By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
I never much liked Paula Deen’s cooking. Filled with butter and gravies and things like Krispy Creme Donuts for hamburger buns, Paula seemed too culinarily eccentric … to foodie excessive … too health oblivious even for a southern cook in 1813 much less 2013. Her story though, like her southern twang, had a certain charm to it: single mother of two left penniless makes ends meet by selling food-to-go out of her home kitchen and works her butt off until she reached the top of the sundae’s cherry with three shows on the Food Network and some spin off shows for her two sons.
That all ended Friday as a deposition of Ms. Deen was released. In that dep (in a case Lisa T. Jackson v. Paula Deen et al. involving a claim of racial and sexual discrimination by an employee of her restaurant, Uncle Bubba’s), Ms. Deen admitted to using the no-no of racial epithets in the past — the distant past, like 50 years ago. Here’s an excerpt from the transcript of Paula’s deposition to see just what I mean:
Q
Okay. Have you ever used the N word yourself?
A
Yes, of course.
Q
Okay. In what context?
A
Well, it was probably when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.
Q
Okay. And what did you say?
A
Well, I don’t remember, but the gun was dancing all around my temple.
Q
Okay.
A
I didn’t — I didn’t feel real favorable towards him.
Q
Okay. Well, did you use the N word to him as he pointed a gun in your head at your face?
A
Absolutely not.
Q
Well, then, when did you use it?
A
Probably in telling my husband.
Q
Okay. Have you used it since then?
A
I’m sure I have, but it’s been a very long time.
Q
Can you remember the context in which you have used the N word?
A
No.
Q
Has it occurred with sufficient frequency that you cannot recall all of the various context in which you’ve used it?
A
No, no.
Q
Well, then tell me the other context in which you’ve used the N word?
A
I don’t know, maybe in repeating something that was said to me.
Q
Like a joke?
A
No, probably a conversation between blacks. I don’t — I don’t know.
Q
Okay.
A
But that’s just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the ’60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior.
Q
Okay
Realizing perhaps too late, the Deen Food Empire (books, utensils, cutlery, you name it) sprung into action. First a very public apology for sins past, then a new revised one on YouTube, the town square of our age, where Paula looking quite shaken literally begs for forgiveness. PC gods served? You tell me:
On cable TV shows up and down the msnbc roster, Deen was decried as racist, uncaring, and calls for her banishment from polite society became overwhelming. So much so that the Food Network pulled the shows and consigned Deen to places we reserve for the likes of George Wallace and Sheriff Bull Connor. But is that fair?
Deen grew up in place far away –temporally and culturally — from most of her critics and, as one who grew up in the same locales, I can tell you that her sin was a popular one in the South in the 60’s . Everybody who wasn’t white and rich had a name: wops, pollaks, heebs, rednecks, pope lovers, crackers, and yes those christened with the “N” word. And each group used the words liberally to each other and even among each other. I never saw a fight over the name calling but there were some close calls.
Surely it wasn’t a very hospitable place for African-Americans who bore the brunt of discrimination, but neither was it a hospitable place if you were poor, or Catholic, or ethnic, or anything other than wealthy, white and Protestant. That didn’t mean people weren’t civil to one another. By and large they were, but there was a palpable feeling of place and hierarchy that was enforced with a rigid caste system administered by state and local governments. That sat pretty well with the white elite who ran things back then.
But you should know those in power considered folks like Paula Deen no better that the “n*iggers” they brought in to do their cooking and cleaning and to raise their kids. Those “people” were there and free only by fiat of the government in Wershington and, by god, if that was the case they were going to be useful, or so it was thought.
The South changed and evolved in the ’60s and ’70s with the Civil Rights Movement as Dr. King’s words touched hearts both white and black and brightened them all. For those who wouldn’t listen, scenes of pregnant women blasted with water cannons and vicious police dogs attacking kids was surely enough. White people who drove pickups and worked in plants and farms started to realize that the folks who lived across the railroad tracks and who drove older pickup trucks and worked in plants and farms weren’t really much different from themselves and they had the same lack of control over their lives. The wedges of words that the ruling élite had no interest in curtailing melted away and it is clearly true that the advent of political correctness shown a glaring light on those southern dinosaurs who couldn’t or wouldn’t change.
Which brings us back to Paula Deen. Paula likely grew up in one of those same southern small towns like I did. She also likely made a distinction between “black people” (as they were called then ), who worked hard and raised their families as best they could under grinding poverty, and “n*ggers” who were seen as lazy, irresponsible, thuggish and no account. She likely came to learn that names reflect stereotypes and they can be and are often wrong; that people don’t fit nicely into boxes; and that, as Edmund Burke so wisely reminds us, you can’t draw up an indictment against a whole people.
