If I may whitesplain the joke to you, it was not a joke that marginalized blacks and Asians. It wasn’t even about them. It was about tv development, pop culture recursiveness, and ABC’s literally content strategy of showcasing niches of diversity (which includes Rosanne for poor whites.)
Rosanne was not dismissing the characters or message of the shows, she was “catching up” because they had slept through them—because old people are frail—ha ha!
That her takeaway was heartfelt and positive (“They’re just like us” is a theme of workplace diversity training) while also being reductive and simplistic and even dismissive is the heart of the show. What everyone seems to miss is that while the Connors are nice people with real problems and emotions. They. Are. Not. Aspirational.
They are losers. Downtrodden. Forgotten. Chewed up. Vulgar. Uneducated. Poor. This is not a new phenomenon. This was true in the 90s as well. Forcing us to watch and enjoy them is the ruse of the show. It’s what offended my grandmother some 30 years ago. Why does no one remember. This show was the real white American controversy. Not Murphy Brown.
181
Sometimes, a television show is just that, a television show. I had no interest in Roseanne the first time around, and I have no interest in watching it the second time around. If everyone would just stop talking about it, the show, and its obnoxious creator, might go away. Just like our current denizen in the White House.
124
There is no reason I would ever watch Roseanne a trump supporter when NCIS is on in that time slot.
The same reason I do not watch Blue Blood which has Tom Selleck as the main character.
But yes, I love Bob's Burgers a great show, so see I do not make my life polluted by thinking of Donald J. trump the slime ball.
23
What a thoughtful review. Thank you. I'm also going to check out "Fresh Off the Boat."
31
The problem I see with Mr. Yu is that he believes that people can experience "…what it means to be white or working class," or "understand the lives of Asian-Americans" from Television Sitcoms.
I would think that is would be more offensive to Asian-Americans if I were to think that I could somehow understand their lives by watching "Fresh off the Boat" (a title that itself could be viewed as offensive)
58
What that joke in Roseanne really meant, especially in light of Roseanne Barr's political ideaology, was that in Trump's America, only white America matters, everyone else is "the other" and can be dismissed from the national experience. I am truly surprised the show writers allowed this one to get in.
66
I saw a post online that now I'm starting to believe: "Watching television is like pouring black paint over your third eye." Well, if you know what the third eye is, you'll get what I'm saying. If you don't, you won't. But as I get older I'm finding television truly is a wasteland.
61
You know how many people refer to Trump supporters as "deplorables", it may be because they find many of the things they think and say deplorable, like the "joke" you're analysing.
And also, yes, marginalized people often focus their ire on other marginalized people. Nothing could be more commonplace in u.s. history and representative of the demographic Roseanne is highlighting.
36
It's interesting reading 7 or 8 comments all with different interpretations. It seems like Roseanne's comment acts like a Rorschach test for the viewer's own attitude(s). I took it to mean that TV homogeneous different racial and ethnic groups to all fit the standard upper middle class norm. But I guess it meant whatever Roseanne thought it meant. But I think there are multiple interpretations and honestly it does seem like much ado about nothing given the REAL outrages being perpetuated on a daily basis by our unambiguously racist president. Ultimately, we can't expect TV characters to always utter the exact sentiments we agree with but we can try to hold real people accountable.
41
the left-behind have to be heard. the show is accomplishing that. good for Kelvin Yu for allowing “Othersville” in his life.
5
Instead of taking offense, the author should be happy about the line being included. I saw it as a shout-out to all diverse shows.
30
Get off the cosmetic differences and realize our common humanity.
42
wow. this piece is precisely the problem with hypersensitivity of political correctness and a surprise coming from someone so brilliant on his netflix show. Roseanne's character on the show would fully be cynical about diverse representation on tv because she's cynical about everything because her character is poor and white and feels as the piece pointed out equally marginalized. Unlike Master of None I find Fresh off the Boat anything but fresh in terms of the writing and while I hated Roseanne the first time around the reboot seems to resonate in a Norman Lear vein. His genius was getting everyone to laugh at themselves not merely at the fat old poor white person that is when tv comedy makes a difference.
