Merged Paula Deen: Use the N word, get the axe

[marplots]

Tanks for the dog.

 

[Piggy]

MSM needs something besides Snowden as camoflage so they needn't discuss Obama's problems.

Oh. Did Obama use the n-word, too?

 

[Mumbles]

Certainly.

But why are they doing this? Why do they think it will hurt their brands?

Because of the public shaming.

I think Paula Deen, given her own statements, is much more racist than she believes herself to be.

Don't see that this has anything to do with cooking, though.

Same for Tiger Woods. OK, so he's a womanizer. What does that have to do with golf?

What happens is simply that various media outlets see that there's a flaw in some public figure -- doesn't matter who -- which fits some current trend in fashionable outrage -- doesn't matter what -- and they go after it because it pushes people's gossip buttons, which means they can write click-bait headlines to gossipy stories that garner page-views and long contentious comment threads.

They really could not care less who it is or what was said, as long as it's "sticky".

This story's very sticky, so they run it.

And it gives people a chance to throw stones at her and feel better about themselves because, after all, they would never want to attend an affair with blacks dressed in slave livery. Oh, no, they're much better than that.

And a lot of people genuinely are better than that, but so what?

I don't know Paula Deen. Does it affect my world if she's a bigot? Not really.

Does it affect my world that "news" is largely a manipulative amalgam of marketing, propaganda, and gossip with little to no regard for the value of the content and frighteningly little fact-checking? Yup.

Yeah...the thing is, she apparently treats her employees like crap.

As in, spouting racist fantasies to them, demanding that they work for her private functions, and then paying them in booze instead of money, and so forth.

Also, she hid her adult-onset diabetes, while promoting recipies that call for, say, a half stick of butter to cook a can of peas.

Like I said, her using "the N-word" (Man I hate that phrase) 20 years ago against a black guy who put a gun to her head, is the least of her problems. I'm actually a bit amazed that people want to claim that's her only mistake. And I'm not sympathetic towards the idea that companies dropping her is some sort of amazing punishment. I've never had any company ask me to speak for them, and it's simply because I'd make a lousy spokesman. I'm an unknown, so me saying "HeyI endorse this product" is meaningless. Why should Paula Deen be shielded from notoriety?

ETA: I can't look at this video without shaking my head. I get losing your son, but referring to slaves as "workers", and then...

 

[Piggy]

Yeah...the thing is, she apparently treats her employees like crap.

As in, spouting racist fantasies to them, demanding that they work for her private functions, and then paying them in booze instead of money, and so forth.

Also, she hid her adult-onset diabetes, while promoting recipies that call for, say, a half stick of butter to cook a can of peas.

Like I said, her using "the N-word" (Man I hate that phrase) 20 years ago against a black guy who put a gun to her head, is the least of her problems. I'm actually a bit amazed that people want to claim that's her only mistake. And I'm not sympathetic towards the idea that companies dropping her is some sort of amazing punishment. I've never had any company ask me to speak for them, and it's simply because I'd make a lousy spokesman. I'm an unknown, so me saying "HeyI endorse this product" is meaningless. Why should Paula Deen be shielded from notoriety?

ETA: I can't look at this video without shaking my head. I get losing your son, but referring to slaves as "workers", and then...

And yet celebrity chefs abusing their staff in other ways is considered entertainment.

Like I said, this particular type of behavior triggers fashionable outrage, and people know who Paula Deen is, so let the shaming begin!

Gossip gets eyeballs, which sells ad space, and we all get to feel like better people for watching the mighty fall.

It's all psychology. And money. Same old story.

It's no different from the "news" that some Kardashian sent fake baby photos to friends. Makes no difference in anyone's life, but people love to see famous people shamed for their human faults, and it gives us something to talk about on our breaks other than our kids and what happened at church.

 

[Draca]

I think she was very foolish to ever admit using the word. She should have denied, denied, denied. And if a witness was found, then say she does not remember that and doesn't believe it to be true.