Paula evolved and the South evolved. But the question remains for Paula and those like her: When is the sentence for violating political correctness over? When can you freely admit a mistake made decades ago without fear of reprisal? Not the criminal kind administered by the state, but the reprisal from the overlords of decorum who sit in ivory towers or corporate boardrooms and wax philosophic on all manner of society’s ills and largely for their own benefit ? When will a society committed to free expression allow itself to deal honestly with its past and say publicly a two-syllable word that most find offensive?
In my view, you don’t need a word that no one can utter. You don’t need to continually explain and apologize for sins made years ago in a culture far, far away if you’ve done it once and sincerely. And perhaps most importantly, you don’t need to feel society’s wrath for simply telling the truth about that society.
Paula Deen is no hero, but she is certainly no villain for growing up as she did and living as she did. When we master that fact perhaps we can overcome the racism that divides us even as we accept that our differences spring largely from things over which we have little control, and that we can come together in spite of ourselves if we forgive as freely and as often as we decry.
Source: Huffington Post
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Elaine: I think Gene is appealing to what he thinks is the irrefutable authority of having made passing grades in law school.
Bob,Esq,
I assumed that you left that comment for me because it was posted just after a comment that I had made.
Gene,
“Mike A. is a trained logician. Oddly enough, so is Bob. And Mark. Hey! What do you know? I’m one too.”
Are you implying that the arguments of those of us who aren’t “trained logicians” can’t be as valid as the arguments of those who have been trained in logic?
“Mike A. is a trained logician. Oddly enough, so is Bob. And Mark. Hey! What do you know? I’m one too.”
Gene,
Maybe you have encapsulated the problem right there. Oddly enough all four of you are lawyers as well, or is that what you mean by “trained logician”. A lawyer is trained to argue every side of a case, whether she/he believes it or not. With that training goes the obligation to defend their clients to the end and beyond. You four trained logicians have a loser of a case in this one, yet like the good lawyers you are you won’t quit. An admirable show of ethical (from your perspective) behavior in a lost cause. 🙂
That explains it, Mike! In more than a quarter century of working with and for them, I’ve never known a lawyer who could admit being wrong about anything.
“That explains it, Mike! In more than a quarter century of working with and for them, I’ve never known a lawyer who could admit being wrong about anything.”
Juliet,
In the dogged defense of a client it is their best quality. In the marketplace of ideas it can be a handicap. Those defending Deen here are admirable in their doggedness, in what is really an indefensible case given the evidence already presented in the comments here. The saddest thing though about this defense is that it has nothing to do with the court case, though that initiated the issue. It is about race and ethnicity in America and how many people refuse to acknowledge that beyond the issue of slavery was the issue of a type of genocidal behavior. That creates a dichotomy since slaves were viewed as property, one would think that they would be protected by their “Masters”. Yet when societal traditions are purposely expunged, when names are capriciously changed, when parents are separated from children and when people are given the right to murder their “chattel” this is certainly a case of cultural genocide. The situation is of course clearer in the case of Native Americans, since the obvious aim there was to decimate the population.
As a Jew where the “Shoah” is usually ever present in the back of my mind, I don’t use the term genocide lightly. For us Jews this was the singular event of the 20th Century and I must admit even today I am wary that it could happen again. I’ve learned though of the other genocides that are occurring daily in Africa, abetted still by the exploitation of imperialist corporations. Certain the Armenian genocide should never be forgotten either. That Black people in America survived through the ordeal of slavery by creating their own culture and borrowing from the culture around them is in itself a remarkable story. That they still survive today, with far too few thriving in a severely inequitable environment is likewise a remarkable tale.
I write this as a White man, who was not only privileged to be raised by parents who were remarkable in their time for impressing upon me the inequity of America’s treatment of Blacks, but also as someone who spent a career as a co-worker with a large percentage of Black Americans. They were my mentors, my bosses, my peers and my employees at various times. Some I loved, some I liked, some I admired, some I distrusted and some I hated. Many were my friends and some indeed were my enemies in the work situation. But all were human beings whose lives while differing in a minor cultural sense, were just like mine in a human sense.
Since I worked in NYC’s Welfare Department, most of my time was spent in Black communities throughout NYC. I spent days and evenings in places made famous in the media as being terrifying and dangerous such as Bedford Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill Brownsville, South Jamaica, Harlem and even “Fort Apache” in the Bronx. These were areas that the 11:00 o’clock news spewed out stories of horror and danger. Police admitted on camera that they would only patrol in pairs. The movie “Fort Apache” showed a police station that was “under fire” from a community of “thugs and killers”. As I walked the streets, during the day and many times late at night I was the only White face to be seen. The police presence was infrequent. I never once was threatened and most times when meeting peoples eyes I was greeted with a “hello”. I am not a brave man physically, but I never once was frightened or threatened. I was at two muggings in my life and both took place in upper middle class White areas. As I would watch the news coverage of crime and the fear that it engendered I would see that there was a disconnect.between the Black people portrayed in the media and the Black people living real lives.
