IMSUNSHINE

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Watch Out.....sticky topic!! (Not for the sensitive hearts)

Monday, July 08, 2013

Hello All

I wanted to see others opinions about the Paula Deen situation.

My Opinion:

I have never been a big Paula Deen fan but I did enjoy her shows because she is country and most of her food is southern cuisine. I was born and raised in Alabama.

When the news broke, I really did not feel a certain way about the situation. I was actually not surprised at all. I was disappointed in Paula, but nothing was shocking. I try not to hold celebrities at higher standards than common folk. We are all just people.

I agree with the companies who have dropped her products because you do not want to send out the message you agree with those actions. With that being said, everyone has flaws so who are we to judge. Sticky topic huh?!

Feel freely to write freely...................
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Member Comments About This Blog Post
  • BAMAJAM
    Paula -- is no poor woman. She is a woman who grew an empire of wealth on her skill and her personality.
    Frankly, as an Alabama resident, her trademark "southern" talkin'--- was/is ---- waay too much!! The emphasis on that southern drawl-- makes me cringe-- but this was Paula's celebrity persona-- for marketing her "style".....
    She has tons of money --- and will never need to cook another turnip green for a paycheck. Bless her heart, she gets no batch of sympathy from me.

    I do believe in forgiveness... but the sponsors have the right to cancel her if she cannot be the best image for their products.


    1804 days ago
  • MSMAKEOVER
    emoticon emoticon
    1805 days ago
  • DARLENEK04
    I am sorry that she is the scapegoat for everything, I don't think it is fair
    to condem her for saying the n word 30 years ago, til she got out in the
    world and learned better. I think it is sad to hear anyone, black, white,
    yellow, red or whatever run down someone else, regardless.
    I feel it is a double standard, though, to condem her for what others do
    as well. Alec Baldwin mouthed off about homosexuals, and not one word
    was said about that in the news, but the media is crucifying her.
    Someone once said, "love one another, as I have loved you"....that is what
    I live by...but I am not going to judge her or anyone else because the same
    person "said judge not, lest you be judged."

    Just my opinion.
    DarleneK
    1806 days ago
  • BLKLILY
    I can't handle watching her for an entire show because of her accent and I lived, went to high school in Alabama. Went to college in Louisiana and lived in Georgia too! She just never was my type of hype and her food was just making me fat after looking at her make it. I couldn't handle her licking her fingers emoticon either

    Anyway, the situation was blown way out of proportion! Her father owned slaves and she grew up saying that word. It was as natural to her as saying, "Ya'll come back nah!"

    The word is still being used with many non-black people today. Why she was singled out is not about Blacks; it is bigger than us! I hate she just had to be the scapegoat...so much more issues in the world right now going on besides Paula saying the n word
    1806 days ago
  • NAPPIGURL
    I never really followed her either. I bought my mom the Paula Dean cooking set a few Christmases ago simply because they were (and still are) great pots. I've also tried a few of her recipes (I've modified her peanut butter cake and make it once a year for my bf's birthday).
    I was not surprised by her comments either, but I was surprised that she was ignorant to the impact of her thoughts, words, and actions (at least, this is what I perceived). I don't think that she did/said these things out of malice, but I truly believe that she didn't think she was doing anything wrong and that is an even bigger problem! Of course this does not excuse her behavior, but what does it say about her circle of friends and family who never corrected her or spoke up about her actions/words. Do they also believe it to be acceptable or are they aware that it is not socially acceptable, but still hold the same racist viewpoints?
    All in all I believe that the companies did what they had a right to do, discontinue dealings with someone whose apparent values/ethics no longer aligned with the image they wanted to project. I feel sorry for all involved.
    1806 days ago
  • NANCYPAT1
    First of all, I am not a big follower of celebrities in general. I kinda like her. She seems so real and comfortable.

    Having said that, I find it hard to believe that ANYONE says something ONE TIME MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO and then ALSO says, "of course" when asked if she ever used the term before. Of course implies a habit or something that comes naturally and makes the entire thing look like lying and deceit.

    I would also suggest that almost anyone - of her age, background, who grew up in the part of the country where she lived, and lived through a time of segregation and discrimination that was so common in that era and area - is lying to say they "ONLY SAID IT ONCE some 30 years ago". I am NOT judging her actions - that was the culture she grew up in and was a part of - but I can also understand why in the year 2013 advertisers and sponsors might not want her as the "image" their companies present to the world.

