The culture war heated up this week with the self-destruction of Roseanne Barr. It’s a fascinating story that has wide implications for all Americans who care about free expression - but not in the way you might think.
The recent success of Ms. Barr’s sitcom on ABC set back the Stalinists who have succeeded in muting almost all non-liberal entertainment since President Trump was elected.
Roseanne galvanized millions of Trump supporters by simply playing a character that approved of the President. Of course, there were anti-Trump characters in the show, but the fact that the President was liked by Roseanne herself sent the leftist totalitarians into spasms of indignation.
Now, that’s all gone. In an amazingly self-destructive act, Roseanne tweeted an attack on former Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, an African-American, using a vile racist depiction.
Understanding that boycotts and disparagement were on the way, the Disney Company, which owns ABC, immediately cancelled Roseanne and cut all ties with the performer.
That was the correct thing to do even though Disney has allowed incredibly vicious smears on the ABC network, and on one of its cable properties, ESPN. In fact, that sports channel recently hired one of the biggest haters in the country to broadcast on its air.
But you cannot justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior. As Roseanne herself admitted, she has no defense for her race-tinged attack.
The White House has pointed out Disney’s hypocrisy and it is up to consumers to decide whether their products remain worthy. But this incident has done damage to race relations in America and that is a damn shame.
Most white Americans, I believe, do not dislike blacks, and have been unfairly tarnished with the “white privilege” accusations peddled by anti-American people.
On the other hand, most black Americans do have personal stories of being scrutinized or worse because of their skin color. Those experiences are real and should be respected.
However, unfair treatment is not a license to hate a country or a race of people (Caucasian). Most African-Americans understand that and also know that they are entitled to equality; the same chance at the pursuit of happiness to which whites are entitled. America has made great strides in this direction and the false narrative that we are a country driven by “white supremacy” is vicious propaganda.
But now that propaganda has been given momentum by a stupid tweet from Roseanne Barr. The freedom of expression that she used has damaged the country and made it more difficult for people of good will to find common ground.
Roseanne has given far left zealots and the race baiters a gift. It is awful to watch and we should all be noting who is exploiting the terrible tweet.
With freedom comes responsibility. Words to always remember.