61
Why does Roseanne (and the ABC network supporting her) feel it's important to showcase Trump supporters, "It’s an accurate portrayal of these people and people like them. In terms of what they think, and how they feel when they are the ones who send their kids over to fight. We’ve been in wars for a long, long time, which everybody seems to forget — but working class people don’t forget it because their kids are in it."
Whereas, "They're just like us" is good enough for Black and Asian Americans?
25
"Here’s where I agree that we are all the same: It’s the invisibility that hurts. It’s the passing over, the looking away, the casual flick of the hand. It’s the denial of basic recognition. It’s the reluctance to concede that your story deserves to be told... If we want others to respect our stories, we have to respect theirs." I agree! Too much at stake! No room for A.Bunker irony nowadays! "Blasé disregard" is suicide at best, and at worst ... Weimar Republic.
10
You know American society is in severe intellectual decline when a program as inane and vacuous as Rosanne can return to TV and people actually find "meaning," in it.
89
This addiction to social media has invited all the lies from abroad, the fake 'people', the bots, as well as the angry and hateful. Who knows who's really saying what? Nobody. The Russians and others 'want' us to be upset and angry and at each other's throats. That works for them: they get their competitors to hate each other and not work together for a common goal.
Social media's a wreck. Don't let it wreck the goodness in you.
15
Why couldn't be just a reference to the fact that all these shows are the same blather? "They're just like us" could mean that regardless of race, religion, etc. that people are the same, but we just can't have that, can we. Perpetuating the fact that it is a black sitcom or Asian sitcom just strengthens the stereotypes and keeps the wedge between everyone. did nobody see the PSA from the 70's? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBJXtTIbDTo
24
There is an interesting irony here, that the plea to linger on claim "I see you. You matter" is accompanied by a photo from "Master of None" in which Yu's character struggles to do just that with his father. Most of that episode shows Yu and Ansari's characters bemoaning the impossibility of communication with their fathers across cultural difference.
Is Yu being hypocritical? I don't think so. I just think that it is exceptionally difficult to sit with the discomforts, frustrations, and frequent failures of recognition. We lack a vocabulary for that conversation.
Besides, the real request is not to say "you're just like me." The real request is to soften, maybe abandon, the inequalities that entrench and exploit differences between people. And many like the predictability of the status quo... so much so, that they are okay with its inequalities.
7
Amazing that there's so much discussion of "Roseanne," as if it's anything more than a vehicle to sell products like all television shows. They have no other function. There's nothing profound going on here. That anyone would spend time parsing the dialog of a show like this is remarkable.
22
What a great article! I do watch shows from groups--ethnic, religion, mental illnesses, sexual orientation, social class, marital status, children status--of which I am not a part in order to vicariously experience the experiences of Others. I think my life would be a lot sadder, emptier and more confined if I couldn't imaginatively connect with the lives of these Others. I like shows that don't exoticize or romanticize these differences but embrace the differences for all of their strengths and weaknesses. I do question shows like Grey's Anatomy for creating a beautified world with brilliant, gloriously successful and physically beautiful people, where there is also the racial diversity--when the reality is that none of that exists in the real world. Why does Grey Sloan Hospital have dozens of brilliant, internationally renowned, gorgeous doctors? Is that necessary or relevant to the story lines? What if they were just average doctors with average problems like the rest of us? And what if the gay doctors encountered homophobia? And the African-American doctors encountered racism? Isn't that more true to our current realities?
13
" It’s the invisibility that hurts." That applies to things other than ethnic groups. As a Methodist I get very annoyed by the endless string of Times articles that focus on evangelicals and Catholics as if mainstream Protestants did not exist. Readers unfamiliar with various denominations get a warped view of what various religious beliefs are like.
24
To me the line broke the 4th wall as a comment on sitcoms' chronically common narrative arc; it was not about race or class at all but a lighthearted jab at what we all know has been/is/always will be formulaic TV writing, among which Roseanne was including itself.
37
One interesting note on all of this is the perpetuation of the myth that Roseanne is the only show about working-class whites that has ever been on television. The Honeymooners ushered that setup in back in the 1950s. We've also had various examples of rural middle class whites (eg., The Real McCoys) for some time. In the 70s, Norman Lear gave us an indelible image of a middle-class white family in All in the Family. Did you see that set? Did they look like moneyed folk?
Roseanne was not the first show about struggling middle-class whites.
