Paula Deen admits to using N-word, telling racist jokes in deposition, report says.

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ErnieMcCracken said:
I'd be more surprised if you could find an old Southern white woman who hasn't used the N-word (repeatedly). Times have changed but a lot of the South hasn't caught up (and/or refuses to).
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I've never heard my mom say it, so there's one. Also, how old? She was in middle school during desegregation.
 
Isn't Paula Deen filthy rich regardless of her business ventures?

Edit: Not to sound cynical, but I have to wonder if all these companies that are canceling their contracts with her are doing it out of principle or just because they've done some research and seen they would lose money from potential boycotts.
 
Bombadil said:
Isn't Paula Deen filthy rich regardless of her business ventures?

Edit: Not to sound cynical, but I have to wonder if all these companies that are canceling their contracts with her are doing it out of principle or just because they've done some research and seen they would lose money from potential boycotts.
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Oh its not out of principle. Its strictly business.

And yes, she is filthy rich.

There's also quite a vocal number of people out there defending her. I assume the like minded. Her cook book sales have skyrocketed this week. She can continue to sell cook books to these people the rest of her life and she will still be swimming in money.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Cookbooks-Food-Wine/zgbs/books/6/ref=zg_bs_nav_b_1_b

She's got the number 1,4, and 14 best selling cookbooks this week in Amazons top 20
 
bill0527 said:
Oh its not out of principle. Its strictly business.

And yes, she is filthy rich.

There's also quite a vocal number of people out there defending her. I assume the like minded. Her cook book sales have skyrocketed this week. She can continue to sell cook books to these people the rest of her life and she will still be swimming in money.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Cookbooks-Food-Wine/zgbs/books/6/ref=zg_bs_nav_b_1_b

She's got the number 1,4, and 14 best selling cookbooks this week in Amazons top 20
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I'm glad she's losing her shit, but I feel like this whole incident is being used as a tool to bolster the public image for all those companies.

They publicly announce that they're severing ties with her, not just to avoid boycotts, but sort of as a way of boosting sales, because we know that there are some people who will shop more at those stories based on this news.
 
Bombadil said:
I'm glad she's losing her shit, but I feel like this whole incident is being used as a tool to bolster the public image for all those companies.

They publicly announce that they're severing ties with her, not just to avoid boycotts, but sort of as a way of boosting sales, because we know that there are some people who will shop more at those stories based on this news.
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So what would you have them do? Seems like you'd be unhappy with whatever these companies did.
 
Bombadil said:
I'm glad she's losing her shit, but I feel like this whole incident is being used as a tool to bolster the public image for all those companies.

They publicly announce that they're severing ties with her, not just to avoid boycotts, but sort of as a way of boosting sales, because we know that there are some people who will shop more at those stories based on this news.
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Exactly, we all underestimate how badly Walmart needs this publicity.
 
That Times interview...wat. Repeatedly referring to the slaves as "workers", "he's as black as that board" "we can't see you against that board". Wat. "Welcome to the South". Wat.
 
ErnieMcCracken said:
I'd be more surprised if you could find an old Southern white woman who hasn't used the N-word (repeatedly). Times have changed but a lot of the South hasn't caught up (and/or refuses to).
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My mother, for one, has never used that word in my presence. And I'm in my mid-40s.

So, here's to generalizations.
 
This is just so heartbreaking to watch. Paula was a joy to watch (seriously, a breath of fresh air compared to those other TV personalities) and her recipes are always a favorite when I prepare them for the family.

Paula, what they hell were you thinking? I'll miss you. :(
 
D-Pad said:
This is just so heartbreaking to watch. Paula was a joy to watch (seriously, a breath of fresh air compared to those other TV personalities) and her recipes are always a favorite when I prepare them for the family.

Paula, what they hell were you thinking? I'll miss you. :(
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A part of me feels that way. But another part of me thinks: "What the fuck were you thinking! You seriously thought it was okay to say the shit you've been saying. You were in a position to make and sustain an empire for your family! But now that's all crumbling to ash because you've had NO sensibilities about what's appropriate and what's not."

I sorta feel bad that she's losing everything she's absolutely worked hard for. But on the other, more dominant hand:

1. It *has* to be done. Racism isn't illegal. Nor should it be. But w/ capitalism people are going to vote with their wallets and her sponsors dropping her simply reflects modern values. We can't tolerate that shit. And if she has to be "destroyed" to send a strong message to others that we simply will NOT tolerate that type of bigotry...then so be it.

2. Her ignorance is no excuse. I don't care how old she is or the time she grew up in where Blacks had a certain status which was lower compared to Whites. She's living in 2013 and should damned well know that in this modern age that people are not going to tolerate that shit.

In the end this isn't 1956 where my mother had to "know her place" when a police officer ran his hand up her ass. This is 2013 and people are tired as fuck about this racist shit. Evolve or die. I think that applies to capitalistic enterprise.
 
LiK said:
Walmart pulled out. That's a big one.
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I'm both surprised and impressed by this move. If anyone could sell a ton of merchandise endorsed by a heavyset Southern racist, it's Walmart. Could they actually be doing this out of... principle?
 
