# Paula Deen **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049 "2013-06-27T17:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/181 "2013-07-02T03:25:13Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > She wouldn’t have seen this as a ridicule. She would have though, “this is someone that works with me closely and I trust very much” if her comments are to be believed. > > I have heard and been party too many such comments among friends. Such as asking an Asian person if they can see something, joking with my red-headed boss about her temper or imitating a co-worker’s thick accent. It’s funny sure. Will I do it on TV in public, no. Won’t be hired by my company or invited to my home or parties, either, Clueless. (Or do you people prefer to be called Classless these days?). Thanks for the heads up though! ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/182 "2013-07-02T03:25:52Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Here in 'Merica the majority often rules. If most of us have evolved to know better than to throw around racial slurs at subordinates and we find her behavior to be distasteful and we decide to vote with our money to remove her backward, racist ass from the networks and commercial endorsements, we do so. Don’t really care what you think, as you are in the minority. Huh. Irony. What’s that taste like? What did you say was ironic? It’s funny you bring up majority. Brown Vs Board of Education, the supreme court had to rule that segregation was unconstitutional. Just recently they had to rule that gay marriage bands were unconstitutional as well. Since every time it’s put to a vote it’s usually voted down. That whole “legislating from the bench” thing is because sometimes, the majority is WRONG and unfair. Vote with your money now if you want. I’ll wait and do some reading and make a more informed decision. I love eating Paula Deen’s cooking. I hate eating my words. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/183 "2013-07-02T03:32:53Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Wait. Your claim now is that people don’t know that she called someone a nigger 30 years ago and that if they knew they wouldn’t care? > > But in this thread, people clearly know. Many people have addressed it. They profess to care. > > So you can’t really say that you can’t find anyone who cares. They’re right here. > > I don’t think anyone is surprised, but since that’s because many of us think a whole shitload of people are racists, I don’t see how that helps your cause of demonstrating that Deen isn’t necessarily racist. Yes, from talking to people and reading things, it would seem that a lot of people believe Deen is currently using racial slurs. The people that know and have addressed it, well, whaddya gonna do? I can definitely say that there are lots of folks that don’t really care that she said something racist 30 years ago. If you do and you hold it against her now, I believe you are a silly person and should concentrate on how she lives her life now and how she runs her businesses now. I have said repeatedly that personally believe that she likely is racist. Doesn’t mean she runs a discriminatory work place and it doesn’t absolve the fact that the media is grossly exaggerating the story for their benefit. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/184 "2013-07-02T03:35:58Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Won’t be hired by my company or invited to my home or parties, either, Clueless. (Or do you people prefer to be called Classless these days?). Thanks for the heads up though! Oh no! I was just about to RSVP… Gonna miss the party of the year I’m sure. I don’t really care what you call people. Enjoy your party. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/185 "2013-07-02T03:53:38Z")
I have only one question left; if Deen had no idea what offended others amd was simply a product of her environment and era, why did she understand enough to keep (_whatever amount of_) racist tendencies she had under wraps while on TV, made public appearances and basically promoted her “brand”? Because, for someone who has admitted the former and confessed to the latter, I find all these things incongruous. You cannot say something racist (in whatever capacity) because you don’t know better, than have the wherewithal to _refrain_ from saying racist things around others in the media, etc. You can’t have it both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/186 "2013-07-02T04:58:45Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > I haven’t but I’ll look out for it. I’m sure in the end she’ll come out fine and just as rich once all this is over. It’s silly that this is making her more famous though. Have you ever had her pumpkin cake role? It was a featured Thanksgiving dessert a few years back. Sweet Jesus… I think she and/or her handlers have figured out that she has this distraction ability, and she made a deal to run with it. It makes her seem more squicky to me. I could sort of forget it if her mind reached out for the worst insult she could think of when someone pointed a gun at her all those years ago. I’ve been guilty of as much (though not with the n-word, _egad!_) Behavior like that reflects a loss of self-command that results in making a person look like a jackass, besides making nobody feel any better. But whatever, there appears to be much more to the story- she didn’t have a bad day, she appears to be a racist. I don’t know if it is so silly that she is getting famous for this. Kind of like Don Imus when he called those basketball players ‘nappy headed hos’. Remember that? Suddenly people who didn’t even listen to the radio had an opinion on that guy. This happens to celebrity racists. As for her recipes, again, I don’t think I’d heard of her before all this happened. From what I’ve seen, they look a little distasteful (even rebellious against common sense) to me, and anyway I’m training for a half-marathon later this year so it doesn’t look like the kind of thing I’d go for right now. But I know better than to lecture people on what to eat. If you like her cooking, fine with me. But I am scratching my head at your vigorous defense of this celebrity racist. It’s like she got pulled out of the closet, only it is the racist closet and not the gay closet, and the racist closet just isn’t cool. Yanno? ---
