Roseanne Barr: Racist or just rude?

NOTE: Several days elapsed between the start of writing this column and its completion. Take a journey with me as my thoughts ebb and flow and questions form.

If you're expecting me to defend Roseanne Barr, you're going to be disappointed. I don't like when people play the race card, I don't like when people purposely use other people's words to trap them, and I don't like when people see racism at every turn -- but Roseanne did this to herself.

What Roseanne said cannot be defended; even she isn't defending her tweet in which she referred to Valerie Jarrett, former President Barack Obama's adviser, as a "baby" of the "Muslim Brotherhood & planet of the apes."

I'll start with a question: Is Roseanne a racist? Answer: I have no idea. Actually, I tend to believe most racists carefully mask their racism and are smart enough not to announce it to the world. We may never recognize it. So I don't have a clue what Roseanne is, but it's clear what she is not: wise.

No one could possibly think comparing a black person to an ape would fly. What was she thinking? How could she have thought her "joke," as she called it, was acceptable? Comedians can make racial jokes, and they do, but there's a line they don't cross. "Oh, so now you want to be all PC, Ross?" This has nothing to do with being PC. Some things just are, and if you cannot identify this as one of those things, you're ... well not wise, either. Anybody with a lick of sense knows why her comments were unacceptable.

Those were my initial common sense thoughts. But ... as more time has gone by, more has unfolded. Roseanne, as well as others, supposedly didn't know Jarrett is black. One person tweeted that "she doesn't even look black." News flash: Black folks have various looks -- and complexions. But if they want to talk about looks, Jarrett "doesn't even look" white, either, though Roseanne said, "I mistakenly thought she was white." So, at the very least, Roseanne should have done some research. Again -- not wise. It is what she called it: "ignorant."

If -- IF -- Roseanne did not know Jarrett's black heritage, does that change things? It's possible she intended to "joke about her politics and her looks," not her race, as she asserted. Would that change the conversation? "If nothing else, maybe it changes it from where attacks on race take a person to where rude physical insults do. But in this situation, that's a significant change.

Either way, Roseanne is out of a job at ABC, and so are her co-workers. Exhibit A that we do not live unto ourselves. Our actions affect others. All it took was one tweet.

In the midst of this mess, "whataboutism" has reared its head. Political people are doing what they do: pulling out examples of people -- on the other side of the aisle -- who have said horrible things and suffered no circumstances. Can we not deal with the wrong at hand without acting like children, saying, "But what about Johnny?" Look, we already know there's a double standard. We've seen the hypocrisy. We can point out Johnny's situation any other day. Today, can we just be human enough to deal with this situation, instead of scoring political points?

"The other side does it and gets away with it," I've heard repeatedly. My response? "Well, if you felt the other side was worth emulating, you'd be the other side. Aren't you on this side because you believe in a higher standard? Then stand up for what's right!"

Fed up with the nonsense, I posted on social media:

"If someone does or says something that is clearly inhumane and your only outrage is that someone else did something inhumane before but didn't suffer repercussions -- rather than being outraged or, at least, moved by the particular situation at hand -- your focus is off. Everyone knows there are double standards. There was one yesterday, and there will be one tomorrow, but can you stand up for what has taken place today? If not, you're a pawn -- probably a political one. Besides, didn't y'all mommas teach y'all 'two wrongs don't make a right'"?

Having said that, my emotions are complicated. I find myself softening as the days go by. Not only has Roseanne apologized; she acknowledges it was her own actions that caused the criticism and cancellation of her hit show. She's asked that people not engage in the comparisons they are making. She seems genuinely contrite. Now, I believe in accepting apologies, and she may not have known Jarrett's race, but being sorry doesn't eradicate consequences. It was ABC's call to make, and ABC made it.

Often, we say that tough times can be good times because they allow us an opportunity for honest -- albeit uncomfortable -- dialogue, but when that dialogue consists of two sides just seeking to score political points or making a list of previous wrongs, we get nowhere. And that's where we are. Maybe the only person who has learned something from this is Roseanne; at least we can hope she has.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Contact her at aross@semissourian.com.