Social media makes it harder for celebrities to mask their flaws, tempting public figures into presenting less curated versions of their personalities than they used to.
This works well for Chrissy Teigen, but most celebrities end up tweeting their way into PR headaches sooner rather than later. Some such controversies are dumb (to say the least), but others are more understandable.
Roseanne Barr, like most iconic comedians, built her career on controversy. If you’re old enough, you might remember her infamous 1990 rendition of the national anthem, which could probably turn anyone into an anthem protester. In subsequent years, she has been more outspoken about her fringe political beliefs.
Per her own account, the tweet about Valerie Jarrett that resulted in the cancellation of ABC’s “Roseanne” reboot was fired off in an early morning Ambien-induced daze. Now, to be clear, Barr’s politics are on the fringe, and she has a history of making statements that would likely offend fans of her revived show. And the tweet in question was racist. Even Barr agrees with that.
But before the comedian admitted as much, some fans jumped immediately to her defense. Implicating the culture of political correctness in these scenarios has become a reflex for some of us, which can make it tough when the backlash is actually warranted. That’s why it was somewhat disturbing to see people defend Barr’s tweet, though in the context of our tribalistic social media culture those defenses become more explicable (not excusable).
The defenses became all the more troubling when Barr herself rightfully owned up to the joke’s poor taste, a move that underscored how powerful those tribalistic forces have become. Here’s what Barr tweeted on Tuesday: “hey guys, don’t defend me, it’s sweet of you 2 try, but…losing my show is 0 compared 2 being labelled a racist over one tweet-that I regret even more.” She also sent an apology to Valerie Jarrett, the subject of her initial tweet, calling it “insensitive and tasteless,” and writing, “I am truly sorry-my whole life has been about fighting racism. I made a terrible mistake wh caused hundreds of ppl 2 lose their jobs.”
hey guys, don’t defend me, it’s sweet of you 2 try, but…losing my show is 0 compared 2 being labelled a racist over one tweet-that I regret even more.
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 30, 2018
To be clear, Barr seems to have beliefs that range from bizarre to conspiratorial to dangerous. I don’t know if she’s a good or bad person, or whether she’s a racist or someone who just made a bad joke. But that she was capable of sincerely admitting the joke was wrong, while her fans were busy defending it, should tell us something about our ability to evaluate things as they are, without the clouded lenses of tribalism.
Part of the reason hypersensitive political correctness does more harm than good is how it broadens the definitions of racism, sexism, etc., beyond most people’s (reasonable) conceptions, which in turn leads some to assume those same people are to blame when reasonable complaints arise over blatant racism. Now, of course, the behavior of Barr’s defenders is entirely their own responsibility and in no way the fault of PC progressives. But we should also acknowledge the harmful effect that they are having on dialogue. Their hypersensitivity is generating a reaction by which people take less seriously all the reasonable and salutary social constraints that have long governed what constitutes acceptable speech and behavior.
Don’t just assume that the perpetually offended class is always wrong. Broken clocks are sometimes right, and some things just really are offensive.
