Paula Deen fired and Alabama again lives down to stereotypes

[FeministShrew]

This from one of my FB friends:

"I don't know what all is going on with Paula Deen.. but I have a question--If its about racial slurs..do you not realize how many Singers would be put out of business for their lyrics?"

The responses were an "Amen!" & "It's because she said the "n-word" 20 years ago. Ridiculous!"

Nobody responded to the link I posted about the lawsuit. :angry-banghead:

[apple1]

Just saw a new pic (some ecards) floating around on facebook. It says " If Paula Deen can get fired for a slur she said 25 years ago, can we also fire Obama for the drugs he did 25 years ago? Please? " :angry-banghead:

That one showed up in my FB feed, except with "30 years ago". :-(

[Lillybee]

Walmart has dropped her.

[flyawaystray]

And, Walmart is a big retail giant (not that I want to buy from Wally World ever again after my last dealing with them), so yeah, that's going to be a killer.

[Jezebel]

Huh? Can these people not be bothered to educate themselves before jumping on the "Save Paula" bandwagon? Is clicking on links and reading more difficult than making memes?

No, they can't be bothered. First of all, most people are incredibly fucking lazy when it comes to seeking out information. They won't google shit; they won't read up on a subject; they won't follow a link to any document that might be "difficult" or "boring." Investigating a matter takes time, it takes some thinking on the investigator's part, and most people simply cannot be bothered. They really are okay with not knowing all the facts.

Plus, most people will watch the hasty, incomplete version of a story on TV news shows and assume that all the important facts have been reported, so they don't need to dig further. If a Faux News personality says Paula Deen's firing was horribly unfair, and that it was for one long-ago utterance of the n-word, most people will swallow that whole. Why do they need to go read a boring (and, given the 5th-grade reading proficiency of the average American adult, impenetrable) court document? The TV news has already explained it all.

And then there's the whole matter of people not wanting to admit that public figures they admire turn out to be horrible people. Personally, I think it's because whatever the celebrity did wrong is a non-issue to them. There are people who still defend Michael Vick--and I suspect they are folks who, deep-down, don't have a whole lot of genuine empathy for animals. And people are going to defend Paula Deen because deep down, they're okay with the idea that black people are inferior to whites. They may not even think of themselves as racist, but they've never engaged in the kind of self-examination that would allow them to see they are.

Americans, as a group, don't want to have to think about anything. They'll grab the lowest-hanging fruit and call it good, no matter how shrivelled, wormy, or underripe it may be. And not only will they defend that bad fruit; they'll get really pissy at anyone who went to the effort of getting out a ladder so they could pick good fruit from higher on the tree. Suggest they climb that ladder themselves so they can taste the good stuff? You're just being "difficult," or "elitist." So when I see blind support for Paula Deen, or half-assed excuse-making for her racism, by people who make zero effort to understand the situation better? I'm not even remotely surprised.

[/rant]

[OkToBeTakei]

Americans, as a group, don't want to have to think about anything. They'll grab the lowest-hanging fruit and call it good, no matter how shrivelled, wormy, or underripe it may be. And not only will they defend that bad fruit; they'll get really pissy at anyone who went to the effort of getting out a ladder so they could pick good fruit from higher on the tree. Suggest they climb that ladder themselves so they can taste the good stuff? You're just being "difficult," or "elitist." So when I see blind support for Paula Deen, or half-assed excuse-making for her racism, by people who make zero effort to understand the situation better? I'm not even remotely surprised.

Just want to say as a non american I don't think you are all like that. Sometimes the idiots in all our respective cultures just tend to be the loudest. Certainly true of mine.

[wild little fox]

I watched a clip from an interview with Paula. I don't know what show it was but she was doing the whole "I love black people" bs. She said she knows a young man and "he's as black as a blackboard" and then she said "Come out here. Are you back there I can't see you standing up against that black wall" (or very close to what she said).

Then he came out, obviously embarrassed and Paula said something like"He's like my son with another father"

It was HORRID!

Edited to remove inaccurate guess on my part

[wild little fox]

http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1379912#bmb=1

I googled "Paula Deen black as a board.

[Loveday]

Just want to say as a non american I don't think you are all like that. Sometimes the idiots in all our respective cultures just tend to be the loudest. Certainly true of mine.

Truth. Thank you. :clap:

[DifferentGurl]

Count me in as someone who thought Alton was gay too. He just comes off kind of effeminate. However if he is a fundie lite who knows...maybe he is praying the gay away?

Guy...yeah any guy that looks like he is a Smash Mouth fan circa 1995 and still does blonde tips is a douche. It's like blonde tips and bowling shirts are an integral part of the douchebag uniform.

Yea, he always seemed to be a goofy geeky kind of guy. I admit, I still like him. I don't like his opinions on certain things ( especially gays ) and I don't like him as much as I did before, but I still like him.

