My Thoughts on Roseanne Barr

I think Roseanne Barr is legitimately mentally disturbed. I don't know if she could actually be diagnosed with something from the DSM-5 or whatever, but there is something definitely not right about her. It's not just that she's a quack conspiracy theorist and right-winger, although that's a big part of it. But just the way she clearly can't think straight or make sensible decisions like well-adjusted members of society. Her latest thing is that her racist comments on Twitter weren't about Ambien (her first excuse), and weren't caused by ignorance about Valerie Jarrett's race (her second excuse), and weren't caused by her ignorance about the fact that comparing a black person to an ape is considered racist (her third excuse), but rather about how Planet of the Apes was about anti-Semitism and Iran is anti-Semitic.

Now, Valerie Jarrett is an African-American who was born in Iran to American parents. They moved home when she was 5. She is not Muslim. She is not Iranian. She was an advisor to Obama, but not on his dealings with Iran.

But apparently Roseanne is now claiming that she was tying Jarrett to Obama and Obama's handling of Iran's nuclear situation by using Planet of the Apes, which - according to her - is about anti-Semitism, and Iran is anti-Semitic and therefore Obama (and Jarrett, by association) is guilty of aiding anti-Semites.

It's an absurd and convoluted argument, particularly given that Planet of the Apes is not, and never was, about anti-Semitism. It was about racism in the 1960s, with the Apes representing white people who oppressed blacks. The sideways reference to the old racist taunt about black people being apes was an intentional aspect of the story line, attempting to turn it on its head. As anyone who has ever watched The Twilight Zone knows, racism was something Rod Serling worked into many of his stories and teleplays. He also wrote Planet of the Apes.

But apparently only "low IQ" people failed to understand that her tweet was aimed at the Iran regime. Just to keep everyone clear, here's the original tweet: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." If you don't understand how this tweet is about the Iran regime, consider yourself "low IQ."

It might also be worth noting that Roseanne admitted right after the original tweet, during her initial string of apologies, that the tweet was a "bad joke" about Jarrett's looks and was "indefensible."

I don't know if it's age-related, or years of pot-smoking, or what, but Roseanne seems like she is mentally unstable to me. She's always been edgy, of course. Her comedy has always had a touch of raunchiness and been thoroughly unapologetic, but she has gone off the deep end in recent years. The irony, of course, is that conservatives used to hate her. They seem to have forgotten the controversy she caused when she "sang" the national anthem before a baseball game, intentionally brutalizing it, before grabbing her crotch and spitting as the crowd booed. Now the same assholes who are boycotting the NFL over black players kneeling during the anthem to protest racism are treating anthem-degrader Roseanne like a hero. But no one ever accused the right wing of consistency.