Posted on 06/25/2013 5:07:30 PM PDT by drewh
People of her generation can neither change the past, nor completely escape their roots in it
Paula Deen grew up in Georgia. In the 1950's. Her world was the one depicted in The Help, in which black people’s status as lesser beings was casually assumed. So, who is really surprised that she has used the N word in her life? It would be downright strange if she hadn’t, and we can assume the same of pretty much any white Southerner of a certain age (not to mention more than a few Americans of other regions).
And yet the Food Network has fired her after revelations that Deen has been a normal person of her time and place, even though she has leveled no fewer than three public apologies.
So yes, she just might pop out with the N word in private in a heated moment. And yes, a certain part of her will see something vaguely nostalgic in the sight of black men as waiters. In this, she represents a transitional stage between the then and the now. Deen was already a 20-something when the old racist order broke down; her worldview had pretty much jelled by then. How could she have a perfectly egalitarian take on race growing up when and where she did?
People of Deen’s generation can neither change the past nor completely escape their roots in it, any more than the rest of us. They can apologize and mean it, as Deen seems to. They also deserve credit for owning up to past sins, as Deen did candidly when she could easily have, shall we say, whitewashed the matter.
Deen is old and she’s sorry. She should get her job back.
(Excerpt) Read more at ideas.time.com ...
People don’t think twice at using God’s name in vain..........
...and I would not agree to have someone fired as a result.
My God is a bigger person than, well, some groups.
I figured that’s why they’re saying this about her. If she was a conservative, this would never happen.
Someone wants to take her down.
I wrote to the network this morning as others should do the same. The link to their contact page is: http://www.foodnetwork.com/contact-us/package/index.html
The Obama lover got what she deserved!
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" say the old schoolyard rhyme.
Of course, that refereed to the damage caused TO me BY the words of others. The lesson being that I should ignore the cruel taunts of others.
But that was in the days before political correctness, race pimps and vulturine tort lawyers.
Fairly good analysis, especially for a “pointy-headed Yankee professor from an Ivy covered Ivory Tower”. (How’s that for name calling!) /s
Just to corroborate his depiction of the cultural environment during Ms Deen’s formative years, consider “Aunt Fanny’s Cabin” in Smyrna, GA, one of Atlanta’s NW suburbs.
“Creative Loafing - Atlanta” had this to say in their 30th anniversary edition
“Milestones in political incorrectness
Aunt Fanny’s Cabin — This Smyrna Southern-cookin’ landmark dressed its black waitresses like Aunt Jemima and used little, barefoot “colored” boys to tote the menu — on chalk boards hung around their necks! So, so wrong. “
That is the PC evaluation.
They left out the part about these same boys tap dancing (IIRC, on the tables) after dinner. They made a killing in tips! I first had dinner at Aunt Fanny’s in about 1965. Best fried chicken EVAH!
Here is an objective description of Aunt Fanny’s:
“History of Aunt Fanny’s Cabin
The Smyrna Welcome Center was once a world-famous, Southern-themed restaurant named Aunt Fanny’s Cabin. The restaurant, which closed in 1994, was located a few miles away on Campbell Road just north of the railroad bridge.
In 1941 Isoline Campbell MacKenna converted an existing 1890s-era cabin on her property to a country store to sell preserves and produce grown and produced on her farm. She soon began selling soup and other foods prepared from the recipes of her family’s retired cook - Fanny Williams.
Demand for the prepared foods grew and in the early 1940’s a brick floored terrace room was added and the restaurant, named Aunt Fanny’s Cabin, opened.
By 1945 the restaurant had established itself as “a place to eat and be seen” and attracted famous celebrities from around the world.
The restaurant served authentic Southern-style food, America’s oldest recognized cuisine, in a rustic environment. During its day, it was considered quite expensive. It was expanded several times over the years and eventually seated 800 customers.
During its five decades of operation, the restaurant was visited by movie stars, sports figures, politicians and other celebrities who not only signed the guest book, but left behind many autographed photos that graced the walls”
http://www.smyrnahistory.org/_welcomecenter.htm
Those “autographed photos” included folks from all parts of the USA, not just “a bunch a racist Southern rednecks”. These were the times of Amos & Andy, Jack Benny & Rochester, Buckwheat and the Little Rascals. All national figures, created in that most liberal bastion of Hollywood, loved and applauded by Yankees & Southerners.
John McWhorter is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He earned his PhD in linguistics from Stanford University in 1993 and became associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley after teaching at Cornell University. He was senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute from 2002 until 2010.