I definitely don't like Paula Deen anymore. She has no remorse. She was saying that the person accusing her of all the racist stuff just wanted to see her fall and suffer ( or something like that ). Seriously? That really set me off. Also, saying she wouldn't fire herself for what she did...that definitely shows she doesn't have any remorse for what she did.

[Lillybee]

She ended that interview on Today by saying "I is what I is". Could that quote come from this?

http://www.lol-jokes.com/ethnic-u-s-/bl ... -white-god

[Arete]

As for firing Paula Deen, I don't think the Food Network has made that smart a move since it put "Iron Chef" into an American format. Seriously, there is both Trisha Yearwood's show and the Neeleys. It's not like there is going to be some gaping whole in Southern cooking. Her defenders are not going to be able to keep her empire from crumbling to its foundation now that sponsors are stampeding for the door.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer racist and con woman.

[Iovershare]

I wonder how many jobs will be impacted by the severing of all of these business relationships. I imagine she will be fine financially but this could really impact people in her restaurants and other businesses.

[CallmeChaCha]

She ended that interview on Today by saying "I is what I is". Could that quote come from this?

http://www.lol-jokes.com/ethnic-u-s-/bl ... -white-god

I read that earlier but didn't understand what she meant. "What is I?" :embarrassed:

Jezebel, you put it very well. :clap: I'm guilty of that sometimes, but fortunately in my line of work I always have to research things before I put anything in writing, and I write a lot so I've gotten much better. The boyfriend, however.... whatever they say on TV is the truth until I tell him otherwise.

[Stephanie66]

Wasn't "I is what I is" from "The Help"?

[Lillybee]

I think a lot of Paula's problems is that she is drunk on some of her personal appearances.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlVoDpzp24 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIfYN7w-lD4 Paula is not herself in these videos.

[J'ean Skirt]

OMG. She BUTTERED DRY RIBS?

Are you KIDDING ME?

[GolightlyGrrl]

I wonder how many jobs will be impacted by the severing of all of these business relationships. I imagine she will be fine financially but this could really impact people in her restaurants and other businesses.

I have no empathy for Paula Deen and some of her higher-ups like her brother Bubba. But I do have empathy for lower level employees who are not at all horrible like Paula but will most likely lose their livelihoods due to Paula and her fuckwittery.

[JMarie]

And it gets worse:

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/06/28/pau ... cancelled/

[MrMattyMatt]

I agree - she often seemed drunk or heavily medicated in most of her public appearances. Remember the "Paula's Party" series? She was typically near-drunk and acted like a horny fool. Cooking was an afterthought. Read her autobiography - pretty telling.

[EyeQueue]

To add to the Alton conversation - he's also a fat-shamer. A very LOUD fat-shamer.

Pot, meet Kettle much? Wasn't he looking pretty portly himself at one time? I haven't seen him lately, but sheesh.

[LadyBlue]

Pot, meet Kettle much? Wasn't he looking pretty portly himself at one time? I haven't seen him lately, but sheesh.

That's most likely WHY he's a fat shamer, actually. Formerly heavy people who manage to beat the stats and keep weight off long term seem to be some of the most vicious towards fat people.

I saw a picture with this quote "I wish the media was half as interested in the corruption and crimes of the current Administration,as it is in destroying Paula Deen's life because because of something she said 30 years ago". It's tagged dustinstockton.com Glad Dustin is willing to openly admit his idiocy.

[apple1]

I realize this thread is old news and there is probably not much more to say on this topic on FJ. But, wow, I am SO sick of seeing people continuing the defense of "poor, mistreated" Paula Deen in my FB feed. And, I have to say, also coming from educated people who I never thought would be taken in by this crap. :angry-banghead:

There must be some life commentary in all of this, :think: having to do with why people believe what they believe in spite of opposing information that is clearly available. And something about cognitive dissonance.

[library_youth]

I realize this thread is old news and there is probably not much more to say on this topic on FJ. But, wow, I am SO sick of seeing people continuing the defense of "poor, mistreated" Paula Deen in my FB feed.

This makes me glad I've been on hiatus from FB for the last month. That site has become less and less about keeping up with friends, and more and more about hiding peoples' posts because they're so infuriating. :(

[laura oz]

A friend posted the details about this, and I was shocked even though I thought I knew everything. Paula made black employees use a separate bathroom and entrance. Bubba physically shook a black employee and said "You don't have any civil rights you work for me and Paula Deen" and Bobby wanted to fire all the "monkeys" in the kitchen. Y'all, I feel sick that I ever admired her, and I'm so disgusted at what she did and allowed to be done. The hell with ALL of 'em and I hope she and all her backward family are never on TV or get endorsements again. She is the worst kind of racist/bigot. She wore an affable mask that reached the masses that concealed the hideous truth of what she was. I still love butter though.