MJ said -

"No, you were not just pointing out accusations, you were endorsing them by saying they were damning. The only time the accusations are "Damning" is if they are true or people believe them in a rush to judgment and damn her."

I was using the word "damning" in this context -


"2. Extremely critical: "last year's damning report on the industry"."

That's what I meant. The accusations are extremely critical. So don't put words into my mouth.

That statement pretty much condemns the industry as damned, the fact that that the word "Criticism" was used in the definition you used really does not change much, it is still taking about the situation as a statement of fact.

I like how you forgot:

(of a circumstance or piece of evidence) Strongly suggesting guilt or error: "presented with damning affidavits".

Which seems to more closely match your "accusations" remark.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 03:37PM by MJ.

I know what I said, & in what context. How dare you twist my words & remarks.

Sorry that you were not clear, that does not mean I am twisting your words when I explain what I think they mean.

Geezzz, unknot your patties.

We like: "Damning reports" Or reports that "slam" something or another.

There is never an investigation. It's always a "probe."

"Vicar held after damning report slams probe" would be my ideal headline. ;o))

My mother in law said the N word up until she died. I would cringe each time and I remember saying something when my husband and I first came to visit after we were married. I was from Ca. We just did not say things like that. Fast forward a few years and we are living in Jacksonville, NC. Can I say absolutely mortified??????? I was in culture shock. Black people have been treated so horribly for years and it is still alive and well in the South. So in return....the checkers at Wal-Mart hated white people and you certainly knew it. I went home in shock my first shopping trip.

They are still behind the times in the South. They just need some catching up to do. So that being said.....Paula Deen is old and from the South. She is a product of her circumstance. That does not make it right. It is awful. Maybe this will teach her how inappropriate she was. Let's just not judge her now though because she still needs to be judged by law and that will happen soon enough.

Whistles

You guys are really going at it
Thanks for the entertainment

Excuse me for coming into this half way through, and from Australia, but what happened to freedom of speech in America? Also, why aren't celebrities like Dave Chappelle being dragged over the coals for saying the word that shall not be spoken? Isn't the double standard in US society the ultimate manifestation of racism by so-called liberals? Where's the outrage when *anyone* uses that word? Are black people considered less refined and not expected to play by the PC rules of polite contemporary society?

The real legal issue is not that she said the "N" word 40 years ago, though some here think it labels her a racist. The legal issue is racial discrimination against her workers. At this point all we have is the accusation of a single worker.

But hey, to some, the fact that Paula used the N word decades ago means she must be a guilty racist.

To me, the rush to judgment shown by some is every bit as ugly as any bigot's statements.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 06:24PM by MJ.

People seem to be really confused about the issue of freedom of speech. It pertains to the government not prosecuting you for speaking your mind -- not shielding you from the consequences of your speech from the judgement of any other citizen, including your employer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 10:50PM by Devoted Exmo.

I was raised in Utah in the 50's. I loved licorice ""N" babies" for many years. We did a "Minstral Show" for the Stake Roadshow in the early 60's. Didn't know it was disrespectful. Black shoe polish on the face and the works. Taught to hate "Japs" because of WWII.

In the late 70's a friends' black labs were named "--g and Dinah"

And ALOT more for every other minority. I am disgusted when I look back on it. The past is a fact!

I now assist minorities with immigration.

If everyone who ever used a word that is not PC today was given the boot aka Pink Slip - fired - it would take care of all of the unemployment in the USA with jobs left over unfulfilled!

And ya, I heard it all growing up after WW2. Nobody batted an eye over words - we had real freedom of speech.

In the words of Archie Bunker, those were the days!

Yes the good old days when a black boy was drowned just for saying hello the wrong way to a white woman. Wonderful times then

I think her use of the N word and her legal battles are the main reasons the Food Network isn't renewing her contract. My sister-in-law saw Paula Dean when she was taping. She told me Paula always had a drink in her hand and I'm not talking water. Paula acted awful, like she should be waited on hand and food.

I'm sure other food network stars act as if they are the center of the universe, but when you add everything up, Paula got what was coming. You get what you sow. When you constantly act bad, have an attitude, and do things to disgrace your employer - your actions will come back to haunt you.

..but the culture of discrimination that apparently permeated her and her families' businesses, and her flippant insensitivity about it. While reading an interview with Deen about the issue, my stomach kept tightning and I could feel my my face flush, it was that upsetting.

