voice over for Ellen, Andrea Fay Friedman, actually has DS (Down Syndrome). In an e-mail to the New York Times she wrote,

                      I guess Former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “Sarcasm.”

                      In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life.

 I rest my case. Some of you out there might be asking if she really knew what she was doing, knew if she was portraying a character who has DS? The answer is yes, she did. In an over the phone interview she spoke with ArtsBeat about the episode. At one point she was asked, Did they specifically tell you that the character you were going to play also had Down syndrome?

She responded with – Yeah, they told me I was playing Ellen, who was Miss Bossy. I didn’t want to be bossy, but since they want me to be bossy, I just had to be as the character. I had to be bossy, as part of my process. That’s the only way to transform the real me to an animated person. So I had to do what an actor does. I just wing it and have fun with it.

She was also asked,When you get asked to play characters who have Down syndrome, does that make you at all uncomfortable?

And responded with – No, I’m proud of it. I’m not embarrassed. But mostly, it doesn’t matter if you have Down syndrome. Really, it just matters to have a different challenge.

Seems to me like she is kinda saying that when you point out the fact that someone has DS or any other difference and make a big fuss about it, that’s when your being judgemental about the person, you see them literally as not the same as everyday people. Like Palin has now done with her son, and like Ms. Friedman said, it doesn’t matter if you have Down Syndrome.

 I don’t know about you, but if I had any sort of condition, I wouldn’t want people fussing about it. I KNOW I personally would feel different. I would not want that. I would want to feel as normal as I could. Shame on you Palin, another Republican with nothing better to do then make a fuss about nothing, and hurt those around you.