He is the author of What Language Is (and What It Isn’t and What It Could Be), The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music in America and Why We Should, Like, Care and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: Untold Stories in the History of English, as well as Authentically Black, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America, and All About the Beat: Why Hip Hop Can’t Save Black America.
He is also contributing editor for The New Republic, columnist for The New York Daily News and has been contributing editor at TheRoot.com and City Journal
Read more: http://ideas.time.com/contributor/john-mcwhorter/#ixzz2XKrPLK8M
The news media latched onto this latest PR scandal as THE reason why Paula Deen’s contract wasn’t renewed. What gets me is that so many people are so blindly taking that and running with it. Paula has been a PR disaster for the last few years and her ratings have been dropping (the real reason she’s been let go, the other stuff is collateral damage).
I don’t just “think”, I know. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the word come out of a black person’s mouth. I’m talking about dozens of times a day, and it would have been hundreds of times if I’d sat out in my yard facing the store corner.
The n-word was mild stuff compared to “m-f” and many other filthy expressions, coming out of the mouths of young and old alike, and even 6-year-olds; sometimes directed at their own parents.
Oh, I didn’t know that. I assumed she was still getting high ratings. She’s branched-out into all kinds of diversified businesses. I was shopping for living room furniture recently, and I kept seeing her furniture line. It wasn’t cheap stuff, and some of it was very nicely made. She’s not a favorite, but it’s sad to see someone persecuted to their fall for the sake of liberal jollies.
Yes, here’s the WSJ story on Paula’s ratings drop. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and George Clooney have proven that high revenues and good reviews cure all kinds of ills. But when the balance sheet goes negative (or not enough in the black), that’s when people get axed: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323998604578567832751771860.html?mod=business_newsreel
Wow, that is a slide. Looks like the Food Channel has been infected with Reality TV like most other channels. Did I hear rightly that Smithfield has been bought by a Chinese company? I just can’t keep up. Think I’ll go cook something.
Most of these big corporations are headed by liberal CEO’s, or maybe by a couple of more conservative CEO’s that are afraid of Obama’s thugs, so they will take down a liberal woman in order that the taint of her being a racist for remarks she made 30 years ago won’t rub off on their business.
Paula Deen is also a target as she looks and speaks like an old fashioned, folksy southern cracker type. That blond poofy hair, those bright blue eyes, that southern drawl. With a brother nicknamed Bubba. She reeks of southern wasp, must be prejudiced, must be taken down. And all the liberal jerks are getting off on it. Maybe Paula Deen better sit down and figure out who her friends really are, and it ain’t the liberal Dems. They have hung her out to dry:
I think it’s a combination. If her ratings were sky-high, I don’t think the food network would have dropped her so precipitously. But you are correct. She represents the old ‘50’s and ‘60s South, and the lib’s in the industry are getting their r—cks off by torturing her publicly, something they do so well.
I think she’s handled it miserably. I would have taken my millions, told them where to put it (especially that ABC creep, Matt whathisname) , and gone off to enjoy the good life with the people who really count: my family. She’s out of control and repeatedly giving the lib’s exactly what they hoped for: an emotional breakdown followed by the obscene spectacle of weepy groveling at their feet.
In her heyday, she taped an entire show at Jimmy Carter’s house. At one point, I thought she was going to climb into his lap and lick him like an all-day sucker. It was an embarrassing display of “hero” worship. While Carter’s wife looked on, they went into his kitchen and whipped up a favorite dish or two. Ick. Yes, I have a cast-iron stomach.
I doubt she’s truly political, and probably blows where the wind blows. But it must be excruciatingly painful to watch liberal “friends” in an industry where there are so many, turn away; especially over something so completely asinine.
“I would have taken my millions, told them where to put it”
I think the reason she is grovelling is because she has two sons who have joined her in the family business, and she wants to save her legacy to pass down to them. They will become the unfortunate collateral damage from all of this flack. If I were her, I’d go underground for a while, and resurface later, slowly but surely, after the initial furor is over and the liberal attack on her settles down. But if I were Paula Deen, I’d figure out who my friends really are, and it ain’t the Libs by a long shot.
Any move is better than the one she has chosen. IMHO, she’s only adding to the damage. At least her sons are in their 40’s and the family is wealthy. Perhaps, she should have dismissed her attackers; then used your tactic and taken a nice, long breather; after which, if she chose, struck out in a new direction. I don’t believe any, but the most die-hard fans, are interested in watching the Deens bake a chicken, but I don’t think that’s necessarily all her fault.
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