Link said:
I'm both surprised and impressed by this move. If anyone could sell a ton of merchandise endorsed by a heavyset Southern racist, it's Walmart. Could they actually be doing this out of... principle?
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"Walmart stands with racist chef" is probably not a headline they want to risk. They probably looked at what she was bringing them and decided it wasn't worth it.
 
My parents are boycotting Food Network because of this. May be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. We got in a fight over it during dinner.
 
Forever said:
"Walmart stands with racist chef" is probably not a headline they want to risk. They probably looked at what she was bringing them and decided it wasn't worth it.
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Perhaps, but it's not like Walmart has a great reputation to begin with, and this is right in their target base's wheelhouse. I think if any company could come out ahead in this type of situation, it's Walmart.

Plus it's not like they'd have to draw attention to themselves. Just issue some "No comments," and quietly let people keep buying her line as a show of support.

(I may be putting too much thought into this.)
 
Link said:
Perhaps, but it's not like Walmart has a great reputation to begin with, and this is right in their target base's wheelhouse. I think if any company could come out ahead in this type of situation, it's Walmart.

Plus it's not like they'd have to draw attention to themselves. Just issue some "No comments," and quietly let people keep buying her line as a show of support.

(I may be putting too much thought into this.)
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Black people shop at Walmart too.
 
Link said:
I'm both surprised and impressed by this move. If anyone could sell a ton of merchandise endorsed by a heavyset Southern racist, it's Walmart. Could they actually be doing this out of... principle?
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i'm not. all her sponsors/partners should ditch her.
 
Home Depot dropped her too.

the picture they used with the article was lol

70SWJvv.jpg
 
RPGCrazied said:
Its starting. Its crumbling all around her now. I bet in the end all she keeps is her restaurant, Lady and Sons.
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My sister went to school in Savannah and my parents have an apartment they rent out there. I asked if he knew anything about reaction, and he said he'd heard the line to get into the restaurant was shorter.

spookyfish said:
My mother, for one, has never used that word in my presence. And I'm in my mid-40s.

So, here's to generalizations.
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Some years after my grandfather died, my grandmother let slip that he was an inveterate racist. I had no clue; never said an unkind word about anybody* to me. My mother-in-law also revealed a nostalgia for being in the John Birch Society and being glad when MLK was killed.

*One time he woke up when the Golden Girls was on, took one look at the tv and sneered, "Goddamn whores!" and then fell back asleep.
 
vas_a_morir said:
Anybody from the South know? Is John Wilkes Booth considered a martyr/hero by some in the South? He was in Columbia (Bioshock), at least.
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No, not really, but people's perceptions of Lincoln depend on where you live. I grew up in Maryland that, while it was part of the Union and wasn't a state in rebellion during the Civil War, still held slavery as legal until the passage of the 13th Ammendment, which coincendentally meant that it was exempt at the time from the emancipation proclomation during the war. And while it was part of the Union, certain parts of the state as you got closer to the Mason-Dixon line hated Lincoln during the war.

The sense I get is that, in simplistic terms and depending on whether you live in the north or the south, you are taught as a child in the north that the war was the war to end slavery and Lincoln was the great emancipator while in the south they tend to categorize it as the war over "states' rights" and Lincoln is often portryaed as the "tyrant" or "villian" who destroyed the southern economy and way of life (which often ignores the fact that the south was also defending fucking slavery).

I now live in West Virginia, the "free state," (which coincidentally also wasn't covered by the emanciapation proclomation) but you'd be surprised how much bitterness there is towards Lincoln even today and the amount of sympathy for the Confederates.

For starters, I live not far from Harpers Ferry, which of course was the site of John Brown's raid. (If you don't know, Brown was captured by soldiers under the command of Robert E. Lee) The war hadn't started yet, so Lee, of course, was still part of the U.S. military at the time. Brown was later tried and executed in Charles Town. The portrait of the guy that was the special prosecutor who tried Brown still hangs in Charles Town's courthouse. Obviously Brown's raid and his trial were important historical events, so you'd think that is the reason it's hanging there. The actual reason that the attorney's portrait hangs in the courthouse is that he unsucessfully sued to try to get the county and the two border counties back into the state of Virginia after the war. The locals I guess hated the idea of being part of the free state, so that's why they loved him so much. That and the guy got Brown executed.

It's not all bad. Storer College was the first African-American college here in West Virginia and Harpers Ferry was the site of the Niagra Movement (the first civil rights movement and the forerunner of the NAACP). We can also claim J.R. Clifford, who is a famous African-American lawyer.

It's kind of hard to explain if you don't live in this area. The war was up close, personal and ugly for people around here. I look at Lincoln as a hero and probably the best president we ever had, but there are people around these parts that still cling to the "states' rights" thing and are bitter that shit got wrecked back during the war.

Harpers Ferry was kind of like Afghanistan or Iraq back then. The control of the town changed sides no less than eight times during the war. Then there was the whole Shenandoah Valley campaign that completely decimated the area.

