Roseanne returns as a Trump supporter

[revo]

Black people look like monkeys is less creative than a middle-school dick joke... It's both racist and not even remotely funny... saying it was a joke is an insult to African Americans and to jokes.

I got into an argument with my buddies yesterday about this.....she tweeted something like 20 times over two days. None were jokes or were meant to be funny. But the 11th tweet she made — the one about Valerie Jarrett, the racist tweet, THAT was supposed to be a joke. Ya OK, that’s as believable as when someone caught posting something insulting says they were hacked.

[B-Fly]

My mother has become a different person since Facebook became the primary way she interacts with most of the world. Or maybe I just think that. I guess the seeds of the persona I now see on that platform were always there. She was always racist to an extent (though adores my two biracial sons), she was always anti-gay, to an extent. Her love of the 2nd amendment is new, as is her hard-line antiabortion stance (she had an abortion herself). I guess some shared opinions on some issues morphed into her adopting lots of other opinions on things she never really thought much about before. She used to be a centrist democrat, with some social conservative leanings that wasn't really into politics. Now she is a die hard Trump supporter who uses terms like libtard and thinks HRC is a murderer and child pornographer. It has been an odd thing to watch happen, and I don't know how much of it is her choosing to morph vs being morphed.

Very interesting. My mother and brother, who were both well to the right of me in that centrist political space with plenty of politically incorrect viewpoints, have both been shifted much further to the left by Facebook and Trump. Of course, my mother was pissed that Hillary lost to Obama in 2008 and thought it was sexism then, and felt the same way about Bernie support and Trump support, so I guess it's not so surprising that she's become virulent in her anti-Trumpism.

[senorsheep]

I can certainly buy the possibility that Ambien may have played a role in impairing her judgement in tweeting that racist tweet, just like I'm sure being drunk contributed to Mel Gibson's rant awhile back. But I too am skeptical of the idea that the drugs contribute to the underlying sentiment. The ideas were there, and she has danced up to this line before. The drugs may have helped push her into revealing some darkness in her she would not otherwise have.

No doubt. The crazy was always there. Professionally, she has been able to successfully channel it into her comedy. Personally, it has obviously led her down some dark paths, culminating in her Twitter meltdown. I think a many edgy comics were/are in the same boat - mental illness gifts them with their unique perspectives, but ultimately results in their personal destruction when they lose control of it.

Speaking of her nutty conspiracy theories, I really would love to do a forensic analysis of how she got down these rabbit holes. My wife is adamant that no one believes such nonsense unless they actively want to. Maybe. Idk. But I'd love it if she shared all of her sources, how she came across them, if she tried to verify the outlandish claims she makes and seems to believe, why she chose to accept these claims, etc.

Yeah, the why and how of conspiracy theories is fascinating. People are desperate to know some truth in a world of lies, and it's pretty easy for even otherwise sensible people to get incrementally pulled down some strange paths. Some of us know when to turn back. Others, not so much.

To me, if we can't all agree on a shared reality, there is no hope on having meaningful dialogue that leads to consensus, or even tolerance. The fact that someone as seemingly bright and objectively high functioning in social interactions with many outside the conspiracy bubbles would buy into these things fascinates and disturbs me.

I say it all the time - the dissolution of our shared reality has led us to the sociopolitical quagmire we find ourselves in today. No matter what you believe about any subject, you can now find communities of people who agree with you, and media who agree with you, and endless statistics and studies that support exactly what you think. And so can people who believe exactly the opposite.

The dissolution of shared reality is also what has led me to quit posting in these threads, because, as you say, when there is no shared foundation of truth, discussion becomes impossible, and pointless. I didn't quit because I'm bitter or angry at anybody - I just don't know how to communicate with people are are living in entirely separate realities from the one I know.

[senorsheep]

Black people look like monkeys is less creative than a middle-school dick joke... It's both racist and not even remotely funny... saying it was a joke is an insult to African Americans and to jokes.

