Paula Deen

[Expat]

Fifth, what are we trying to prove? White women should be allowed to be crude and offensive and their contractual partners have to put up with it? There's a cause to be proud of.

I just think that most people find it unfair to metaphorically tar and feather her for what she says was a one time use 20-30 years ago.

It is also pretty demeaning the crawling on her belly that she feels she has to publicly do to earn forgiveness.

 

[TEK]

First of all it's a contract non-renewal, not a termination or a firing. Is there even a property interest in a contract non-renewal when there was no obligation to renew it in the first place?

Sure thats a good point

Third, her contract was not renewed because with this controversy, they do not want to be associated with her, not because she is white.

that is your opinion or their press release but I have stated a claim she could make that it was.

Fourth, lawsuits are not very successful when they are based upon hypothetical .... Is there any evidence that it actually did treat someone more preferentially based upon race? Hypotheticals do not cut it.

HA! Lawsuits in civil rights cases are based plenty much on precisely such hypothetical comparisons and that is what you probe during discovery. She could depose whateve the decision maker was who cancelled her contract, maybe, and ask that exec if he or she had ever used the word honky, cracker, redneck, white trash, to describe white southernors, etc. You get the idea. in fact isnt that precisely how this came out in the first place?

Fifth, what are we trying to prove? White women should be allowed to be crude and offensive and their contractual partners have to put up with it? There's a cause to be proud of

We arent trying to do anything. I was just saying if she wanted to hit back out of left field, instead of all the craven apologies, she could just file a civil rights lawsuit of her own. I know it sounds crazy but what the hell, we are yakking on a forum, why not toss a crazy idea out there.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

Fifth, what are we trying to prove? White women should be allowed to be crude and offensive and their contractual partners have to put up with it? There's a cause to be proud of.

I'm sure that somewhere back in my history, I've passed on a joke that I shouldn't have. I've said something off color. I'll wager if we searched INGO enough, HoughMade we could find evidence against ANY of us that post frequently here. That evidence would suggest that we said something controversial or crazy.

Once again I'm reminded of the old Hill Street Blues episode where Belker cuts right to the heart of the matter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8EXTzNMOzg

Could you yourself pass the same test?

Granted contractual partners can specify "anything that would damage our brand will be grounds for cancellation". And this is an open invitation for the kind of extortion that is quite probably going on here. Paula Deen arguably would have been better off to pay the extortion that this former employee wanted rather than lose the farm. To the extent that that is true, it's unfortunate. To the extent that she honestly is a racist, she got what she deserved. I'm in no position to judge how much is one, and how much is the other.

 

[HoughMade]

I've said rude, crude and offensive things, I'll admit it. My point is simply that there are consequences to what we all do and the defense of "but other people do it" isn't a defense at all.

 

[TEK]

I've said rude, crude and offensive things, I'll admit it. My point is simply that there are consequences to what we all do and the defense of "but other people do it" isn't a defense at all.

Differential levels of group power is the basis for penalizing white people who say the naughty N word, and group power is the basis for black people not getting penalized for it. "We all" is meaningless when you are talking groups. the individual who cant say a word because she is white, is a member of a group that on that axis, at least-- on that dimension alone, the group with less latitude, is a less powerful group than the group which can say that word X.

perhaps there are a thousand other ways that the groups differ in power in the other direction. inequalities of wealth, income, and education are obvious. Now, look beyond those two groups, and consider that more powerful yet, is the group which can define what words those other two groups can say and when. if there is such a group. have to think about that for a little bit. who defines the limits of acceptable debate and the lexicon of what is socially offensive and what is not? who shaped civil rights law into what it is today? who decided that some words could no longer get you arrested, say, back in the days of comedian Lenny Bruce? is there any such group that has the power to craft linuistic rules that are basically accepted by hundreds of millions of Americans? just asking a question. food for thought.

behind the American lingo of individual rights, stands the reality of group power, which for all the utopian talk about "rights" and "freedom," the realities of group power and competition continue to exist. people who blind themselves to group existence and group competition for resources, self-disarm intellectually.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

I've said rude, crude and offensive things, I'll admit it. My point is simply that there are consequences to what we all do and the defense of "but other people do it" isn't a defense at all.

And if your business was in the public eye (maybe partner in a law firm?) and it would "look bad"... and I was a pissed off ex-employee with a nasty lawyer on my side... I could likely extort money from you.

Not saying that I WOULD. Just that it happens all of the time.

Consider all of the low-merit cases that insurance companies settle for $5000 because it will cost them more to litigate than to pay. Is this not similar?

And does it not suck when people do that?

Now, in fairness to you - I'm not saying that that's what's happening here - Paula could be a closet racist. But the other side in the case looks kind of likely too....

