From what I understand, these Ambien episodes are analogous to sleepwalking.
People have committed murder while sleepwalking, and the point that they never dispute is motive. They wanted at some level to do it (or that doing so would solve some problem) but while conscious recognised that they didn’t want to deal with the negative consequences (imprisonment, public approbation).
In other words, even if the Ambien brought it out, it’s her genuine feelings. She might have had some self-control enough before that not to tweet about it, but the thoughts were still in her head. Once the fear of negative consequences was mitigated, it came out in plain-text.
And that’s if Ambien had anything to do with it at all, and isn’t just bullshit to try to salvage herself.
I would distinguish “institutionalized racism” as being rooted in individuals who collectively acted on their own racist fears to create a system that both reinforces and perpetuates those fears. And I would agree with you that this is the metastaization of rampant racism, something that’s been very hard to fight.
But ultimately, the source of this comes from the individual who needs to see that fear for what it is inside themselves. You can try to regulate and shame people out of their racism, but it hasn’t helped enough, given the outpouring of Trump support that’s clearly fueled by these ancient hatreds.
I agree that everyone is imperfect and needs to do some serious self evaluation in pursuit of trying to be better people overall.
I also agree that bigotry can not be ‘rooted out’ of people by regulation or societal shaming; just as no other kind of morality can be legislated, either.
That said, people of all colors have over-used the word ‘racism’ so arbitrarily, that the actual meaning has been watered down to the point of being ineffective as a descriptor.
Clarity matters, as does being succinct in the words we use.
You’ve got it in one. In NZ we use zopiclone as our most common sleeping pill (related to Ambien - zolpidem - in that it’s a non-benzo sleep aid). Some people genuinely experience anterograde amnesia once they take these pills (they don’t make memories for what they do after the drug is taken). They also increase falls risk at night in the elderly (something perhaps Roseanne should start thinking more about in coming years).
These pills don’t change your personality, they just disinhibit it.
Kind of off-topic, but when I took it I did indeed sleep - the next day. It didn’t help me get to sleep at all, but once I did eventually get to sleep, it sure did help keep me there. Not quite what I needed. Luckily, it didn’t make me racist.
Were they giving out free samples of HIV at the date-rape kiosk or something? Pharma Co’s are known for doing bad bad things, but that sounds a little questionable. Give us a couple of links on this one.
I’m not going to get back into the debate from a few months ago, but I’ll just point out – Roseanne is Jewish, and did that photo for a Jewish magazine called, of all things, Heeb. As a more-or-less Jewish person who has cracked some dark-humor holocaust jokes over the years, I can’t fault her for that picture or attach it to this particular episode.
On a side note, I think there is a potentially useful societal conversation to be had here, which is that people who are OK with blacks and other minorities in a day-to-day kind of way, can still do and say things that are racist, and participate in racist systems. Heck, minorities can participate in racist systems – often have to as a requirement for “getting ahead.”
I think it was appropriate for people and the media to label her Tweet as a “racist tweet.” She responded with “they’re calling me a racist.” I think what she’s missing, and is a bit nuanced, is that maybe she’s not racist in an “I support the Klan” kind of way, but that doesn’t mean she can’t engage in racist acts.
I see a “diminished capacity” explanation here rather than an Ambien Defense.
Alcohol and some drugs (either/or/and) will efficiently let you reveal your inner jackass. The mix of Ambien and alcohol is a well-documented recipe for sleepwalking and “transient global amnesia” AKA blackout. It’s too likely that Ms. Barr was sucking down a second glass of cabernet because she forgot about the first one while doing her one-handed tweet. She may not have remembered the tweet even after it was pointed out to her.
Whatever. She’s a convenient scapegoat while Trump is busy distracting us from the more dire changes afoot.
Whether you (as in the universal you, not any particular person I quoted) are on ambien or some other sleep aid, some other dis-inhibiting drug, or drunk off your ass- the person who comes out is still you. You without filters, without the better part of yourself monitoring your behavior, but still you.
That friend who turns into a mean sarcastic jerk when drunk? That is a part of who they are. It may not be a part they like, and hopefully they take measures to limit their drinking so that part doesn’t come out to play, but it is still part of who they are.
Everyone has ugly parts of themselves. Uncharitable thoughts, hidden bigotry or sexism, a downright asshole part. It’s normal, its healthy, and its ok. BUT a good person tries to know themselves, especially the ugly parts, takes steps to minimize the impact the ugly bits of themselves have on others, and tries to change some of those uglier beliefs and modes of thinking.
So no. Rosanne. The Ambien didn’t make you do it any more than the drink made someone beat their wife or children. Deep inside, in a place you may not have previously acknowledged (though damn, you really shoulda known, given the other racist things you’ve spewed), you are a racist.
Wikipedia’s entry on Ambien has links to reporting on use by rapists, but I became aware of it when my daughter’s college orientation mentioned it as the currently prevalent date-rape drug.
Sanofi is a nominally French multinational with a vast web of owned subsidiaries. Among them is Institut Mérieux, which sold blood products contaminated with HIV; and although Sanofi and other companies have provided large cash settlements to patients in the USA and France who contracted AIDS, they have been much less forthcoming to patients in Iraq - perhaps figuring it would be cheaper to stall and just wait for them to die, I dunno.
Khalid Ali Jabr, 51, a clerk in a Baghdad government office, watched five of his seven hemophilic sons die from AIDS after injecting tainted blood products that Mr. Jabr said came from Mérieux. First Walid died in 1986, at age 9, he said. Then Haider, age 7, died in 1989, followed by Ali, 11; Bashar, 8; and, in 1996, Muhammad, who was 16.
“I blame the French government and the French company,” he said, holding photographs of his dead sons. “They sent this blood to our country and killed our sons.” --New York Times, SEPT. 4, 2006
I’m not a psychologist, psychiatrist, pharmacist or personal counselor so I cannot judge claims being made in this thread that Ambien reveals ones’ hidden inner racist, or on Ms. Barr’s claim that Ambien led her to make a stupid racist tweet that she regretted as soon as she came down. I am just saying don’t think Sanofi is some kind of avatar of virtue because they are willing to condemn Roseanne Barr - they are amoral drug pushers who are pursuing profits, not saints we should admire.
Barbiturates and alcohol can make you do ridiculously crazy things. I know this from life experience. Unlike Roseanne I’m not a celebrity and never shared that mid-1970s experience with the world. I’m glad she’s owning up to it.
Unfortunately, this describes every corporate entity on the planet. If you need saintly behavior, corporations are not the place to look. As far as the other problems with Sanofi, Ambien is effective for what it is supposed to do. Like anything it can be misused. I am not certain how you could make it so it could not be, but if you know how to do so, please share. And if you are going to crucify them for distributing HIV-contaminated clotting factor in the '80’s, that was every single manufacturer at the time due to delay in identifying and testing for the virus. The only alternative would be to allow every hemophiliac to bleed to death. Of course, in the end, we lost an entire generation of hemophiliacs to AIDS. No heroes in that one. As far as being asshats to the Iraqi victims, I think you are on to something there. Not defending Sanofi or Pharma in general, but urging some reality in the criticism. If you want medications to be available, you have to allow that there will be those who will misuse them, and in our current environment, there has to be a profit motive for developing them, sinking the literally billions of $$ into that development. This explains the lack of new antibiotics while they are developing a raft of new psych meds and hair loss treatments, but that is a different thread!!