29
I took the joke as a mild jab at the producers/writers of Blackish and Fresh Off The Boat for attempting to relate the lives of people of color to the viewing public through the depiction of extremely financially successful families -- depictions which might have little resonance with working class families, whether white, African-American, Asian-American, etc.
12
I am not certain that the line was intended as you interpreted it. I remember as a young child in the late 1950s asking my mom why somebody's skin was a different color than mine. She said that's just how skin is and that " They are just like us." My mom was not racist/prejudiced. This is how I interpret that line. Roseanne and I are from the same generation...
30
The Brits are always complaining that Americans don't get irony. For the first time I see what they're talking about.
51
All in the Family famously used the words of a very bigoted character to address contemporary social issues, and I think the Roseanne writers were trying to do something similar here. In my view, the joke is more a comment more on the prototypical Trump voter's views on encroaching multiculturalism than any real dig at the shows she's brushing off. To me it feels actually pretty sophisticated.
21
I too was stopped short by that joke. But then I decided as the point of view of Rosanne's character, it was likely aimed at the quality or mentality of the TV shows representing American Black and Asian families.
The acting on the shows I watch (Insecure, blackish, Fresh Off the Boat and more recently, the Quad and Atlanta) is excellent, as it was on the Carmichaels and the Mindy Project.
But I do find and Atlanta regularly stresses, that shows featuring mostly black or ethnic minorities rarely present failure --especially of character--as an option. Now, the successful representative of a minority is not just a college professor but the president of the university, etc.
Anyway, as a liberal woman, it's great to see more and more of these shows --especially Insecure!--make it. But, like Rosanne Connors, I would like to see a wider scope of experience and spectrum of cultural difference, and fewer "just like me."
9
The whole motif of "Atlanta" is about struggle and failure. Please explain how you could miss the central theme of the show?
4
I think she meant, we have more in common as humans and Americans than we have dividing us. Doesn't seem so complicated.
83
That was exactly my take, too. Not sure what all the kerfuffle is about.
15
Try this one on for size: to some of us, the joke seemed to be a comment, not on black or Asian people, but on the TV programs that present them--a comment that implies TV is trying to homogenize everyone to make them palatable to the majority white viewing audience. That kind of joke would be more in line with the spirit of the best of the show, which tends to cast a jaundiced eye on pretensions both left and right. Oh, well.
71
Is there a semiotics problem here? The joke as I understood it was about the TV shows, not black and Asian families themselves. One could read it a couple ways: As a dig at the networks and shows for reducing their depictions of black and Asians in primetime to making the point "they're just like us." Or as a sly breaking of the fourth wall: "They're fictional characters going through some meaningless TV plot just as we are." Either way, I'm pretty sure it was a joke about how TV shows deal with diversity, not about diversity itself. The latter would seem out of character -- Roseanne and Dan aren't Archie Bunker.
100
But the pro-Trump consumers of the corporate products called Roseanne and Dan ARE Archie Bunker, and it's those peoples' dollars for which the network and sponsors are hungry.
6
The Twitter response from Roseanne fans seemed to understand the semiotics.
2
I really don't feel her numbers were due to people yearning to see this poor family or nostalgia..it was simply the hype that was created due to Roseanne's personal politics and people on both sides wanting to see how much carried over to the show. The right wanted some positive reinforcement, the left wanted a good old fashioned hate-watch...both sides were probably let down and the numbers should level out. I myself won't watch (although I was a fan of the original..well a fan until Roseanne and Tom Arnold discovered they could afford truckloads of cocaine and ruined the original....but I have no desire to see this type of family I see them at Thanksgiving with my Trumpy racist aunt and uncle and that simply is once a year too many for me so I'll keep it at that. They can have Roseanne ..I'll take Robbin Season.
5
I am a democrat (Bernie Sanders left) and I did not tune into Roseanne to hate watch. I tuned in because I loved the show as a kid and I love it now. I learned a long time ago to stop following Roseanne Barr on twitter for my own sanity however. When she is in character she can be brilliant. When one of her other 33 personalities gets lose on Twitter that is a different story.