And since we'll never get to the bottom of it, we'll never know the truth. And real justice will never be served (one way or the other).

 

[indiucky]

I used that "Word" and cracker and honky earlier today. I should be ostracized

"Cuz them words just feel me with pride"

Take it Mofro.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEeOHe0bmw

 

[Survivalcookie]

I hate seeing her apologize...she should have some principles. I have said the word many times...I have lived in the south. That is just the way it was.

 

[miguel]

Ummm...the free market is being her judge. It's just being harsher than some people like.

Be careful with letting the free market decide what is "right".

Orders for Paula Deen cookbook surge | WTKR.com

 

[hornadylnl]

That word is not even in my lexicon and isn't something that would ever slip off of my tongue. There's nothing higgh road about it and I don't let the lowest common denominator determine how I treat others.

There's almost NOTHING you can say to me that would offend me. Yet I've read about "fighting words" here quite a bit. Such as someone calling a guy's wife a name.

For the "it's just a word" crowd, the flag is just a piece of cloth right?

 

[88GT]

One can be sued without commiting a crime

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

The only way discrimination is successfully punished in the courts is by virtue of the fact that it has been criminalized. The only exception would be contractual disputes where one party promises not to discriminate and does so. I should be free to exclude anybody for any reason in my rentals without fear of reprisal. (For the dense, I wouldn't; but I should be free to.)

 

[Meezer]

For the "it's just a word" crowd, the flag is just a piece of cloth right?

Yes, absolutely. Unless of course it's made out of different materials such as plastic. Then of course there are US Flag paper napkins, tablecloths, towels, door mats, etc.,......

 

[hornadylnl]

Yes, absolutely. Unless of course it's made out of different materials such as plastic. Then of course there are US Flag paper napkins, tablecloths, towels, door mats, etc.,......

Just don't use a real flag to cover a car seat or you'll be writing a 1000 word paper.

I wonde what Paula would do if one of her employees called her the c word. Just a word, right?

 

[DragonGunner]

Well all I can say is if a black guy robbed me I would probably refer after the fact that he was "N" too, just out of anger. So color me a racist too. I had a pastor for 9 yrs that was black....I heard people make "N" comments about him that just enraged me...when we talked about it he would just crack up, never bothered him at all. He told storys how he encountered people afraid of blacks or ones that hated them....and I know him so well that that he would use the "N" word if in the same situation.

 

[Jerchap2]

She is just another "shiny object" to distract us. A Minnesota state Congressman said something just today that was much more offensive, calling US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas "Uncle Thomas." Where is the media outrage against this? None to be seen, because it does not fit their narrative.

"Democratic state Rep. Ryan Winkler of Minnesota has (kind of) apologized after referring to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “Uncle Thomas” on Twitter in a fit of pique over the court’s decision to strike down part of the Voting Rights Act."

Minn. State Rep. Calls Supreme Court Justice ‘Uncle Thomas’ — Then Claims He Didn’t Know It Was a Racist Term | TheBlaze.com

Sickening that the media now has an extreme agenda and targets those they want to destroy instead of doing what used to be called "investigative reporting," trying to expose corruption and lies. 8P

 

[Meezer]

She is just another "shiny object" to distract us.

She's also a big time Obama supporter.

 

[Kutnupe14]

its unfair to white people as a group is the bottom line of all these private incidents where white people suffer penalties nobody else would for the same conduct. that in itself is precisely -- racial discrimination. against white people as a group. and against paula deen as a white person, individually.

on the plus side, for readers who are white people, silver lining may be, that this kind of aggressive attack on a white public figure, helps build group self-identification, which is a necessary prerequisite for group self protection

If a person like Paula Deen wanted to get aggressive, then maybe she could sue the Food network under that theory for racial discrimination in a contractual setting, which is called a section 1981 action. crayzy, maybe, but if she is going to be losing tens of millions anyway and everyone calls her a racist, whats to lose by fighting back?

I had to scroll to the top to make sure this was still INGO, and not Stormfront.

 

[Hookeye]

I think the media is just using her as an appetizer, that Zimmerman will be their main course........served as the race bait special at Cafe de Liberal.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I think the media is just using her as an appetizer, that Zimmerman will be their main course........served as the race bait special at Cafe de Liberal.

Idiots always garner national attention.

 

[j706]

I really tire of the ultra sensitivities of some people. A word is just that...a word. If one is so sensitive of a single word that they get all bent over it then that person has some major problems. Espicially so when the supposed offended person uses the same word as a matter of routine. I say get over it whiney a---. Get a life. Double standards anyone? I get called names almost nightly. Heck it makes me laugh most of the time.