I could go on, but I feel I am preaching to the choir. Probably yourself and many others here have had similar experiences, if not more insightful experiences. I wrote the above because racism and bigotry are obviously touchy subjects for me and ones where I think I have some expertise. Above I was told that my arguments came from my emotions and I proudly admit that they do. Then again I come from training as a psychotherapist in a discipline that believes our emotions are the wisdom of our organisms.
It is not my intention here to pillory Deen, because though she is bigoted, she is certainly not the worst, or most dangerous example of that delusion.
However, I also see no need to minimize what she has revealed about herself, nor feel sad that this rich celebrity has besmirched her image. There is no tragedy here, except for the ongoing tragedy of the misunderstanding of the effects of bigotry in our country and the ongoing attempts to downplay its effects.
Gene,
Mike S. argues that I need to confess that I’m wrong here.
Does that mean you, Mark, Mike Appleton and Jimmy Carter are wrong as well?
“Mike S. argues that I need to confess that I’m wrong here.”
Bob,
You keep making up things that I’ve said. I haven’t asked for your confession on anything, nor have I asked you to cry uncle so to speak. Nor have I even called you names or implied anything but that you are an upstanding fellow, who is wrong on this issue. You obviously twisted that belief from what I wrote:
“I have no problem when I’m proven wrong I admit it. You on the other hand evince the need to admit no fallibilty, even when in this instance you are overwhelmingly wrong in the mind of most commenters here and in the higher court of logic.”
My clear point, which I obviously must translate despite your trained logician’s mind, is that when I find myself proven wrong I personally admit it and that in your history here you have never done so. It was certainly not a call for confession on your part because your clear history here is that you never think you’re wrong. Since for a logician your seem at times challenged (or is it a tendency to take words out of context) in your reading comprehension, I’ll also try to explain what I said to you in its context. You had written a comment where you cited that on your side were Mark, Mike A. and Gene and so that should carry the day. The context of my response was that the majority of comments on this thread disagreed with you four and that was clearly what my entire comment was about.
. “I didn’t realize Valley Stream was so racist, then again it did border Rosedale.”
Apparently just as racist as Massachusetts; according to Elaine.
You have a nice day.
Have fun, Blouise.
I hope your back is up to the road trips.
An appeal to authority is not a fallacy if the authority is relevant and proper.
Mike A. is a trained logician. Oddly enough, so is Bob. And Mark. Hey! What do you know? I’m one too.
Hell, Mike, you’re having a problem differentiating that the argument I’ve put forth is in parallel, not in the alternative or serial.
Sometimes authority counts. But that being said . . .
Still, there is no logical refutation about the larger point about the nature of prejudice. A lot of indignation at not everyone gleefully jumping on the “she’s an evil racist and deserves to be punished” bandwagon. But nothing that refutes that, in context, saying she’s definitively a racist without proof of intent and/or actual harm is just as much a form of prejudice as the very racism you’re accusing her of.
Or are we to the point of the argument where someone is going to argue that racism is special and deserves special treatment as a form of prejudice?
I hope so.
I love the fallacy of special pleading.
He’s on vacation this next week so I’m a lucky woman. We’re going on a few road trips to investigate some spots we haven’t seen in awhile. We like the open road.
Gene,
What I’m wondering has to do with the the porn aspect of the complaint and Bubba. She’s done a piss-poor job handling the N-word problem … I bet they figure she’ll do even worse on the porn especially if she knowing permitted it all.
Perhaps they’ll stick the boys out front as a means of saving whatever is left of the brand … unless they’re a problem too.
I never watched her much on the Food Network but I’m glad to say Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is still going strong.
Mike S.,
Yep … Scorpio through and through
Blouise,
It figure’s and that is why Tex is a lucky man.
Growing up in Texas I may have heard and even uttered the N word…. I think in some parts of the country it’s still very common… But then again… I treat everyone the same until I have reason to do different… There is a lady with some disability that will stop at the store for bus fair…. I usually get her something to eat as well…
As OS had posted dont tell me what you believe … Show me how you act and ill know what you believe…. OS…. What was the name of the guy that posted this on the Kos?
Blouise,
“These are a lot of very public cancellations. Do you think it’s within the realm of possibility that they all know something we don’t?”
Yep. Their quarterly and year end profit projections as impacted by a PR nightmare and a C/B analysis of cost to fix the problem versus cost of cutting her loose. Their corporations responding to a media frenzy, but as corporations they are amoral actors whose first priority and duty is to their bottom line. If their management thought it wouldn’t cost more to salvage the brand than it is worth? They’d be lined up defending her.
