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| Nashville, TN Zoo at Grassmere |
As the Roseanne cast was just getting comfortable with a huge hit show, Roseanne, herself, apparently asleep on Ambien, tweeted about a former Obama senior advisor being the offspring of "Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes." America went nuts, as Americans are prone to do once or twice a week. The Roseanne reboot quickly got the boot, a move which reportedly is costing ABC tens of millions of dollars. And Roseanne, surprised by the instant backlash of her "racist rant," apologized, re-apologized, then "ranted" a little more. (I think for a rant, it would have to be far more than one line...even more than the 140 characters Twitter allows.)
As a side note, the makers of Ambien tweeted this:
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| (A drug company with a sense of humor.) |
Roseanne shouldn’t have been shocked, really. The whole world watched Kathy Griffin’s “career” spiral to Hades because of a tasteless Donald Trump photo. She was crucified by the very people who themselves hate the man. She has since bounced back, but she is still crass, vulgar, and not funny.
But I so easily digress.
Wanda Sykes (consulting producer) quit Roseanne right before ABC canceled it, and shortly thereafter, a video of Wanda calling Donald Trump an orangutan repeatedly resurfaced, complete with her vulgar, profanity-laced rant (a true rant) toward booing audience members who presumably paid to see her. (I like to back up my facts with video or links, but in this case, Ms. Sykes was so vulgar I didn’t finish watching it, and don’t suggest anyone else watch it.) I bring it up for obvious reasons.
The left blames the alleged rise in racism on Donald Trump. The right has been blaming Barak Obama for the same thing for years. I blame it on the master of deception himself: satan. He likes to keep a great nation divided, and sadly, we make his job so easy.
Did people over-react to Rosanne’s tweet? Yes. Could it be political pushback? When I consider a certain daily show that consistently says derogatory, rude, and often false things about Donald Trump, but is still protected by the network, I'd guess yes, it's partly political. The tweet was mean, rude, uncalled for…and it was stupid. Classic Roseanne Barr. But just because we don’t like what someone says doesn’t make it racist.
Racism definitely exists. But people also hate others because they are too fat, too poor, or too different. To be called a Muslim-planet-of-the-apes child isn’t any less hurtful or offensive than when a person is cruelly mocked because of their weight, or a poor person who is belittled because she’s using food stamps to buy Oreos and sirloin instead of saltines and peanut butter. Bullying and discrimination is wrong, and one instance doesn't necessarily outweigh another, regardless of who the victim is.
“Racism” is a term that has been so carelessly tossed about every time someone is offended that no one agrees on what means anymore, and that's why people think racism is on the rise. If we can’t agree on what we are fighting, how can we combat it? I don't believe we can, and what we get is a lot of loud, offended people thinking they have the right to never be offended. And that is where we are today: a spirit of offense running rampant across a nation, causing chaos and distracting everyone from things that are really important.
“Racism” is a term that has been so carelessly tossed about every time someone is offended that no one agrees on what means anymore, and that's why people think racism is on the rise. If we can’t agree on what we are fighting, how can we combat it? I don't believe we can, and what we get is a lot of loud, offended people thinking they have the right to never be offended. And that is where we are today: a spirit of offense running rampant across a nation, causing chaos and distracting everyone from things that are really important.
Ever wonder what would happen if our nation got worked up over Jesus?
Hmmm. I agree with everything you wrote here, and applaud your courage for writing it. There is a "but", however. And that is regarding whether or not the tweet was all of the things you said...and racist, too. Yes. It was racist. The "ape" reference made it so. The accusation that blacks are really apes/monkeys is long-standing and a horrible, decades old taunt from white supremacists/Klan members/
ReplyDeleteSauomg Donald Trump looks like an orangutan sounds like, but isn't, the same thing. That was a sarcastic crack about his chemically produced hair and skin color that applied only to him, not to his heritage or his family. Like I said, and as I know you know, the whole monkey thing is a longstanding racial slam. It's different.
