Thursday, June 27, 2013

THE DEAN OF THE SOUTH

Let me state at the start that I do not condone Paula Dean's alleged use of "the N word." I do not condone it's use because it is impolite in civil conversation, not because it has any intrinsic evil about it.

As we all know, I guess, the "N" in "the N word" stands for Nigger, an offensive term when used by anyone except a black person about another black person.

If I had ever used the term when I was growing up, my parents (who were both racists in their own way) would have whipped me to within an inch of my life. That's a literary way of saying "spanked." They never beat me. They did spank me...three times that I remember.

Although they were racists, they were also people who believed strongly in civility. There were certain words and phrases that were indicative of ignorance, vulgarity (in the "common" sense of the word), impoliteness, and low class. "Nigger" was one of those words.

Unfortunately, the language has "evolved" to the point that words that used to be "forbidden" are now considered acceptable "Jesus Christ almighty!" as a phrase for swearing is one example. "God damn," or "goddamn," or however you choose to say it is another.

Vulgarities revolving around the product of bodily functions, the reference to private body parts, the wishing of rape upon another and calling another's mother a female dog are others.

In the name of "free speech," these words and phrases have become acceptable and woe be to the one who tries to keep someone from using them.

"Nigger," on the other hand, is not afforded the same free speech rights as other words. It is offensive, and offensiveness is forbidden.Unless, of course, the offensiveness you are trying to forbid happens to be associated with Christianity. Then it is OK to offend.

So, it is OK to offend some groups, but not others. Hmmm.

Is there no one in the liberal community who can see the inconsistency of that thought process? How dense can you get?

It would really be a good thing if society would just learn to be polite. That's all. Just be polite.

Name me ten things that are wrong with being polite. Go on...I'm waiting.

Shame on Paula Dean for seeming to be racist. Shame!

While the Food Network has the absolute right to hire and fire whomever it pleases, shame on them for making Paula Dean the focus of an unnecessary controversy. A good warning and/or lecture in being polite would have been more than adequate.

I, for one, will never watch the Food Network again. Neither will I knowingly frequent a restaurant whose chef is featured on their network. To the best of my ability, I will never purchase a product that advertises on the Food Network (Given my propensity for eating, that might be a hard one).

I'm sure the executives of the Food Network will cry all the way to the bank over my one person boycott. But that is the consequence they must suffer for offending my sense of justice so badly.

Meanwhile, I hope Paula Dean will begin a regimen that will result in her learning to be polite in all circumstances. But then I wish the rest of the world would, too...including both liberals and conservatives.

In the words of a self-described victim of society, "Can't we all just learn to get along?"

Probably not.

9 comments:

sue hanes said...


Joe - I am offended when I hear people use the 'N' word. And I am especially offended when in movies I hear them say 'J.C.' or 'G.D.'
That's just the way I am. Since I use subtitles it is doubly offensive when I have to hear it and read it at the same time. The people who say 'J.C.' don't seem to be bothered by it at all.

But I am.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Everywhere I read about the incident, the claim is that Paula Dean used this word 2-3 decades ago. So why is it being just now brought up and held against her? How many people would be comfortable for being held to task for something they said 20-30 years ago?

Joe said...

sh: I agree

GEC: When it comes to political correctness, it does not matter. It is a progressive, insidious and dangerous ideology.

Dave Miller said...

I think the issue might be how she handled the event. When it became obvious she had used the words she did, she did not say they were wrong, she defended the use of them.

When asked about racially tinged jokes about Jews, she would not say the jokes were wrong, which seemed to defend herself.

She might have survived this if she had fallen on her sword and said what she said was 100% wrong, but she didn't.

Now the greater issue of course is what about Bill Maher and others on the left who do receive the same level of scrutiny.

It's a fair question.

Ducky's here said...

So what concerns you about her language is not what beliefs it might reveal but this neurotic idea of gentility.

Not your best moment, Joe.

Joe said...

Ducky: "So what concerns you about her language is not what beliefs it might reveal but this neurotic idea of gentility. Not your best moment, Joe."

Not yours, either. Bad conclusion to draw from my remarks. Makes you look stupid, which I'm sure you didn't mean to.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ducky, is Cracker, or Whitie OK?

Ducky's here said...

Well, this is America,Joe, where we worry more about a racist bimbo on the Food Network than we do about the racists on the Supreme Court.

Lone Ranger said...

The hypocrisy is sickening. This has nothing to do with racism. Paula Deen has had a target on her back ever since it was discovered that she is a type 2 diabetic. WHAT? She's a diabetic and she makes all those unhealthy dishes? GET HER! Liberals have their nose up everyone's butt. And if you don't behave the way they want you to behave, they will try to destroy you.

But, let's suspend belief and say it is about racism. Senator Byrd used that word much more recently than 30 years ago. He suffered NO punishment. The democrats, in my lifetime, were the party of segregation. So, let's dismantle the democrat party. Let's hold them to the standards of today, not the standards of decades ago. That's justice, isn't it? Another little factoid. When Byrd died, it was the first time since after the Civil War that the democrat party was totally free of former KKK members holding public office. As I said, sickening. Democrats have NO moral authority to make judgements of other people for ANYTHING.