Distractions and Reactions: Roseanne, and the Changing of the Seasons

For those that are curious, Roseanne was, very briefly, back on the air after almost twenty years in slumber.

And the reason I use past tense is because, apparently, Roseanne Barr is a pretty overt racist.

Not the ‘Raised in a different era and trying to correct herself but occasionally slips up’ sort of racist.  Not the ‘vaguely racist but thinks they aren’t’ sort of racist.  No.  She just did the digital equivalent of throwing a brick through the window of an African-American home, and driving off slowly with her middle finger extended so they can watch her the whole time.

It was a starkly racist comment in a time where they are least welcome and most visible.

Not all is as it seems with this story, and what happened afterwards gave me something I haven’t had in a long time: Hope.

Several actors refused to come back for the second season of the show.  Bear in mind, their livelihoods, reputations, and future in the industry were put in jeopardy by their decision.  They walked away from inked contracts and from guaranteed money, and all they had to do to honor one and receive the other was say nothing.  They refused, and that crested the swell of outrage at the comments.  The backlash and furor came to a head and in a breakneck turnaround of a few hours after the outrage had peaked, ABC sat down and had a hard talk amongst themselves and came to a decision which has me ‘feeling shook’ as the kids would say.

They cancelled the show.

Not stepped away from Roseanne, not tried to distance themselves from the scandal but keep the highly rated show on air.  No.  They simply took the second season, held it out over the garbage, and cleaned it off their plate.

They cut her off, completely and thoroughly.  In a matter of hours.  The Roseanne reboot was A Big Deal, and they just cancelled it.  Companies in 2018 are more soulless than ever.  Barring small business owners, big business doesn’t really care about scandal.  Look at Facebook, Google, and the NFL.  Sure, their decisions spark outcry, but they never really care.  Facebook may have come out with an ‘apology’, but they changed barely anything.  It’s still the same crappy service it’s always been, and will always be. 

This?  This was different.  This was drastic.  A surgeon removing an infected hand because it was the best thing to do.  No regrets, no hesitation.  Sepsis, amputation, cleanup. 

It was…

Bracing.

If you haven’t noticed, since a certain someone who will never be named in these pages has become President, things have gotten darker.  Less sane, more vitriolic, and the worse aspects of our society have become emboldened by an environment which favors them.  Facist ideologies have become acceptable things to consider.  We’ve adopted devil-may-care attitudes towards the destruction of our political, societal, and ecological protections.  It’s been horrifying to watch these things unfold in slow motion, frantically trying to get people to pay attention to the ominous precedents being set almost daily.  I shout warnings at the dangers of repeating our past mistakes.  Of the lives which have already been lost to the tides of racial fears and jingoistic myopia which so many in positions of power are fine with stirring up for their own ends.

Then something like this happens, completely unexpected and against the grain of all available evidence, and for one delirious moment you feel hope that maybe your fears and observations were incorrect.  That maybe, just maybe, we can all pull through this and realize again the fundamental truths that we share as a nation.  That maybe enough of us can keep sewing with all our might and keep the fabric which binds us as a people together.

Maybe.  Juuuuust maybe.

Hopefully,
Justin