I don't feel bad or anything because fuck slavery with the fire of a thousand suns, but stuff like that is the reason that you'll see people putting confederate flags on tombstones on Memorial Day in these parts and why one of the most celebrated figures in the city I live in now was a traitor Confederate spy whose mansion is a protected historical site.

Sorry for the long diatribe.
 
Slayven said:
And older intervew with Paula, was racist of shit back then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-l9qhmHYXM
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I don't know how her family works, but we generally don't beat and enslave our family members and rape them when the wife isn't giving up the goods and force them to work for 10+hrs a day without pay, and then give them lashes and beatings and throw them into sweatboxes when they "misbehave" (read: get caught reading, taking a break, talking back).
 
GillianSeed79 said:
No, not really, but people's perceptions of Lincoln depend on where you live. I grew up in Maryland that, while it was part of the Union and wasn't a state in rebellion during the Civil War, still held slavery as legal until the passage of the 13th Ammendment, which coincendentally meant that it was exempt at the time from the emancipation proclomation during the war. And while it was part of the Union, certain parts of the state as you got closer to the Mason-Dixon line hated Lincoln during the war.

The sense I get is that, in simplistic terms and depending on whether you live in the north or the south, you are taught as a child in the north that the war was the war to end slavery and Lincoln was the great emancipator while in the south they tend to categorize it as the war over "states' rights" and Lincoln is often portryaed as the "tyrant" or "villian" who destroyed the southern economy and way of life (which often ignores the fact that the south was also defending fucking slavery).

I now live in West Virginia, the "free state," (which coincidentally also wasn't covered by the emanciapation proclomation) but you'd be surprised how much bitterness there is towards Lincoln even today and the amount of sympathy for the Confederates.

For starters, I live not far from Harpers Ferry, which of course was the site of John Brown's raid. (If you don't know, Brown was captured by soldiers under the command of Robert E. Lee) The war hadn't started yet, so Lee, of course, was still part of the U.S. military at the time. Brown was later tried and executed in Charles Town. The portrait of the guy that was the special prosecutor who tried Brown still hangs in Charles Town's courthouse. Obviously Brown's raid and his trial were important historical events, so you'd think that is the reason it's hanging there. The actual reason that the attorney's portrait hangs in the courthouse is that he unsucessfully sued to try to get the county and the two border counties back into the state of Virginia after the war. The locals I guess hated the idea of being part of the free state, so that's why they loved him so much. That and the guy got Brown executed.

It's not all bad. Storer College was the first African-American college here in West Virginia and Harpers Ferry was the site of the Niagra Movement (the first civil rights movement and the forerunner of the NAACP). We can also claim J.R. Clifford, who is a famous African-American lawyer.

It's kind of hard to explain if you don't live in this area. The war was up close, personal and ugly for people around here. I look at Lincoln as a hero and probably the best president we ever had, but there are people around these parts that still cling to the "states' rights" thing and are bitter that shit got wrecked back during the war.

Harpers Ferry was kind of like Afghanistan or Iraq back then. The control of the town changed sides no less than eight times during the war. Then there was the whole Shenandoah Valley campaign that completely decimated the area.

I don't feel bad or anything because fuck slavery with the fire of a thousand suns, but stuff like that is the reason that you'll see people putting confederate flags on tombstones on Memorial Day in these parts and why one of the most celebrated figures in the city I live in now was a traitor Confederate spy whose mansion is a protected historical site.

Sorry for the long diatribe.
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Well, I live in California, and from a young age me and my fellow classmates were told that as we got older, we would learn more about the important figures of our past and understand that life was more complex than what could be taught in class. I was only 12 when my history teacher said that Lincoln's motives for freeing the slaves were not purely moralistic, and that Columbus wasn't really some jolly good fellow who discovered America.
 
cartoon_soldier said:
Known? Found on reddit...lol

WmUyU57.jpg
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Wonder Woman cookie jar!

vehn said:
How come Tarantino can write a movie with the word and be applauded, but when she does she gets fired? Seems backward
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Not sure if this is a serious question...

speedline said:
I don't know why-- it just seems that white people take the brunt of the responsibility to somehow resolve the race issues. We don't have an answer, can't change the past, can not justify what was done- not trying to. I think most of white people have taken the time for reflection, Paula Dean being the fringe of what is left of a dying breed. It is going to take some thing extremely hard to do imo, forgiveness. Can the black community ever forgive the whiite community for what transpired? I don't know, but what I do believe is that this concerted effort that is placed on the the white population to "fix thier problem" is not going to do anything other than split sides and create a backlash. I don't have the answers but each side needs to be able to meet in the middle and understand one another.

On the topic of Paula Dean-- a Plantation themed wedding with "slaves" serving the guests has to be one of the most outrageously racists ideas I have ever heard of. It's rediculous and she deserves to lose her show- I would not have her repreesnt my network either. GJ Food Network.
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It's more like the majority and by extension group with the most power have to take the blunt of responsibility to end racism. Since you know said group is the one currently practicing it still.
 
Despite this disgusting me, I do feel bad for her. She probably doesn't even realize what she said or did would be considered racist until someone pointed it out to her.

I dunno. This is rough stuff.
 
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