I was reminded of a conversation with a roommate I had in 1991 from Clinton, Mississippi. She denied that there were any racial injustices or issues anymore where she lived, and heavens no, she was certainly no racist, goodness no! And btw, she liked black people just fine... "as long as they knew their place."

Jesus Christ on a raft.

She and Deen are two peas in a pod. Revolting.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 07:45PM by serena.

Even if the claims of her blatant continued racism aren't true, her cooking is super unhealthy and has contributed to the obesity in this country. I feel based on that alone she should have been kicked off years ago. If she truly is as racist as some say, then that adds to everything else.

I think her food is crap, but don't lay blame for everyone being fat on her. The only obesity that she can be blamed for is her own - although she has lost weight more recently, probably on doctor's orders.

The problem is that most people don't know how to cook in the first place. So they eat fast food & heavily processed frozen food all the damn time. They hate whole grains, brown rice, & vegetables. They have very unsophisticated palates when it comes to food, & all they do is eat serious garbage all the time.

Having said that - I also think that there is an epidemic of eating disorders that isn't being addressed because people have a belief that anyone who is fat can't possibly have an eating disorder. & I am not talking about food addiction. I'm talking about binge/starve cycles, emotional eating, & even bulimia in overweight people. Yes, even fat people can be bulimic.

I agree that obese people can also have eating disorders.

I never laid blame to her for all the obese people in the country. However she has contributed to it. Three sticks of butter in a dish, fried butter, huge dishes of meat... Holy shit.

I know many people who publicly exalt her and her cooking. While never realizing that it's unhealthy.

OK, yes I understand what you're saying. But it's like how can people not know that 3 sticks of butter in a dish is unhealthy?

(Having said that, I only cook with olive oil & butter, when I need it. My parents were brainwashed in the 1960s to think that margarine was "health food", & only consume that. That garbage is sick, disgusting, & very nasty tasting.)

Some people only know what they've been taught. I'm vegan. My grandmother, for the life of her, can't understand how I get my protein. Lol.

I agree with you on margarine.

"Let he who is innocent, cast the first stone". Paula Deene was then, this is now. Young RFM's: in the future will you be able to explain what you had to say about Muslims and Hispanics?

My answer is a very emphatic YES.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,911776,911776#msg-911776

And I continue to stand by my assertion that islamic societies, in the year 2013, tend to be the most oppressive on earth (especially towards women, children, minorities) - by an order of magnitude.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2013 09:36PM by schlock.

The Paula Deen "tell" moment for me was the interview in New York when she was describing the suicide of her Great-Grandfather father after the Civil War. His son was killed in battle and he no longer had 30 "workers" on "his books".

She just could not bring herself to say the word SLAVES. They left her g-grandfather's plantation the minute they could, and he could not take the "change". I'm guessing that g-grandfather did not treat his slaves "like they were his family".

Racism, sexism and bigotry are the waters she swims in; like a fish she thinks this behavior is "normal" and is probably very, very surprised that is no longer acceptable.

MJ and SuzieQ,

If you two grew up unaware using the N word was foul, rude, boorish, and backwards, then you grew up under a rock. "Oh, its just the way people talked back then." That's just pitiful.

That's like the mormon church saying, "we don't know why blacks were denied the priesthood." My ass - because they were black.

I grew up in the 50s and the "N" word was commonly used on the
playground at school and on the streets of my neighborhood.

This is interesting because there were no blacks in my town at
all. Not even one. I remember as a child using the word
in earshot of my Mom. She told me it was not a nice word to
say, that it was rather rude.

Now I wasn't in the south, I was out west. If you look at the
old newsreels of the south in the 50s and 60s (the "civil
rights" era) the "N" word was used by civic leaders, law
enforcement and parents--the very people you looked up to as
your moral compass.

If Paula Deen, who was born and raised in the south during
that era, used the N word back then but has long since purged
it from her vocabulary then she is to be commended not
censured.

baura Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Excellent points! + 10000

Oh, I think she can bounce back, if she is willing to:

1.Hire a Hollywood crisis management firm and do everything they say without exception - even if that means throwing her horndog brother to the wolves.

2.Realize her restaurant empire is in Georgia; so she can go on selling overpriced deep-fried food to fat old white guys who think she is a hero for standing up for southern tradition.

She was an idiot with what had become a lousy show, and she finally reached the point where she was just more trouble than she was worth. The racism controversy may have been the last straw, but it wasn't the only straw.

People get fired for less in the entertainment field all the time.