An Open Letter to Seth McFarlane

Mr. McFarlane,

I have to come clean and tell you that I’m not a regular viewer of your program, The Family Guy. I’ve probably seen two episodes since you’ve been on the air. Until now, it’s not been a matter of the content. I’m just not that into television anymore. Perhaps it’s a sign of old age.

In any event, I write to you now about an episode that aired on March 21, 2010. By now, you’re surely aware that this particular episode has stirred some controversy. While some will say it’s wiser to ignore things instead of creating publicity, I’m sure a show as successful as yours doesn’t need to lean on me for additional hype. So, I’ll speak my piece.

Naturally, I’m referring to the sketch, “Terri Schiavo: The Musical”. Before you discard my letter and mutter, “Just turn the channel, lady,” to yourself, let me tell you who I am.

I volunteered as a webmistress and media spokesperson for the family of Terri Schiavo from November of 2002 until March of 2006. In that time, I ran the website, communicated updates and dispersed court documents to those in the news media who covered the case and I spent a good deal of time on talk radio, discussing the goings on in the court proceedings.

I also became quite close with Terri’s family. More importantly, I got to know a great many people in the disabled community. The experience – as a whole — wasn’t what I’d call a happy one. I’ve seen some astonishing things.

Mr. McFarlane, I don’t claim to be an arbiter of what is or is not acceptable humor or creative content. I’m a member of the creative services industry myself and am loathe to hear even suggestions of censorship or any encroachments upon free speech or creative expression. They are rights that I consider utterly sacred.

Having said that, I also believe that – with all rights – we have some basic responsibilities.

I was forwarded a link to the Hulu stream of March 21’s Family Guy. It wasn’t from a Facebook friend or a Twitter poster. It was actually from Terri’s own brother and, needless to say, he was saddened by the content.

And, even though I’ve seen some pretty snarky satire on Terri and her situation, I have to tell you; I was completely floored by the clip. Characters singing about pulling the plug on someone, calling her a plant and a vegetable.

Honestly, I tried to be objective. As you can imagine, that’s not always easy for someone close to a situation that is being parodied. But, try I did and, I simply couldn’t find the first bit of humor in the sketch. To be perfectly honest, it seemed like abject cruelty. Bullying. Dehumanizing.

Mr. McFarlane, I’ve dealt with the issues of the life and liberty interests of profoundly disabled people for over 7 years now. Specifically, those people who live with brain injuries and cognitive disabilities. Perhaps you are not aware, but these people face a battery of injustices: socially, legally and with regards to their expectations of health care. Even American soldiers, returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries, are receiving what amounts to a song and dance from a number of our Veterans Administration hospitals — instead of the care they need.

People who have been rendered helpless by brain injuries or other neurological events are not a separate and unequal class of human being, Mr. McFarlane. Of that fact, I am absolutely certain. Still, they are typically treated as such with certain rights removed by probate courts, their lives continuing at the pleasure of others and what has been (until recent years) a somewhat closeted prejudice against them. These days, that prejudice seems to be very open and acceptable.

Again, I tried (almost desperately) to find a redeeming point in the Terri Schiavo sketch that you produced and that Fox aired. I simply couldn’t. In the end, it just struck me as bigotry and cruelty.

Even if you have not an ounce of empathy or sympathy for Terri’s surviving family, I’d ask that you consider how other disabled people and their carers must of felt if they saw this sketch. What message are we sending them? That they aren’t in the club? That their problems are fodder for the rest of us?

Satire, I think, works pretty brilliantly when it attacks the powerful, elite, obnoxious, careless or narcissistic types we’ve all had the displeasure of running into. When it’s levied on someone who is helpless and defenseless, it just seems a bit cowardly to me. Maybe that makes sense to you. Maybe it doesn’t.

No one wants to be put down or marginalized for something they have no control over.

You know, when I heard that Mary Schindler (Terri’s mother) had seen the clip, I was rather cross. I’ll admit it. I know, first-hand, the devotion this woman has for her family and her loved ones. I haven’t the words to articulate to you how utterly destroyed Mary was when Terri died. You may not agree with Terri’s family trying to protect her life. You may not agree with how they went about it. But, I can tell you that desperate parents sometimes do things that outsiders don’t understand.

It seems clear that you don’t understand the points of Terri’s case. Had you, you wouldn’t have depicted her character as someone hooked up to a slew of mechanical life support machines. You see, Terri only needed a feeding tube to deliver food and water – basic necessities of her life, mine and yours.

Mr. McFarlane, I certainly don’t seek to censor you. It wouldn’t be proper. But, understand that – inasmuch as you have the right to produce the type of content you see fit – others have the right to admonish you for it, cease patronage of your sponsors for it and express displeasure with it. When it comes to the struggles that people with disabilities face, I have to side with those interested in protecting the disabled and not those who dehumanize them.

In parting, I hope you will consider the very real plight of the disabled community as well as the challenges that they and their families face each day. Sometimes, there are victories. Sometimes, there are real human tragedies.

None of us are really any further than one life event away from it.

Regards,

Pamela F. Hennessy
Clearwater, Florida

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