14
Thank you for your perspective, Mr. Yu. I took the joke to mean that our society has progressed to the point where we are comfortable seeing non-white families on television (yea!), but that non-white families have problems, too. And that that should be no surprise to anyone. It honestly never occurred to me that she was saying the perspective of racial minorities wasn't worth hearing. I interpreted her quip to say although racial minorities face different challenges, the feeling of being on the outside looking in happens to white families, too.
35
Great piece. If it weren't for Roseanne Barr's political leanings the joke might be taken to be an innocent throw away to be taken at face value. But given her and her character's support of Trump and the large Trump supporter audience, it's hard not to see it as a dismissive swipe at liberals and shows that try to depict the lives of people who are underrepresented on TV. White working class people have had a voice on TV for decades - most TV sitcoms since the 70's have been about white middle class and working class families. White people (even working class) still have more advantages in this country than people of color and immigrants. Yes, they are the same as we white people. But life for them is not just like it is for us - no matter what Roseanne says. I grew up a poor white person but I never had to experience racism or learn a new language and culture to fit in, and my religion wasn't controversial. Thoughtful shows about the lives of the variety of people in this country might help xenophobes like Trumpsters to see that this country's strength lies in our inclusiveness.
170
The line WAS a little bit funny. But it was also mean-spirited. To me, there is a difference between this Roseanne show and its earlier version, and also between this show and the similar setup that was "All In The Family."
This difference is that this one feels mean.
45
Please don't forget, bad publicity is still publicity.
Bored with Roseanne. Always was, still am. That she supports Trump - and vice versa - only makes it more obvious there's no there there.
Other people live from paycheck to paycheck and survive as ordinary humans without having to bust up the human race in the process of sticking a thumb in the eye of people who actually care and actually want to help.
58
I have often wondered, especially in these troubled times, how my parents came by their own broad embrace of the belief that everyone, no matter their race, color or socio-economic status, were deserving of respect. They both came from poor backgrounds, they were not highly educated (but they were high-school graduates), and they had to work hard to improve their lives. They believed in personal responsibility. They raised their children to respect others. They were liberal politically. They were union members. And my father was without a job for several years just before he retired. Yet I never heard a word of blame directed outward. They took total responsibility for their lives. So I, too, am having a great deal of difficulty understanding the self-pitying attitudes we are hearing now as justification for voting in our current president. And I'm very disappointed in the attitudes being expressed in the Roseanne reboot. What separates the fighters from the whiners?
19
Kelvin Yu is a fine comedy writer & actor, but of late it seems that the new Roseanne show, & the star herself, are now the NYT's favorite punching bag. The general drift of much of the criticism by various Time's writers, Yu's included, is to parse every word & detail of either show or star or both, forage for a favorite morsel then proceed to hang extend social commentary, & more generally scorn, on something that can hardly carry the weight of their offended sensibilities to begin with.
44
Agreed. I feel like the people who are reading way too far into a line on her show are further alienating themselves. They may be just as much to blame for assuming something that isn't there and helping to keep the bigotry alive!
6
Have no desire to watch the Roseanne reboot . Hardly watch any comedy shows on tv ,find the canned laughter annoying and fake . Comedy at the expense of others is not funny and the canned laughter normalizes what is not funny .
19
sm
You're missing out, try watching Baskets, Schitt's Creek, People of Earth, and Atlanta. No laugh tracks among them.
2
Exceptionally well said.
15
I still steadfastly refuse to watch "Roseanne."
25
Brilliant commentary, Mr Yu. Your final sentence should be a rallying cry for our whole country. Well done!
15
Well said! I think you hit a key issue in so much of the nasty regressive politics our country is seeing right now - the idea that this is a zero sum game. It's the belief that if people of color advance it's at the cost of whites. If women women are paid fairly it's coming out of men's pockets. This is not really how it works but it's how the GOP has sold it.
46
What am I missing? Why is "they're just like us" interpreted as "broad racial generalizations for no ostensible reason"?
78
It's all in one's perspective. I thought the line was affirmative, seeing similarities, acknowleding each person's humanity and the universal struggle to keep families together and well. I was particularly impressed with the line because the familes in the other shows are much wealthier than the Roseanne family. Until I read this article, and saw that to others the line is dismissive because it does pay enough attention to the differences of the other familis and is seemingly disreapectful. Not convinced at all of that point of view. But glad to hear the argument, a strong reminder of how communicaton can be chaotic.