Didn't she see what happened to Imus? Only black people can use certain words with other black people. That is reality.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

It wasn't that he was fashion impaired -- and he was a man, btw -- it was his behavior.

As for separate terms, well, I live in a place where there are separate cultures, and the language has just evolved that way.

My point was that neither term is always an empty epithet. Sometimes it means something.

I don't want to be flip, bu... so? Sometimes the f-word has use value. As does the b-word. And the s-word. And Jew. And...

The problem is that using those terms ties use value to the identity of the person in an odd way.

And sometimes ordinarily derogatory terms can be used in non-derogatory ways. "Redneck" has certainly been embraced by many whites down here, but it's rare to hear "white trash" used that way.

Still...



From the hidden track at the end of that CD:

"To say 'You're- you're white trash, baby, just like me' is not a compliment. Calling somebody white trash is.. is… is a slur. It's definitely derogatory, it's definitely an insult. No-nobody is proud to be called white trash, nobody would admit to be proud that they're white trash. White trash is not something that somebody would aspire to be. Therefore I really don't think anybody's gonna get on major TV and a record label is allow- is gonna allow them to sing in front of 50 million people, or be on the radio, saying that 'baby, you're white trash just like me'. Uh, George Strait's not white trash, Travis Tritt is not white trash, uh, you name it, Clay Walker, none of 'em, nobody is white trash, they're not gonna call themselves white trash. So therefore I think this song is never gonna be cut, and will never be recorded on a, on a, on a record label, I just- I mean I really think that with all my heart and soul."

ETA: Full disclosure -- yes, I own a copy of the album.

I agree and disagree. I think they can be used in non-derogatory ways, but I also think that a lot of the ways people will use the terms (and sometimes preface it with "I'm not a racist" or whatever) are in fact engaging in said thing.

 

[h.g.Whiz]

Bill Burr discusses Paula Deen with Conan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BevNkLH-q8

 

[Mycroft]

Paula Deen is the other one. Though the video proves my earlier point. Serving that kind of food to her show's guest (who happens to be black) is tantamount to assault with a deadly weapon.

I dunno, I was more offended by a cooking show host licking her fingers before handling the food and giving it to someone else. Yech!

 

[Mycroft]

Come down to Atlanta, and you'll find otherwise. Unless you believe that there are a lot of anti-black racists who are black.

It's still racist. A black person who is anti-black racist is not an oxymoron.

People, all people, internalize the values of the culture they grow up in, even if part of that culture is racism against their own ethnicity. If in your part of the country even black people say ******, it doesn't mean the word is really okay for everyone to use, it means that the culture in your area is so steeped in racism that even the targets of that racism are blind to aspects of it.

If this is hard to understand, think of anti-feminist women such as Phyllis Schlafly or anti-gay homosexuals (common enough in Republican politics). A woman espousing sexist ideals doesn't make them any less sexist any more than a (secretly) homosexual politician espousing anti-gay ideals makes them any less prejudiced. The apparent contradiction is a product of the culture they are raised in.

He couldn't. But in his mind, it wasn't racist, because you know, Obama is a ******, right? I mean, it's just a comment on reality.

And I see a lot of that in Paula Deen's attitude.

The most insidious strain of racism is racism that's so ingrained that the people who hold those ideas don't even perceive that they're being bigoted, because to them, their views appear perfectly reasonable.

Oh wait, I should have kept on reading before responding. It seems you do understand.

 

[12AX7]

http://wtkr.com/2013/06/25/orders-for-paula-deen-cookbook-surge/

"Advance orders for Paula Deen’s new cookbook have surged since the Food Network and Smithfield Foods axed her for using a racial slur. Orders for “Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up” surged on Amazon by nearly 1,300% in the last 24 hours.
The cookbook was ranked 115th on Tuesday, compared to a ranking of 1,592nd on Monday"

Uh huh.

Paula Deen's upcoming book nixed by publisher

lol, that'll cushion the blow

 

[AlBell]

Uh huh.

