Whoopi's Debut on "The View"

Everyone knows that I hate "The View". I've made it pretty clear in my rants here on this blog. The best thing that could have happened to this show was the addition of Whoopi Goldberg to the panel. Yesterday morning was her first day on the show. No, I don't agree with most of her political and moral ideals, but I love that fact that she's silent when she needs to be silent and speaks up when she needs to speak up. I haven't seen her out of control with anger that someone doesn't agree with her opinion, which makes for an excellent television co-host.

She weighed in on how she felt about the infamous Michael Vick situation. I agree 100% with her comments. My husband and I were talking about how interesting this country is. People sit around and yawn, even defend, a living, breathing baby being mercilessly killed during gestation, but they are UP IN ARMS over dogfighting. We love to sit around and judge things that we don't understand. "If I don't understand it, it must be wrong because I said so! Oh, but there's nothing wrong with this other thing because I understand it and I said so!" Hell is going to be a crowded place, indeed.

Here's video from CNN.com of Goldberg's comments. Very glad to see you, Whoopi.

Whoopi raises interesting point

Baba Wawa...your prejudice is showing

It is becoming increasingly apparent as time moves forward that the host of ABC's 'The View' is not as tolerant as many would like to believe. And it looks like I'm not the only one who has noticed either.

When Star Jones was a panel member, I couldn't help but notice that certain people didn't like her very much. Don't get me wrong, it's difficult to find very many people who were particularly enamored with her regardless of their race, gender, or political affiliation. She could definitely be pretty annoying at times with her tendency to hijack many of the discussions and her never-ending focus on her wedding. But I never despised her the way many others did. When I questioned people who seemed to have a major problem with her about the source of their disdain, the responses were pretty consistent. "She talks too much". "She's too opinionated". "Everything is about her". Hmmm, okay. I guess that's enough to cause some people to strongly dislike someone, although most people that I know have many of these qualities.

So what happens? Star Jones is asked to leave the show gracefully while a new panel member is selected: Rosie O'Donnell. Great choice. I mean, Rose hardly speaks at all, and tends to keep most of her opinions to herself. Of course, the consensus regarding Rosie among many of the same people who practically hated Star Jones was, "I guess she can be annoying sometimes, but she's just passionate!". Yeah, okay. We all have a way of justifying things to suit our fancy, don't we?

This brings us to Barbara Walters. I'll make this succinct, yet informative. Pay attention to the way Barbara Walters treats black co-hosts as opposed to the way she treats everyone else. The show is on everyday at 11am on ABC if you want to set your DVR. Also Youtube has plenty of footage of previous episodes. But I will cite four examples of Barbara Walters' obvious weirdness/prejudice against strong black women for your viewing pleasure.

Example 1: Singer/Actress Brandy Norwood appears on 'The View' as a co-host during the Rent-A-Negro period when a new black cast member was being sought out. (See the video linked in Example 2 below)

Example 2: Celebrity Tanika Ray also appeared during the previously mentioned period. Here is the video. Do I need to say anymore? Barbara's behavior is so ridiculously archaic; it's 2007, not 1957, Baba.
Barbara Walters puzzled by Black Women

Example 3: Comedienne/Actress Monique appears as co-host during twice mentioned Rent-A-Negro period on 'The View'. At the time of the interview, Monique had recently given birth to twins. Barbara asked Monique about her new babies in the rudest, most offensive way I've ever heard a 'host' speak to someone.
Barbara Walters asks Monique about her little creatures

Example 4: The infamous Star Parker interview. Black, conservative author Star Parker was a guest panel member a few months ago. Barbara's posture while Star spoke was so tense; she was clearly irritated with Star being there. 'The View' has had its share of conservative guests over the years but I've never seen any treated the way that Star was treated by the panel members. Barbara's face and responses to Star read "Stay-In-Your-Place-Uppity-Negro".

Star Parker can't get a word in

Video corresponding to link directly above of Star Parker on The View

Rosie-bashing unnecessary

I haven't commented publicly (as in this blog) on Rosie's departure from "The View". If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you probably know that I am a pretty strong critic of hers. I dislike her personality and her methods of interacting with others. I began to especially despise her character during her stint on "The View" as I have remarked on quite frequently here.

Although I am quite pleased that Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought an end to Rosie's daily public forum for bullying tactics, I am quite displeased at the way people are taking completely unnecessary personal jabs at Rosie. The jokes about her weight have nothing to do with who she is as a person. She obviously has a lot of issues, and the people who are using her latest tirade and departure from "The View" as an excuse for making fun of her appearance are incredibly more ridiculous than Rosie could have ever hoped to be.

I will comment a little later on some very interesting observations that I have made over the past year that many people don't often talk about.