Darwinism and Freedom of Speech: How Roseanne Barr Was Barred for Using Liberal Values against the Liberal Establishment
Roseanne Barr is an accomplished American actress who embodies the American values in an explosive personality. She is a granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, born in a working-class Jewish Utah family, and active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Roseanne won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the hit television sitcom “Roseanne” (1988–1997) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2018, the first episode of her revived 10th season of “Roseanne” (which included positive references to President Donald Trump), premiered on ABC (a left-wing channel), and reached 25 million viewers, a national record for a sitcom.
Over time, Roseanne has been no stranger of controversies (National anthem, Zimmerman tweet, Hitler photo shoot, and Parkland shooting tweet) that caught both the right-wing and left-wing supporters off guard.
Her own political sympathies have been also controversial. In 2012, she filed as a Green Party presidential candidate (but lost the nomination to Jill Stein). Then she won the presidential nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party and she announced that “we need more socialism.”
In 2012 she voted for Barack Obama, but in 2016 she voiced support for Republicans, and voted for Donald Trump.
On May 29, 2018, Roseanne posted a series of controversial remarks on her Twitter account, including a response to a conspiracy-laden Twitter thread accusing Valerie Jarrett (the senior adviser to former President Obama and a longtime Obama confidante) of helping to cover up CIA spying. The response included the comment “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” hinting to Jarrett’s being born in Iran, her politics and her looks.
Roseanne later deleted her tweet and posted an apology, stating she was “truly sorry for making a bad joke.”
The bizarre comment was labeled immediately as “racist” by the Mainstream Media, and put the left-wing on offensive.
Later in that morning, the show consulting producer Wanda Sykes had announced she would be leaving the show.
Wanda Sykes is the same African-American “comedian” who, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2009, made “jokes” about conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, including: “he’s not saying anything differently than what Osama Bin Laden is saying” “because I think maybe he was the 20th hijacker […] that he missed his flight” and “I hope his kidneys fail. How about that? He needs some waterboarding, that’s what he needs.” Sykes also said: “Too much? But you’re laughing on the inside. I know you’re laughing!”
Surprisingly, with Roseanne, Wanda had “too much” and she didn’t want to “laugh on the inside.”
But, hey, when comedians make jokes about the left, they are all “racist” and when they make jokes about the right, they are just “outspoken.”
Hours after Roseanne’s tweet, the ABC’s president, Channing Dungey (herself an African-American, like Jarrett and Sykes), announced that “we have decided to cancel her show.” Dungey stated that Roseanne’s remark was “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.” Dungey was promoted in February 2016 as the first African-American network president after serving as vice president of drama development at ABC Studios.
I guess Dungey had also “too much” and didn’t want to “laugh on the inside” either. We’re waiting anxiously to see when Dungey has “too much” with Joy Behar of “The View” and when she features on ABC parts of the new Netflix series with Michelle Wolf, another African-American “outspoken comedian” whose harsh “jokes” aimed at the Trump administration.
It is remarkable that Roseanne gave the left a taste of its own medicine. And the left, of course, didn’t like it. Let me elaborate.
First, a comment, no matter how bizarre, which is part of the free speech, is labeled as “racist” when it is inconvenient for liberals. Everybody knows that freedom of speech is good only when it is practiced by the left. When it is practiced by the right, it suddenly becomes “inconsistent with our values.”
Second, the “ape” reference is part of Darwinism, the theory of “evolution” and “natural selection,” so dear to liberals. Why is it, then, so “abhorrent” to make comparisons between humans and simians? Isn’t this hypocrisy? The followers of Darwinism have been constantly trying to delegitimize the intelligent design theory and creationism (which are not the same, but they overlap). But, for whatever reason, they are appalled instead when humans are compared to their… “predecessors.”
To make a long story short, Roseanne’s tweet is just one of the many cases when liberals want to have the cake and eat it too.
I am not concerned that Roseanne will be jobless for long. One reason is the fact that American culture has changed radically since Donald Trump was elected president. “Telling it like it is”, in spite of being branded as “racism” by those who don’t like it, and being occasionally sanctioned with remarkable speed outside the court of law by those run by emotions, is a phenomenon that is taking roots in public speech.
Political correctness, “phobias” and “-isms” are not as scary as they used to be years ago. The scary tactics of the left have remained pretty much the same over time and they don’t scare many anymore.
So, if ABC, who had a golden hen in its hands, doesn’t want to collect the golden eggs anymore, but decided instead to cut the hen, the better for the next company who will hire Roseanne. That company will be wise enough not to mix business with hard-line ideologies.
NOTE — Versions of the article were published in:
CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW! (Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas) [2,500+ views; 5 comments]
and
INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE (Phoenix, Arizona) [1,500+ views; 5 comments]
and
MEDIUM (San Francisco, California) [100+ views; 3 comments; 150 likes]
and featured in:
BAHAMAS HERALD (Houston, Texas)
and
CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW! — FACEBOOK (Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas)
and
SAVE AMERICA FOUNDATION (Clearwater, Florida)
and referenced in:
MILLION NET WORTH
NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS = 7
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