10
It's not what was said but how.
4
Did you read the article? I think it was explained quite well.
4
Thank you Mr. Yu for writing this and expanding on why the joke was wrong. It hit me wrong as well, but my ethnicity and demographic are more like the fictional Conners than the fictional Huangs. You provided the thoughtful nuance and insight I needed.
11
The very fact that some people would feel justified to use racist terms to attack Kelvin confirms the necessity and justification of his tweets questioning the joke. Those responses didn't surprise me, either. There is still a large track of America that believes in the sanctity of racism and to call people on it is at best whining and at worst an act of terror.
45
I read it as a pretty honest depiction of a Trump voter.
16
Kelvin, I agree with you that "this is about attention. This is about the basic human need to have someone say: “I see you. You matter.”
The problem is that Asian people need to STOP waiting for the Roseannes to pay attention. As you & Aziz did in Master of None, we need to build our own audiences, and our alliances with other minorities and white fellow-travellers. We need to stop being Mindy Kaling, the successful Asian who gets white attention and doesn't ever need to engage with other Asians. If we cared more about being Asian and black, it wouldn't matter what Roseanne watched or didn't watch. We need to take our cue from African American history: African Americans evolved such a strong cultural base that they don't worry about white people not paying attention. They worry instead about people appropriating their culture and style and cool. That's where Asians need to head.
4
That one offensive "joke" is enough to make vow to never watch anything on ABC again. If we can't respect one another...
1
Mr. Yu picked a very poor example to illustrate one of his many hypercriticisms of "Roseanne", the spawn of the eponymous "right-wing political advoca[te]" Roseanne Barr.
The "fourth wall" reference - which is probably familiar to UCLA film school grads and few others - to "CIS [sic]: New Orleans". Followers of NCIS-NO know it is a spin-off of NCIS, and that the show's premier was a two-segment tie-in with its parent. No "fourth wall" there. The same with The Big Bang Theory and The Young Shelton. In fact, the "fourth wall" seems to be easily breached on every network in an effort, not to blur any lines, but to spotlight the lines between shows.
But, credit where credit is due. Kelvin owns up when he writes "this is about attention [in italics!]". And, attention he got when his twitter flurry was picked up by the mainstream. Thanks, NYT!
What Mr. Yu doesn't get in all of this is that there are no families likes the Connors. Roseanne is not a Ken Burns documentary. Roseanne, like all sit-coms and dramas of digital devices, are fictions. Ripping story lines from the headlines does not make the stories fact.
Mr. Yu may not be able to relate to readers like me because he is not white and working class, but there is one thing we do have in common.
The Iron Law of Hemoglobin. Cut us and we bleed red.
5
I'm afraid you've picked a rather poor example to try and make your point. It seems you don't understand what the fourth wall is at all. Shows like the NCIS franchise or the various Star Treks are related to each other. They share the same fictional world and often have overlapping characters and stories. It would only be breaking down the fourth wall if they referenced one of the other shows in the franchise as a tv show, but they don't do that.
15
That harmonica clarion call now makes my gorge rise. Roseanne is forever tainted by her disgusting and ill-defended love of the president. For her, I have only one comment: I see you, and not only do you not matter, you're dead to me.
12
This article is admirable for its introspection and for the respect with which it honors the show Barr has put together in her narcissism and desire to make some more money. You should recognize that your political opponents will not grant you the same dignified, thoughtful response. They will dismiss you on the way to the next Trump rally where they will shout obscene slogans of hatred such as "Lock Her Up" and "Build The Wall." Keep thinking but be ready for the Brownshirts, too.
12
Dear Mr Yu,
Allow me to point out what is going on here. You can really save all your words, time, and effort on this subject.
AMERICA IS A RACIST COUNTRY, ALWAYS HAS BEEN, ALWAYS WILL BE. PERIOD...END OF STORY.
So though I mean this in the kindest way, get over it and get on with it. More importantly Roasnne is a tired reboot because we know longer have real writers anymore. Just kids regurgitating the same tired crap but they just add, different creeds, colors, and religions to make it look up to date. Oops, sorry and forgot to add gender choice.
4
"They’re just like us. There, now you’re all caught up." I heard this and thought, no they are nothing like the Connors. One family is an ad executive and anesthesiologist. And the other is a owner of a restaurant.
