Friday, June 28, 2013

There's a Lesson to be Learned Here....


There is a lesson to be learned from the current Paula Deen debacle, but I.m not sure I like it.  The lesson seems to be it's quite important to lie under oath.

Bill Clinton already proved that lesson to be true. He lied under oath.  That's what his Impeachment was all about.  But Clinton's defenders said his lies were A-OK because they were about sex and everybody lies about sex.  Today Bill Clinton is our most beloved President.

But Paula Deen took a different approach.  When asked if she ever used the infamous "N-Word" she admitted she had in a private conversation with her husband, 27 years ago.

Curiously she has been attacked as violently and as aggressively as if she used it on Twitter last night in the midst of a racist diatribe.  Oh, no wait, that was Alec Baldwin and it was homophobic, not racist.  And Baldwin, a New Yorker, won't be fired.  But I digress.

Deen was fired.  And worse.  She lost her Food Network Television Show and her products, books and foods have been effectively banned from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, the QVC Channel and Sears/K-Mart.

And, in the final straw today, Deen's publisher cancelled her upcoming #1 Bestselling book.  Pre-sales on Amazon were skyrocketing.

The real question is "Why?"

No one I've read or seen quoted believes Deen is a racist today. Deen was a vocal and financial supporter of President Barack Obama in both of the last two elections.

But she is "Southern" and that is an unforgivable sin among the media elite.

I'm not a Deen fan and I've never seen her television show or read her cookbooks.  It's reported she has made millions from her books, endorsements and appearances and is in no financial trouble.  I'll lose no sleep over this tonight.

But why are major corporations attacking her financially so aggressively?  What's happening to Deen seems to make no sense.  It feels like group think.

On the flip side of the coin I note with great interest that she has a huge following on Facebook and Twitter.  The comments I read are 99 to 1 in favor of Deen.  Even those who are Deen agnostics like me feel the punishment here does not fit the crime.

Group think.  The CEO of Sears must have said, "Did you see Walmart dropped Deen, we better do it too."  And so on down the line.

I personally guarantee that every single CEO, every single Board Member and most of the Senior Management of every single company dropping Deen used the "N-Word" 27 years ago. I guarantee they did.  But if deposed they will learn from the Deen experience.  They will lie.

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Another excellent post on this subject can be found over at FREEDOM EDEN: Alec Baldwin Get a Pass, Paula Deen Gets Punished

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess Chevy Chase is next

This is theater of the absurd. Between the Zimmerman threats to kill white people. To the explanations that "cracker" is not a racist term. To GLAAD embracing Mr. Baldwin.

Welcome to the new normal. I am more and more convinced that Americans are the stupidest people on this mudball.

Bob Keller said...

As a long time Gay Rights advocate I find the GLAAD gloss over of Baldwin's homophobic remarks unforgivable.

If you lack any principles (and GLAAD clearly lacks the very principles for which it claims to stand) then you are nothing more than another political shill.

One real hero emerges in all this and that's former President Jimmy Carter. He will be the feature in my next two blog entries.