Itâs not just lip service
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WE caught up with Roseanne Barr in the restaurant on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which overlooks Manhattanâs Central Park, Columbus Circle and the Upper East Side. It was the afternoon, and she was having beluga and a chilled vodka. She takes over as host for the third season of âThe Search for the Funniest Mom in Americaâ on Nick at Nite beginning April 10. She is the grandmother of three, the mother of 11-year-old Buck Thomas and an avid 2 a.m. blogger.
Youâve talked about how the experience of âRoseanneâ was insulating, and when it was over, you had to relearn about the world. Has your integration into reality been successful?
Yes, it was a completely different world. No, I decided to turn my back on it. Iâm remaking it in my personal image.
Do you still live in Beverly Hills,
in that big house we saw in
âThe Real Roseanne Showâ?
No.
And now youâre building your dream house?
Iâm not doing it yet, but I will. I got my farm, and I want to build a big green bamboo witchy-type house like I thought I would when I was a kid.
Do you worry about Buck missing out on socialization because of home-schooling?
I hate socialization. Iâm anti-socialization, and itâs all horrible. The Paris Hilton-ization of our daughters is really grotesque and disgusting -- and soâs the bullying. Itâs just pimp culture. All of American culture is pimp culture.
Do you ever think about leaving America then, like Nina Simone did?
Yeah. I do, but then I think Iâd want to go someplace safe. But thereâs nowhere safe. The whole world is America. Youâve gotta just stay and fight. My sonâs 11, and he said last week, âWhere can I go where I wonât be drafted?â Whatâs more upsetting, if they donât bring the draft back, itâll be working-class and poor and drug-addicted people just out of prison. It has to be all kids. Iâm pro-draft. Rich people have to pay too. Thatâs democracy.
Youâre giving plenty of money away.
Yeah, I am, and Iâm proud of it. I hesitate to say, Iâve given more money away than any other person in my position. When you ask people in Hollywood to give you money, they say, âIâll show up for that benefit.â All these stars are so corrupt and sickening. You think showing up for a picture is doing something? ... They have these huge benefit luncheons where they get six billionaires, and they raise $200,000. Itâs vile. I was happy to have it and happy to give it, and I still am. I donât want to go to hell.
And you believe in hell?
I believe itâs here in your mind on Earth and in your choices. Hell is being wrapped up in yourself while everything around you is on fire.
Youâve been writing on your blog about Oprah losing her way a bit. How do you see that?
I just said that once. I didnât like that she said that African American children in the inner cities arenât worthy of her support.
But youâre down with her otherwise.
Iâm not down with âThe Secret.â Iâm not down with trying to attract more material wealth to yourself. Thatâs sickening. Why donât you give some of your money away? Five-thousand square feet should be the limit to how big a house you can live in when people are starving. There should be a maximum wage too. Like Jello Biafra said, no one should have more than $100 million. Itâs making a slave class.
Is it Hollywood? Or is it New York, and D.C.?
I blame it all on that ... movie with Michael whatâs-his-face. [The quote] âGreed is goodâ [from] âWall Street.â That was the beginning of the absolute end. Itâs killing our country and the world. Sharing is good. I think the time is coming when people who have wealth wonât be cool. When you retreat into materialism, youâre dead. All these people who live in gated communities, itâs a bus ride away from people who are heavily armed.
So itâs almost all over?
I feel like Iâm supposed to be here to offer some kind of help to people. But I donât like it. It is terrible already. Right now in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, those children scour landfills for stuff to burn in their homes to make heat. Thatâs America.... More no-bid contracts, more Halliburton, less freedom. I like freedom!
Itâs a great privilege.
Gotta pay for it, though! And we gotta be free to petition and gather. But letâs have a toast to consciousness. Itâs very cool. Long may it wave.