Having said that, I'm not entirely sure why people are so shocked that Roseanne acted just like Roseanne. She is the stand-up comedian version of a shock jock. She has made her fame by being pushing limits, being crude, & indulging in what my grandmother would call low-class comedy. Don't we remember the appalling show she put on while "singing" the national anthem? Shock, posing as comedy, is her business. Just like it is for Kathy Griffin--who, as you mentioned, did not fare well with her stunt.
Bill O'Reilly had what I thought was a valid insight on this. He said that ABC immediately knew that the tweet would generate aa backlash of boycotts and lost revenue, so really had no choice but to cancel. My guess is that, considering the alleged pro-conservative views on her show, ABC was already taking some heat for the show--which the ratings and revue overshadowed. This would hurt that.
Having said all of that... Your right. Our citizens are over-reacting, especially in the cry of racism. And it is evil, not a desrie for justice, that underlies it.
I badly wanted to post on FB about the Roseann thing, but the tweet was so reprehensible that I couldn't bring myself write anything that may even slightly sound like a defense. You did this post well--wish I had been able to manage it! (I suspect that some will read this post differently than I have. Will be interesting to see the comments.)
My line of thinking is this...If RB called VJ an ape solely because she black, I would agree that it was definitely racist. (RB has said that she thought VJ was white, and I can see how she might think that.) My gut tells me she was just being crass and disrespectful...and stupid. But what do I know? I can't read her mind. She was a dang-sight less disrespectful than Wanda Sykes was. And I respectfully argue that indeed it is the same thing. WS's rant (and hers was a rant, not an incomplete, nonsensical tweet) comes from a place of hate and thinking she's better than him...which is normally the place where racism stems, I'm guessing.
ReplyDelete(I thought that was DT's natural skin color...)
Something that struck me as a little funny...not really funny haha...I think a greater percentage of those yelling about the "ape" comment believe we all came from apes.
I'm not asserting that Roseanne Barr is racist. I have no idea. I do think that she made that comment thinking that she was being clever in her insult. Since she has often said that Valerie Jarret was born in Iran (To American parents who were working to establish medical clinics & schools as part of a US mission in the '50s), hence the Moslem Brotherhood comment, I'm pretty sure she knew VJ's father was black. So, she knew the hurled insult would sting her more than it would a white woman. If I had to come down on a side here, I'd say that is all it was--a desire to deliver a stinging, clever insult that would let people know she's not afraid to be irreverent--because RB thinks that is funny & THA:S who she is. So. A race-based comment that may not have had racist intent.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know who VJ was until "the tweet," but I did a little research after the memes started popping up all over social media...and the ones I've seen are lies. That bothers me more than the tweet. Why do people not even bother to check (it only takes a minute) before they post. (Not our first conversation about this.) I give up on trying to get them to stop it! Well, I give up tonight, anyway. I'm going to bed. Rest well, my friend.
ReplyDeleteChuckle. Good night.
ReplyDeleteTho, I also researched old Valerie and her parents & grandparents were quite impressive & dignified. Makes me embarrassed for Roseanne.
Seems to me the real problem is with Twitter. It should have a filter on it that one has to wait 24 hours before they post anything. In another time after Ambien was out of her system, Roseann might have decided to delete the tweet. That was all tongue in cheek. We seem to want to immediately blame and call out people and then discipline accordingly. Roseann has always been crass and more than likely always will be. She'll get her new 15 minutes of fame and then the country will move on to someone else's 15 minutes without addressing the real problem, which is what you said. The problem lies with the enemy and his destructive ways and the solution rests with Jesus, but people of course don't want to admit that. Local teenager here said about the latest shooting at a school last week that prayer does not work. I wanted to reach inside the TV screen and grab him and said prayer does work. Surprisingly, when prayer was allowed in public school there wasn't the violence that is happening these days. Prayer does work, people just need to get on their knees and do so. And maybe one day we'll have a country that will be in an uproar over the saving grace of Jesus and what a country this would be.
ReplyDeletebetty
Best I remember, when I was in school, there was not only prayer, but the hunters with their pick up trucks, gun racks, and rifles...and no school shootings.
ReplyDeleteYep.
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