The reason why there aren't many working-class TV shows, people don't want to be reminded of the truth. They want to escape. Who wants to be reminded of their daily struggles?
11
It is no secret that both Roseanne Barr and her character counterpart relish the sort of in-your-face, crude, thoughtless, dismissive outburst cited here. This was no kumbaya, we're all the same, let's love each other sentiment but was clearly meant to shrug off the very particular struggles and concerns that certain segments of the population face every day.
This is offensive and typical Roseanne fare. But should it have been excised from the script?
Sometimes the purpose of art (I use the term in the broadest sense here) is not to instruct or provide a corrective but to show people and situations in all their raw and nasty reality. And this is one example of how the Roseanne reboot is doing that in spades. It is also the reason I don't feel the need to watch.
20
The first episode was not too bad but I've found the subsequent ones to be lacking. I think part of it that Roseanne Barr herself is not that good of an actor, about on par with her ability as a singer of national anthems.
Unlike Carol O'Conner, who was personally a very liberal man playing a bigot, Roseanne Barr IS Roseanne Connor.
I've never found actors who play versions of themselves in their roles to be very compelling, entertaining or interesting.
28
I agree. Barr's acting this time around seems to be flat & tired. Laurie Metcalf is over the top in her portrayal of Jacke. What I'm seeing is a lack of sincerity with most of the actors. Goodman, Metcalf & Bar seem to think talking as loud as possible is going to make the viewer pay attention. At times, it's quite obvious they are reading from cue cards, like an SNL skit. I found myself not finding much humor at all in last week's episode. I don't think I'll record it anymore. It's just not resonating with me this time around.
10
I didn't and don't watch the show, but I'm pretty leery of takes that condemn the fundamentally true sentiment that human beings are the same, regardless of the social construct called race. This reads like it was very much intended to be a statement of the characters' egalitarian values: that black and Asian families are no different than theirs.
24
For all the commonalities between different peoples the fact remains that there actually are differences as well. Differences based on culture, language, religion, gender, political and social beliefs... These are very real and important differences and denying them doesn't actually bring us together. Without recognizing and understanding those differences we can never really know or respect each other.
3
It's the second line, "There, now you're all caught up" that delivers the punch. It's dismissive. It says I don't need to acknowledge the differences between our experiences, it's not important to me, so just go away.
6
Am I the only one who didn't enjoy the reboot?
I thought making her character a trump supporter provides great opportunities, and I looked forward to the show. But then I just didn't laugh.
13
The line strikes me very much in the realm of Archie Bunker, who articulated some of our worst stereotypes so we could finally recognize our own ugliness with an ease that belongs to comedy alone. Can't speak to Wanda Sykes's (head writer) point of passing this one through but it does a great job of voicing the wave of white people who now feel free to articulate, even brag, they can't be bothered about anyone unlike themselves. A key difference is we knew Carroll O'Connor and Norman Lear didn't agree with Archie. Unfortunately, we now know Roseanne probably does.
138
I do not know, I cannot make myself
watch the new Roseanne. I am too
upset by her real life politics. However
I feel no qualms about weighing
in on an episode I have never seen.
Because I am a bit brash!
And the joke I can see in two ways,
my first reaction was the character
Roseanne was saying that line
to dissolve any divisions in race.
Now when you bring up your concerns
I can also see it your way. I am white
and come from a working class, pay
check to paycheck family and that
is why I applauded Roseanne heartily
when the show first appeared. And
I remember many remarks from my
childhood, well maybe only a few, but
they were remarks that were meant
to remind the listener that we are all
human and the same and judging
anyone seemingly different in some
way was unacceptable. But you are
a writer and an actor and Asian, so
I will take your word for it about
the line. See, I never see this mentioned,
but the whites, I remember
were kinda taught that they themselves
were not so great, growing up in a white
working family was not exactly a self
esteem building experience. Sure you
had a roof over your head and some clothes
and most of the time enough to eat, sparse
Christmases and yes a lot of laugher at times,
which did save you, but not a lot of hope.