LOL. I doubt Judge Jude was holding up her latest Twitter spew as an example of her brilliant creativity, but rather was describing her entire body of previous comedic work, making the point that the "crazy" that previously served her well in the field of entertainment doesn't currently serve her well in her pursuit of political truths.

[Sour Masher]

I say it all the time - the dissolution of our shared reality has led us to the sociopolitical quagmire we find ourselves in today. No matter what you believe about any subject, you can now find communities of people who agree with you, and media who agree with you, and endless statistics and studies that support exactly what you think. And so can people who believe exactly the opposite.

The dissolution of shared reality is also what has led me to quit posting in these threads, because, as you say, when there is no shared foundation of truth, discussion becomes impossible, and pointless. I didn't quit because I'm bitter or angry at anybody - I just don't know how to communicate with people are are living in entirely separate realities from the one I know.

Yeah, this is depressingly true. And I get the stepping away from posting because of it. It is really weird/interesting that the only shared "reality" many of us have here is "fantasy" sports. No one here rejects the statistics that inform our hobby, and most are able to engage in meaningful discussions and have fruitful disagreements about player values, and trade options, etc. But with anything else, as you say, you can find so much stuff that supports just about any worldview.

[senorsheep]

My mother has become a different person since Facebook became the primary way she interacts with most of the world. Or maybe I just think that. I guess the seeds of the persona I now see on that platform were always there. She was always racist to an extent (though adores my two biracial sons), she was always anti-gay, to an extent. Her love of the 2nd amendment is new, as is her hard-line antiabortion stance (she had an abortion herself). I guess some shared opinions on some issues morphed into her adopting lots of other opinions on things she never really thought much about before. She used to be a centrist democrat, with some social conservative leanings that wasn't really into politics. Now she is a die hard Trump supporter who uses terms like libtard and thinks HRC is a murderer and child pornographer. It has been an odd thing to watch happen, and I don't know how much of it is her choosing to morph vs being morphed.

I definitely think people can be changed by whatever they choose to immerse themselves in. My dad was a sensible conservative guy his entire life, never a bigot or a social issues guy, but a firm believer in hard work and self-sufficiency and all the good old-school conservative stuff. Then, in his old age, he somehow wandered onto the Fox News crazy train, and there was a marked difference in what topics he was interested in, and how he chose to express himself politically. He never got so bad as to devolve into the "libtard" and "Hillary is a murderer" stuff, but it was concerning enough that I felt it was necessary to start pushing back, and I did until he backed off. So, at the very least, if he is still on the Fox News crazy train, he's learned that he needs to tone it down around people who aren't.

[chancellor]

JJ, I'm not a social media user, although your comments about twitter in the past almost got my lazy but to start using it. I'm really interested in the idea of how the individual shapes their social media experience vs how they are shaped by it. My wife agrees with you--she says our experience is shaped by us, so if your feed sucks, so do you. By the same thinking, Barr's rabbit hole of crazy is one she dug herself. Is that true of all social media platforms? I'm most interested in Facebook.

If you're a believer in Social Tuning Theory, Facebook would clearly amplify the outcome.

[nullnor]

politics is biological. different aspects of politics plays to your neurological strengths and weaknesses. you don't suddenly change. it's always been there waiting to come out. like a mental illness.

as you get older your supposed to become less enthusiastic about politics. sure you'll still have your opinions but over time you've realized it's just a bunch of bullshit. i would think it would be concerning if a person became more intense about politics as they got older.

[nullnor]

i think that people don't like to feel like they aren't in control of their surroundings. not in control of their destiny, narrative. i've thought about it a long time. i haven't been able to figure it out. and then there's the everyone wants to be a hero thing. they want to feel like they have the secret answer. they want to feel noble, be a champion of the downtrodden.

whatever it is, whatever stuff a person is absorbing politically, is somehow filling a gap where something they need is missing.