[suebee]

Originally Posted by suebee

What can I say? This was a pretty unfortunate conversation to have on television. In private - okay. But Rosie often gets herself in trouble for having those conversation on-air. But on the other hand, that's what I like about her. She's honest and open - uncensored for the most part. If she'd been having this discussion with someone who was a bit more informed on the issue it could have turned out completely different.

Handler's attitude towards little people, on the other hand, seems to be well-ingrained and I find her pretty damned annoying. Why Chuy doesn't tell her to stick her attitude where the sun don't shine is anybody's guess. She doesn't seem to have any clue whatsoever.

But honestly - to call this horrifying.....I was expecting something at LEAST up to the "standard" of what Republicans are saying everyday. Let's face it: what was said was ill-informed and naive, poorly thought-out and sometimes even offensive, but horrifying? I'll save that kind of descriptive for other things.

Originally Posted by julieisafemme

Actually I did find this conversation horrifying. I don't know Chelsie Handler but I have always liked Rosie and have been happy to see her back on TV. It was horrifying to me to hear her, a lesbian, disparage another group of people like so many disparage LGBT people. What she said is no different than what a Republican would say about LGBT people or people of color. Being afraid of a group of people or anxious about being around them does not make it ok to say these things.

I think I said that it wasn't an appropriate conversation to have on television. I guess I work from the premise that we are imperfect human beings - works in progress. If Rosie is nervous around little people, then that's just her being honest. It may not be PC to say, but it's being absolutely honest. What is unfortunate is that she 1) had this conversation on air, and 2) had this conversation with a person who obviously looks down on little people. If she'd had the conversation - even if it had been on air - with someone who had a more respectful opinion of little people, the conversation would have quite possibly given an entirely different impression.

I operate from a place where I assume people are imperfect. We fuck up at times. Rosie, unfortunately, does it with a huge audience. While I can't approve of what she said, I can certainly understand that it is all too human to be afraid of people/things/experiences that you're not personally familiar with, and form opinions based on indirect experiences. That's not "horrifying", it's human. Not the best side of being human. But just being human all the same.

There were fifty kinds of horrifying things that I read about in the news this morning. Rosie and Chelsey being politically incorrect on television didn't rate among them. Little People of America have called them on their shit. Hopefully they'll learn a little sensitivity from the experience. And with any luck, the resulting publicity will make more people think about something they wouldn't otherwise have considered.

Humans being humans and hopefully evolving: That's what this is all about. You have every right to think this rates as horrifying Julie. We just disagree. I'll save that adjective for later on. I'm sure I won't have to wait long to be able to use it.