8
The joke was dismissive and it was meant to be dismissive. It basically said that "these people" did not really need to be heard from. Even more, the subtext is that white working class Americans even resent having to face the possibility of choosing to watch a show about an "Asian" family or a "black" family - the two things, apparently, that are most important about the shows.
56
"There, now you’re all caught up” is dismissive. There's another dog whistle to it as well, though. It is saying "those shows are just more of the same koolaid from the liberal media culture telling you you have to be tolerant and we're all tired of hearing it, as if we weren't tolerant." This attitude is a push-back against what, to "white" America feels like a presumption of guilt that liberals have toward them vis-à-vis their racial attitudes. "You don't know what's in my heart" is a frequent refrain.
Consequently, "white" America is not able to get it. It's not about one's own judgment of one's own motivation. Nothing of the sort. It's about whether one participates wittingly or unwittingly in a system of values that preordinates success, justice and regard based on race or- and this is important- hewing to the norms of a certain race.
And we all do this, every day, and in every way. And I mean everyone. Those of us who are not harmed by these billions of daily assumptions don't see harm. Those of us who are assisted by these assumptions feel as if such an atmosphere is oxygen, not poisonous gas.
So it will continue to be painful to the Roseanne's of the world to hear the call-outs. It must be expected that each and every injustice may be spoken against.
60
"Consequently, "white" America is not able to get it."
That statement smacks of stereotypically dismissive racism.
"each and every injustice may be spoken against"
Who are the judges and juries that ordain what constitutes justice and injustice?
Demagoguery is Demagoguery.
11
"Who are the judges and juries that ordain what constitutes justice and injustice?" Well, the point here is simple, but I'll repeat- those who feel themselves shorted may speak to their experience.
2
Beautifully expressed and true analysis. Brilliant.
4
The way I heard it the line was that the people and plots of blackish and Fresh Off the Boat shared a similar view of American families--and humanity generally--with the characters of Roseanne ("They're just like us,") who furthermore regularly watched those shows (and so needed catching up). If these "white working class" characters found them funny and founded on a common reservoir of experience, isn't that a good thing?
48
That is how I heard the joke too. But maybe I'm naive. And I don't pay attention to whatever Barr's political views are, so I could certainly be missing some bigger context here. It's frustrating that we even have to be discussing this. And yes, I appreciate the author's point of view.
7
I can think of two other interpretations off hand. One, the shows have been so sanitized that they have essentially have come to fit the mold of stereotypic white shows with slight variations one of which is minority characters. Or two, more kindly, that ultimately the human experience no matter what you status is ultimately the same. Though, I can't help but think these same things could be said about "Roseanne". In any case, I hardly think any tv sitcom has much to do with the real life experiences of everyday people of whatever variety.
19
Most conservative shows today are just not funny. I've tried watching FOX's attempt at the Daily Show and it is unwatchable. Not sure if conservatives have a hard time laughing at themselves or if their vitriol shines too brightly in their jokes. Haven't watched Rosanne reboot yet, but if this joke is indicative of the humor then I'm not missing much. Conservatives need to learn to be able to make fun of themselves or if they are poking fun at liberals make fun of the absurdities or incongruities in liberal philosophies.
5
Yes, it was a bad joke, as much for the tone of the delivery as for the words themselves. Part of the problem seems to be that Ms. Barr herself is all over the place in terms of her reactions to life in America today and this incoherence has passed into her character. There should be a way for the writers to incorporate the cognitive dissonance (or eclectic set of opinions) into the script in a way that is not merely a set of shotgun one-liners. Maybe they should watch some "All in the Family" episodes for inspiration.
17
Roseanne Barr started, 25 years or more ago, as a "housewife comic" from an ordinary working class background. The show made her immensely famous and rich, and that make her (as it does most celebs) pretty crazy, self-obsessed and convinced of her own super-importance in the scheme of things. The early years of the show had some relevance to life in the US in the 90s, but it jumped the shark the last couple of years. Barr could no longer represent or understand working class life -- she was a rich superstar celebritard.
What she's doing with it now is anyone's guess. Is she really even a Trump supporter? Or is this a cynical bid to exploit working class voters, then have her fictional character (Roseanne CONNOR) become "woke" and reject Trump? Otherwise, this does not make a heap of sense.
6
Terrific and thought-provoking piece.
85
Thank you for this article. We're definitely NOT all caught up.
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