Paula Deen's upcoming book nixed by publisher

Should make for a juicy lawsuit against Ballantine Books, plus I suspect some other publisher will provide service for printing the book.

 

[alfaniner]

I dunno, I was more offended by a cooking show host licking her fingers before handling the food and giving it to someone else. Yech!

I loved it when on my new HD TV I saw her roll up a bug (that she couldn't see from her perspective) into a pie crust.

 

[kedo1981]

I get sick and tired of the word “racist” being thrown around by idiots who have no desired to understand it’s meaning.

A “racist” is one who favors, and/or advances one race over another by means of unjust laws, political or personal power and /or social manipulation.

The apartheid era government of South Africa was racist as were the Nazis. Passing laws that denies children decent schools because they are black, racist. Saying you personally don’t want you kids going to school with them while you shoot your mouth off at “Bubba’s Beer and Eats”, not racist, bigoted yes, not racist.

You are not automatically a racist because you don’t like a certain type of music, or a social behavior.

Paula Dean treated her employees badly by using racial epitaphs, did she fire them, did she call every other restaurant in the south and demand they not hire blacks “cause I’s Paula Dean”, nope, she’s just a classless bigoted phony who makes nauseating food.

What difference does it make, because being able to label anything that criticizes or speaks negative of one race or another as “racist” you make the reality of racism meaningless.

 

[Cavemonster]

I get sick and tired of the word “racist” being thrown around by idiots who have no desired to understand it’s meaning.

A “racist” is one who favors, and/or advances one race over another by means of unjust laws, political or personal power and /or social manipulation.

Shown me a source that defines "racist" that way.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/racist
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racist
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/racist
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/racist

Every single source I can find defines it as a set of beliefs, not a set of actions.

 

[alfaniner]

CNN had a great discussion show last night called "The N Word". I believe it will be shown in schools for some time to come.

I also learned something - the meaning/origin of the word "cracker". I had thought it was something else.

 

[carlitos]

Paula Dean treated her employees badly by using racial epitaphs,

That is bad.

 

[rcfieldz]

15 seconds

Seems to me all her detractors have new blood in the wings...

 

[Piggy]

CNN had a great discussion show last night called "The N Word". I believe it will be shown in schools for some time to come.

I also learned something - the meaning/origin of the word "cracker". I had thought it was something else.

Btw, I consider myself a cracker. Born on the Florida panhandle, raised in a Georgia textile mill town, relatives in both states.

That said, I can see when someone's using the term in a derogatory way and when they're not. It's a "smile when you say that" kind of thing. (Ref. SOB, from "The Virginian".)

 

[Brian-M]

Saying you personally don’t want you kids going to school with them while you shoot your mouth off at “Bubba’s Beer and Eats”, not racist, bigoted yes, not racist.

Racial bigotry is racism.

A “racist” is one who favors, and/or advances one race over another by means of unjust laws, political or personal power and /or social manipulation.

The apartheid era government of South Africa was racist as were the Nazis. Passing laws that denies children decent schools because they are black, racist.

And what motivates these actions? Racial bigotry.

You are not automatically a racist because you don’t like a certain type of music, or a social behavior.

Agreed. That's a matter of cultural differences, not a matter of race.

 

[Mumbles]

I get sick and tired of the word “racist” being thrown around by idiots who have no desired to understand it’s meaning.

A “racist” is one who favors, and/or advances one race over another by means of unjust laws, political or personal power and /or social manipulation.

I'm always amused by people who demand that everyone recognize "the" definition of racist. It's like complaining because I called the sun a star, when the word "star" as defined as "a movie star, rock star, or other famous performer". That isn't how language works. YEs, sociologists discuss "racism " in terms of laws, power structures, and the like.

Here's where you run into two problems. First, many people define "racism" as personal animus based on perceived race. Second, well, Paula Deen stands accused of the sociological definition - of using her power to discriminate against certain people.