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We already knew this about Roseanne Barr

It was the fall of 1989. Or maybe the following spring. I remember the rising heat in the room but not the season outside the windows.

I was one of the few non-lawyers in the packed house, feeling conspicuous in my bright new blazer. I kept catching myself swaying as if my baby were on my hip, even though she was home with her big brother.

There were six or seven of us making small talk, when a man I’d met only twice before leaned in and tugged on my sleeve. “I feel I know you better now.”

Confused, I returned his smile and said, “How’s that?”

“Roseanne,” he said loudly. “Watching her show, I understand now who you are.”

I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I do recall the awkward silence after I responded. By then, I was accustomed to explaining that Roseanne Barr’s shtick bore little resemblance to the family of my working-class roots.

We didn’t eat with our mouths open or splatter food as we talked. Our clothes were always clean, the cotton ones pressed with knife-edge creases. Our manners were a point of pride for my parents, and they were forever correcting our grammar. We didn’t mock teachers; we revered them. And we were expected to treat our mother and father with respect. Mom would never have attempted to mock Dad in front of us or make him feel like less of a man.

Most importantly, we were not raised to mistake a steady stream of scorching put-downs for love.

I do not mean to romanticize who we were. Ours was a working-class family in a working-class town, with the attendant problems of racism and sexism. In that way, we were like many affluent Americans. Still, we knew a lot of good and decent people, and their daily lives looked nothing like the coarse and crude habits of the mythical Conners.

So no, I did not like Roseanne Barr’s show, ever. In its original form, the series gave educated, well-off Americans an excuse to cling to their stereotypes of us. In its recent incarnation — I watched the first seven episodes after some accused me of refusing to keep an open mind — right-winger Roseanne delighted those liberals who can’t get excited about blaming all those wealthy people who voted for Donald Trump.

Wow, was her show a hit. More than 18 million viewers for its first episode. Many Trump voters felt affirmed, we’re told, and liberals apparently found the Trump supporters we could laugh at. Lucky us. As The Daily Beast’s Amy Zimmerman put it, think of the reboot “as a funny, accessible take on a much-discussed demographic — think Hillbilly Elegy, but with more laughs.”

Poverty and alienation. A punchline in every pot.

It was no surprise to anyone unwilling to ignore Roseanne Barr’s past behavior on Twitter — and isn’t it something how many were willing? — that despite her show’s success, she would return to sharing racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic rants. This is who she is.

She recently accused Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg of performing a Nazi salute. She promoted false right-wing conspiracies, including the one claiming that Hillary Clinton operated a pedophile ring.

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Connie Schultz is a nationally syndicated columnist.

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