Roseanne — 'I am not a bigot. Ambien made me sound like one'

[jserraglio]

NYT — Roseanne Barr said she was “Ambien tweeting” when she wrote racist remarks on Twitter that compared a black former Obama administration official to an ape, a comment that led ABC to cancel her television show.
But on Wednesday the makers of Ambien, the sleep aid, were having none of it.
“People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world,” the company, Sanofi U.S., said on Twitter. “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
Ms. Barr’s sitcom “Roseanne” returned in March after a two-decade absence on ABC. On Tuesday, the show was canceled after Ms. Barr, its star and co-creator, tweeted if the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” a reference to Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.
Ms. Barr later apologized. But Channing Dungey, the president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement that “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”
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“It was 2 in the morning and I was Ambien tweeting-it was memorial day too-i went 2 far & do not want it defended-it was egregious Indefensible,” Ms. Barr tweeted. “I made a mistake I wish I hadn’t but...don’t defend it please.”
Ambien is a treatment used for insomnia with a wide range of possible side effects. Some people who use it or similar medications do things while asleep that they don’t remember — such as driving, or preparing and eating food, wrote Dr. Eric Olsen of the Mayo Clinic.
Ms. Barr is not the first celebrity to blame the drug for her behavior, and it has featured in court cases in what some lawyers have called the “Ambien defense.”
In 2012, Zolpidem, the generic form of Ambien, featured in a trial in which Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and the former wife of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, was accused of driving under the influence of the drug.
Dr. David Benjamin, a pharmacologist, testified that the drug has the odd effect of impairing a person’s judgment and functioning without that person realizing it. He also said it produced amnesia. In 2014, Ms. Kennedy, who said she took it by accident, was found not guilty.

[RebLem]

I am not much of a Bible-quoter, but I think some things in it make such good, rational sense, it is worth quoting them. From my Douay-Rheims version, Matthew 7: 15-20:


15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.


16. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?


17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.


18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.


19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.


20. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.

18 & 19 are the real kickers. Lots of so called "Evangelicals" claim that, yeah, he's the first president who has been had two divorces and three marriages, but he's a real Christian anyway. Not according to Matthew's quotations from the Sermon on the Mount above.

[jbuck919]

I am not much of a Bible-quoter, but I think some things in it make such good, rational sense, it is worth quoting them. From my Douay-Rheims version, Matthew 7: 15-20:


15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.


16. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?


17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.


18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.


19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.


20. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.

18 & 19 are the real kickers. Lots of so called "Evangelicals" claim that, yeah, he's the first president who has been had two divorces and three marriages, but he's a real Christian anyway. Not according to Matthew's quotations from the Sermon on the Mount above.

I'm nor sure what that has to do with Roseanne Barr's not being able to resist telling the world what she really thinks, which is plainly racist, has to do with Doay-Rheims, but it take two good old Catholic boys like us to even know about that translation. It is of course the Counter-Reformation answer to the King Jame Bible, except that it is more like the King James Bible is the answer to the Doay-Rheims, to which is has been shown by scholars to be somewhat beholden. Sorry, dear Rob, but I don't think you're going to get much out of the Bible that applies to this or any modern situation, except metaphorically and aphoristically. I admit that "by their fruits shall ye know them" is a universal moral statement, but it is too universal to bring to bear on any specific situation except rhetorically. The only reason I don't call it a cliché is that it is in fact invoked too seldom when it manifestly applies.

[jserraglio]

I don't think you're going to get much out of the Bible that applies to this ... situation.

“Lanford! Can anything good come from there?” John 1:46(a)

[RebLem]

I'm nor sure what that has to do with Roseanne Barr's not being able to resist telling the world what she really thinks, which is plainly racist, has to do with Doay-Rheims, but it take two good old Catholic boys like us to even know about that translation. It is of course the Counter-Reformation answer to the King Jame Bible, except that it is more like the King James Bible is the answer to the Doay-Rheims, to which is has been shown by scholars to be somewhat beholden. Sorry, dear Rob, but I don't think you're going to get much out of the Bible that applies to this or any modern situation, except metaphorically and aphoristically. I admit that "by their fruits shall ye know them" is a universal moral statement, but it is too universal to bring to bear on any specific situation except rhetorically. The only reason I don't call it a cliché is that it is in fact invoked too seldom when it manifestly applies.

My point is that many of the Evangelicals make excuses for Trump's obvious lack of any religious conviction throughout his life and claim that his advocacy of their political agenda leads them to excuse such behavior. The passages I quoted specifically warn against doing that. Yes, I know Douay-Rheims owes a lot to the KJV. I quoted it because it is the version I own and have handy.