    That word and that culture are not as dead as many would have us believe. As recently as 1994, when my sister and I were moving to Florida, we drove across the country. When we arrived in Georgia, we got there around the same time as a flood had been through the area. We stopped at a motel to get a room for the night and when we walked in the door, the clerk was telling someone on the phone that there were no rooms available. When we started to leave, the woman called us back, and explained that there was a room for US but not the person on the phone who was just a local N whose home was flooded and they did not allow people "like that" to stay at their motel - this was a MAJOR chain and not just a "mom and pop" operation. We left and searched for another place to stay. Like Paula Dean saying "of course" she had used that word, the matter of fact way the clerk told us that, suggests that the attitude was both common and totally acceptable in the area.

    Holding people accountable for their actions and words makes sense BUT . . . holding them hostage to the words of their childhood and youth is something different altogether.

    In this case, for me, it is not so much the words themselves, but a combination of things including the lack of sincerity I felt during her apology. I imagine that her words said or unsaid will not affect the taste of her foods.

    I don't hate her, I already felt that her food while obviously delicious, was unhealthy and not for me. In fact, I suspect that may also have played into some of the parting of ways by the advertisers. The reality is that it may have been the excuse that some of them were looking for to change the public perception of their companies as pushers of "UNHEALTHY, CHOLESTEROL RAISING, HEART ATTACK CAUSING and DIABETES CAUSING" foods. Just my thoughts, the world and markets are changing from when a lot of those companies signed on with her, and the scandal may just have suited them at THIS time as an escape from expensive ties that they may no longer want.

    Sorry I am rambling and sorting through my thoughts on this tempest in a teapot. My final word is that the public is fickle and hypocritical about issues like that and I have to wonder how many would like to have PUBLIC scrutiny and PUBLIC humiliation over every words they have spoken, or deed they have done over their entire lives. NOT ME THANKS VERY MUCH - it may be ONE of many reasons why I have no desire for fame, fortune, or celebrity status.
    1806 days ago
  • MAPLECANDY3
    I agree that everyone has flaws, but racism can hardly be considered a flaw. It is plain ignorange, simple as that.

    I feel sad for people who think she simple "slipped up" um no, if you say racist comments in your head but not aloud you are still a racist, you are just hiding it because you know its wrong and don't want people to find out. If she wasn't racist she wouldn't have to worry about "slipping up."

    SheLion - most of us DONT have these thoughts in our head. Im sad that you do, it says a lot about you.
    1806 days ago
  • RUKIDDINGME123
    I use to be a fan way back when she first started and it seemed to me fame changed her a lot over the years and so I stopped watching long ago.

    I don't know a lot of the details about what and when she said these things but regardless its unacceptable and I agree with the companies she endorses pulling out.
    1806 days ago
  • SISTERBERTRILLE
    I am of two minds.

    Partly I realize that we pay for our 'crimes' in life - life seems to have a built in pay back system. So part of me feels she is just getting her just desserts and should not be moaning and crying all over the tv.

    Yet ..........................

    I have a second mind that those are things I have done and said in my life, quite a number of which I am not proud of, and I would hate to be totally discounted as a human over things that I did as a younger person or out of extreme anger.

    I will allow those who matter ( her sponsors, publishers, friends and public draw their own conclusions and it seems many have spoken already.

    Some of the things I have said in my past have permanently altered how some view me and no matter what I do now, they will maintain their low opinion of me, so I guess bottom line, is I am not really in a position to trash her now, having walked in her shoes, though in my own case things done and said were not racially based.
    1806 days ago
  • QUEEN_CEE

    I don't feel any particular way about her, either. She slipped -- unfortunately for her -- in front of the public forum for which she has to pay a penance. Most of us have these kinds of thoughts in our heads, but Deen had the added pressure to keep in under wraps.

    And, naturally, she cannot call brown folks that. Just the facts, poor woman.
    1806 days ago
  • CIRANDELLA
    I'm grateful she's paying for her ugliness via being dropped by so many major companies. On too MANY occasions, she said or did racist things. Sorry... I'm not too forgiving for that.
    1806 days ago

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