I’ve enjoyed the brouhaha that’s come out of Rosie O’Donnell’s involvement on the View, mostly because I love reading people’s reactions to it.

But let’s be honest – is Rosie the monster that she’s continually made out to be by the media?

No.

You might think she’s annoying. Or not particularly insightful. Or a bit loony with her conspiracy theories. (BTW, Rosie, the Gulf of Tonkin conspiracy has been debunked. You Google it.)

But the comments on the various news & blog boards that have covered her fights with (that ugly old hypocrite) Donald Trump and Elizabeth Hasselbeck have been replete with one undeniable (but completely irrelevant) fact: She’s fat.

No doubt she’s what one might charitably call pleasantly plump. And, at least figuratively, she’s not afraid of throwing her heft around. The only sign of weakness I’ve seen her display was in an embarrassing, tearful interview with Bill O’Reilly a few years ago that O’Reilly has since mercilessly exploited.

But it’s obvious that the weight of the speaker usually matters more than the weight of her arguments, in our fucked-up society where looks and image trump everything else. Everyone’s supposed to smile politely, fold her hands in their laps, and avoid any “unnecessary” confrontation. And look like a trophy wife while doing it.

As if any progress in our society has not involved a healthy dose of civil confrontation. I’d toss out some pithy quotes by Gandhi and Thoreau, but they’re not really necessary. Common sense should make this obvious to any sentient being.

Now I know rowing over The Donald’s toupee is not the sort of thing that moves our society forward. But it is practice. The more people are willing to argue the fuck over an issue, no matter how petty, the more we’ll be accustomed to seeing that happen over issues that really matter.

Look at Congress. A bunch of smiling sycophants who wait until after session’s over to bash each other’s policy. I cringed when Al Gore basically told Barbara Lee to shut up and sit down when she protested the 2000 election results (there’s a clip in the movie Fahrenheit 9/11).

Have you ever seen how British Parliament works? The Prime Minister gets a verbal smackdown every time he/she gets up to speak, and that’s the way it should be. Oh how I’d love to see our politicians licking their wounds after having to actually defend their views in the face of open criticism.

At any rate, getting back to ol’ Rosie, I have to thank her for at least attempting to try to reframe the View from its koffee klatsch underpinnings that Barbara is only too happy to maintain. The only other one will balls is Joy Behar, and possibly Whoopi Goldberg, but those mindless idiots Elizabeth, Sherri and Barbara, they don’t have a chance. 3 still trumps 2. And despite hearing yet another call for her to be put out to pasture (long overdue, in my opinion), Barbara Walters is eating up the attention from the lingering aftermath. With more attention comes higher ratings, and higher ratings means Mrs Dorian Gray keeps that picture up in her attic for a few more years.

And while I was never a fan of her scrubbed-clean daytime talk show, I’ve always liked Rosie’s innocently non-PC kind of humor. She’s like a grown-up tomboy and I love the fact that decades of Hollywood haven’t erased her tendency to talk like a truck driver.

Of course, all of the humor and charm in the world are lost on you if you just can’t seem to get past the fact that she looks like Jabba the Hut.