**Author:** ![A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_nice_guy_with_an_opinion)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/187 "2013-07-02T05:08:02Z")
I’m with Robert Byrd on the Paula Deen issue. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/188 "2013-07-02T06:32:26Z")
> [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](#): > > I’m with Robert Byrd on the Paula Deen issue. people: wow, this dumb racist lady is sure racist and dumb. you: ONE TIME THERE WAS A DEMOCRAT WHO WAS RACIST QED YOU ARE ALL HYPOCRITES!!! (OR JIGABOOS!) even for a right-wing talking point, this is god-blowingly inane ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/189 "2013-07-02T07:19:17Z")
What I object to is the implication that my opinion on Paula Deen is formed by a few incidents of racial epithets or jokes in poor taste. What I form my (poor) opinion of her on is her sworn deposition, under oath, where she clearly shows that today, in 2013, she has little to no sense of what is or is not appropriate, where she finds no problem with racist jokes because it is her husband who tells them and not her yet at the same time professes to care deeply about her African-american employees. This is a woman who states in a public interview that she is completely unclear about what is or is not generally considered offensive in today’s society. This is a woman who is either so self-deluded that she claims to be close to people yet has absolutely no idea of what might be offensive to them, or a woman who is so willfully ignorant that it is up to the American public to shame her into getting a clue. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/190 "2013-07-02T07:56:46Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > 1. Earth > 2. English > 3. Realistic > > Because if you don’t believe everyone doesn’t hold some racial prejudices or believe in stereotypes, you are not living in reality. No, you flaming moron, that’s not true at all. A fair number of us managed–through good fortune, good parentage, or simply by not being flaming morons, to grow up not being racist at all. Nice goal shifting, there, too, with the bit about stereotypes. Actually, a fair number of us here on Planet Earth also managed to grow up realizing what stereotypes are and–Surprise! Surprise!–not believing same. > [@](#): > > No ask questions that contribute. Do you think this gives credence to your answer for question 2? ---
**Author:** ![ombre12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d26b3c/32.png) [@ombre12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre12)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/191 "2013-07-02T08:36:06Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Wow, aa, grateful for a coward’s support who can’t articulate a valid reason we should have sympathy for an uppity, rich bigot on a power trip who can disappear from the media and retire mega-wealthy without ever lifting a finger. That poor, misunderstood white victim of her environment. Maybe you should set up a charity fund for poor white southern bigots who don’t know they aren’t superior to black folk. The Pit is the Pit. I enjoy lurking here, but never thought it was a good place for intelligent discussion. (Oops. I seem to be pitting The Pit.) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/192 "2013-07-02T13:31:56Z")
> [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](#): > > I’m with Robert Byrd on the Paula Deen issue. Dead? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/193 "2013-07-02T14:03:27Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > Who here has questioned the morality of owning slaves? I have ancestors that likely owned slaves and I don’t go around apologizing for it. I didn’t do it. I don’t own them now and believe it’s wrong, but times are much different. I wouldn’t expect anybody to apologize to me about how women were treated 100 years ago unless they were trying to treat me like that now. > > Why shouldn’t Deen feel sorry for her grandfather? He went through a stressful, disruptive time in his life. Not just slaves mind you, he lost a child. I expect its the dead son thing that did him in, but folks on here only seem interested in reinforcing their own current opinions of a situation rather than consider other possibilities. Oh shove it up your fried butterball piehole and into Paula Deen’s diabetes destroyed arteries. Times were not that much different a hundred and fifty years ago. There was a strong worldwide abolitionist movement. Many people back then looked at slave owners with just as much horror as we do now. Stop infantilizing amoral thugs who willingly did just about the worst thing you can do to another human being. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/194 "2013-07-02T15:04:18Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > I haven’t but I’ll look out for it. I’m sure in the end she’ll come out fine and just as rich once all this is over. It’s silly that this is making her more famous though. Have you ever had her pumpkin cake role? It was a featured Thanksgiving dessert a few years back. Sweet Jesus… “role”? Really? You can’t spell a simple four letter word? You are either trolling or even stupider than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/195 "2013-07-02T15:40:14Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Stop infantilizing amoral thugs who willingly did just about the worst thing you can do to another human being. My favorite part about a lot of these discussions is how stupid defenders of various major or minor racism end up making the objects of their defense sound. Thus Paula Deen isn’t racist, she’s just incapable of thought or learning! As for me, I’m willing to believe she’s both. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/196 "2013-07-02T17:24:38Z")
