An essential difference

The recent discussion over whether Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee are equally guilty of offense ignores an essential difference between their comments. Barr's attack was aimed at what none of us has any control over and should thus never be attacked for: our ethnic heritage and the color of our skin. Samantha Bee's comments were in response to Ivanka Trump's voluntary decision to be part of an administration separating parents from children. But of course, those parents and children aren't as wealthy and white, and can't afford photographers to take glamorous pictures of them; they depend on journalists to document their plight. It's not difficult to guess why Ms. Trump has made the decisions she has; we recently learned, for example, of the numerous trademarks she's been given by the Chinese for her business interests. Privilege has its benefits. But those who equate Barr's and Bee's comments should pause and reflect on the essential difference between what people voluntarily choose in life and what life hands them, and who deserves criticism and who doesn't.

Joseph Johnson

Hoffman Estates