Mark,
I think the apology is overshadowed by her charity work with black youth. But I see what you mean.
It’s annoying when people show up at your door with pitchforks and torches.
Elaine,
Tex spent all his summers down in Texas on his grandparent’s ranch and he said it was a common chant down there.
Elaine,
I never called you a solipsist. There can only be one solipsist and its name on this thread is Tony C.
And Tony, don’t forget me! I don’t want to vanish from existence!
Mike S.: “I don’t care what the posts’ title was. I didn’t call Paula Deen a racist because she used that word, I referred to a lot more than that.”
Yes, most of it personal musings about things in no way connected to Paula Deen’s thoughts and actions. Nonetheless, you did make her use of the word the sharpened point of your spear.
Mike S.: “Personally I think Deen using the word “nigger” is more immoral than Anthony Weiner texting a picture of his erection.”
And then you said this:
Mike S.: “Were the evidence to show that Ms. Deen used the term “nigger” 50 years ago and has since learned of its hurtfulness, than of course she should be forgiven. Hoiwever, the 2012 tape to my mind showed that this has been an ongoing pattern of belief through the years.”
So, based on her use of the word “nigger” and your viewing of the “2012 tape” you feel you have sufficient evidence to call her a racist.
Yet along comes Jimmy Carter. You remember Carter, the nobel peace prize winner who called the republicans who would yell out “you lie” during a state of the union address racists?
So Carter says Deen should be forgiven; mentioning:
“Deen’s programs in Savannah, Georgia, that benefit “almost exclusively oppressed and poverty stricken black people.” He advised her to get people she’s helping to speak up and “show she’s changed in her relationship with African-Americans.”
Could it be that Jimmy Carter was in less of a rush to judge Paula Deen a racist than you? Could it be that Carter took the time to weigh more evidence than the use of a word and a “2012 tape” to come to his conclusion?
MIke S.: “I haven’t forgiven Jimmy Carter yet for Ronald Reagan, why should I care about any opinion he has?”
Could it be that the world deems Jimmy Carter’s opinion on issues such as racism more valuable than the opinion of Mike Spindell?
Hmm… Let’s flashback to 2002 …
Friday, October 11, 2002 Posted: 5:48 PM EDT (2148 GMT)
OSLO, Norway (CNN) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for what presenters cited as decades of work seeking peaceful solutions and promoting social and economic justice.
Carter, Democratic president from 1977 to 1981, has won praise for his tireless work as an ex-president in trying to bring peace to places from Haiti to North Korea.
Announcing the winner on Friday, the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Carter’s decades of “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
=============
Gee, I don’t know.
Two final points Mike.
1. My mother grew up in Valley Stream, NY; not in the world of your baseless suppositions.
2. The goal of argumentation is to win the assent of the audience. On June 23rd I was awarded the Mike Appleton seal of approval:
To wit:
Mike Appleton 1, June 26, 2013 at 12:41 pm
“I agree wholeheartedly with the excellent and thorough analysis by Bob, Esq. on this issue.
It is also my belief that there are no forbidden words for the reason that there are no forbidden thoughts.”
Having won the assent of the sharpest knife in the Turleyville drawer, as well as two other notable blades, I’m quite satisfied with the quality of my reasoning here.
You have a nice day.
Bob,
You really have a thing for authority don’t you. I spent some time on Long Island myself. I didn’t realize Valley Stream was so racist, then again it did border Rosedale. Obama also won the Nobel prize, yet you are no fan of his.. As for Mike A,a good, highly intelligent man , but like you he can err as well. So can I which is the difference twixt you and me, I have mo problem when I’m proven wrong I admit it. You on the other hand evince the need to admit no fallibilty, even when in this instance you are overwhelmingly wrong in the mind of most commenters here and in the higher court of logic. Now in the interest of truth I admit that I am treating you flippantly and will continue to do so on this thread. I see that it doesn’t matter when I show your constant mischaracterizations of my beliefs and positions to be false, since you prate on ignoring the proof, only to mischaracterize me further. The record of the writing stands and through six hundred comments a majority reject your position. Thats enough authority for me.
I love it when the “free market” actually works like it’s supposed to.
Gene and Mark,
These are a lot of very public cancellations. Do you think it’s within the realm of possibility that they all know something we don’t?
blouise,
I’ll be 67 in November.
I grew up in Massachusetts. I did hear the “Eeny, meeny…” version that Bob spoke of.
It’s not the god-fearing townspeople who are getting the tar and feathers ready. It’s the corporations who fear that Deen has tarnished her brand. They are dropping her like a hot, deep-fried potato…with sour cream, bacon, and cheese.