> [@Tequila\_Party](#): > > I have only one question left; if Deen had no idea what offended others amd was simply a product of her environment and era, why did she understand enough to keep (_whatever amount of_) racist tendencies she had under wraps while on TV, made public appearances and basically promoted her “brand”? Because, for someone who has admitted the former and confessed to the latter, I find all these things incongruous. You cannot say something racist (in whatever capacity) because you don’t know better, than have the wherewithal to _refrain_ from saying racist things around others in the media, etc. You can’t have it both ways. Why not? I never said she didn’t know what was racist. I believe she probably doesn’t realize certain things are racist, which would explain her comment to Hollis. Note, I’m not saying that she didn’t believe the comment itself wasn’t racist, but likely felt that considering her relationship and level of comfort with Hollis, it would be known that she didn’t mean it to be racist, so much as a joke. I’m pretty sure everybody in the world has certain behaviors they do not make public because it’s not acceptable. The question (again) is not is she racist, it’s if the restaurant she finances uses discriminatory practices and if she know about and did not act. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/197 "2013-07-02T17:28:08Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > The question (again) is not is she racist, it’s if the restaurant she finances uses discriminatory practices and if she know about and did not act. That’s your question. That question is not in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/198 "2013-07-02T17:39:39Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > As for her recipes, again, I don’t think I’d heard of her before all this happened. From what I’ve seen, they look a little distasteful (even rebellious against common sense) to me, and anyway I’m training for a half-marathon later this year so it doesn’t look like the kind of thing I’d go for right now. But I know better than to lecture people on what to eat. If you like her cooking, fine with me. But I am scratching my head at your vigorous defense of this celebrity racist. It’s like she got pulled out of the closet, only it is the racist closet and not the gay closet, and the racist closet just isn’t cool. Yanno? My issue with this story is like any other story similar. The Media has grabbed to 3 or 4 worse comments they could find, reported every where you look, people don’t bother to either 1) know more about the situation before jumping on the band wagon, 2) remember these are allegations made by someone that wants money or 3) remember they aren’t perfect little gems and probably should be so quick to throw stones. If you aren’t familiar with her cooking, it’s very traditional and practical and not the craziest ones that you are likely to see get the most attention. I like referring to her recipes when looking at basic ways to make southern stuff, though to a lesser extent, like I do to Emeril, Julia Child or Ina Garten. However I’m a foodie. I am also a bit of a fit nut myself and didn’t have to have Paula’s diabetes scare to know that I shouldn’t eat her type of cooking every day. And I’m southern, I grew up on a lot of what she is known for. But Thanksgiving dessert, there are no rules.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/199 "2013-07-02T17:50:50Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > What I object to is the implication that my opinion on Paula Deen is formed by a few incidents of racial epithets or jokes in poor taste. What I form my (poor) opinion of her on is her sworn deposition, under oath, where she clearly shows that today, in 2013, she has little to no sense of what is or is not appropriate, where she finds no problem with racist jokes because it is her husband who tells them and not her yet at the same time professes to care deeply about her African-american employees. This is a woman who states in a public interview that she is completely unclear about what is or is not generally considered offensive in today’s society. This is a woman who is either so self-deluded that she claims to be close to people yet has absolutely no idea of what might be offensive to them, or a woman who is so willfully ignorant that it is up to the American public to shame her into getting a clue. Well if that’s what you think and you have read the testimony then we just fundamentally disagree and I opine that you have a stick up your ass. I have often heard of my family/co-workers tell racially offensive jokes, I don’t care that they do and I still like and care for the targeted race. And I feel like that last statement makes you just as bad as you claim Paula is. If Paula is that close to Hollis, I would imagine she has a much better idea of what would be offensive to him than you would, assuming you don’t know him. Now regardless, she should not have said what she did in public. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049/200 "2013-07-02T17:54:46Z")
> [@aag3981](#): > > I have often heard of my family/co-workers tell racially offensive jokes, I don’t care that they do and I still like and care for the targeted race. Shocker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paula-deen/662049.md?page=11)