Paul Deen Use of the the "N" word

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White mom here. Well, I'm shocked she would have such poor judgment. We NEVER use the "N" word - ever - nor have our kids. Nor our parents. Period. It's hate language.

Yeah, I'm with you.

I'm sorry that the poster above isn't shocked -- I wish this behavior was SO uncommon that hearing about it was like seeing a unicorn in the wild. That said, I think this info is "news" to people like me -- white, middle-class mom who has never once used that word and is still stunned to hear it.

I am the OP who is not surprised...
Not to be funny -- but you are a white middle class woman...not surprised that you ARE surprised
I have been black all my life..yea
NOT SURPRISED

I'm not quite sure what PP's comment means except to perhaps say that her life experiences are different than my belief system and values. But for what it's worth I'm upper class white, very well-educated and I have not a bigoted bone in my body and find this kind of language reprehensible and I'm surprised that Paula Deen would use such language. But then I was shocked by Michael Richard's comments. And Alice Walker's in her new book. And Mel Gibson's. I guess there are a--holes everywhere but the "N word" is simply not used by my family, my friends, my children, the schools I have been affiliated with or anyone else in my life and I would turn on the person and confront them if I heard it used by anyone.

You know what is irritating about these types of reactions and comments.
As an AA I have to deal with, steal myself against, recognize the existence of this mess all the time.
1 incident pops up in the media and folks, like yourself, probably well-meaning and sincere, act so surprised, outraged and up and arms..."well, i never," (clutching your pearls)...
when you know what...get a grip cause i have to deal with this s*** EVERY.SINGLE.STINKING.DAY.

OK look. The alternative is that we look away and tell you it's not our problem, because really, it isn't our problem. If you get called names every single day, that sucks for you. No one calls me anything.

But you know how that changes? When people like me (when I'm done clutching my pearls) go home and see this on the news with our kids and we say, "It's a horrible word with horrible connotations and I'll beat you senseless if I ever hear you use it."

Wow -- if you think the options you presented are the only ones available...then you are worse off than I originally thought...
This -- This right here is golden... a white lady getting indignant about a black person's being over your "surprise and shock' over some stuff they deal with on a regular basis.
Try this...try realizing that this kind of stuff happens all of the time...Just try being aware...
shock and awe is indicative of nothing...except you being shocked and awed and doing absolutely nothing till this happens again...

People ARE doing something. People are expressing outrage. Why are you pissed about that???

Personally -- not peeved about people expressing outrage, distaste, upset...whatever you want to call it...
What I find distasteful is people expressing so-called outrage then in the next breath saying no one I know would ever say that or think that...I didn't know people still actually used that word...
That's like someone reading about a horrible child abuse case and saying...I didn't know kids were still abused...I didn't know that still happend...while clutching pearls......gack!

Come on now..that's not even living in the real world...
And really...I find it somehwhat disingenuous...but hey that is just me ....

I'm white and I'm not surprised, but here's my take on why some white posters are shocked: The world has become incredibly self-segregated ideologically, economically, educationally. I think many white people never do hear other white people use the N word. I never hear it around my friends, colleagues, social gatherings. Ever. I have heard it, though, when I visited extended family, especially my parents' siblings. My parents would never use that language and so actually now most of their siblings refrain from using it around them. (My mother, in particular, has become quite confrontational with people who spout that crap and thankfully they've all taken her off their email lists. No more birther stories in her inbox!) I think racist people are very astute at reading the tolerance level of the people around them. Most are not too stupid to know that what they are saying is shameful and won't risk it unless around a known like-minded crowd.

Still, I do think it's regretfully naive to think it doesn't happen all the time, but I guess we all find ways to live in a world that's uglier than we like to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So..outraged white folks: What are you going to do in response to this Paula Deen scandal? Are you still going to criticize "black names" in your baby name threads? Still talk about "stores for poors"? Let your kids go to schools with a 75%+ population of black students?

What say you DCUM crowd? How will you stand up and change the racist views of America? Because, IMO, calling someone a nigger and demeaning them in other prejudice/stereotypical ways are the same.

Word. Cognitive dissonance is astounding. Saying the N word is outrageous, but the latent racism that really affects every day life is A -Ok. Uh huh. Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So..outraged white folks: What are you going to do in response to this Paula Deen scandal? Are you still going to criticize "black names" in your baby name threads? Still talk about "stores for poors"? Let your kids go to schools with a 75%+ population of black students?

What say you DCUM crowd? How will you stand up and change the racist views of America? Because, IMO, calling someone a nigger and demeaning them in other prejudice/stereotypical ways are the same.

Word. Cognitive dissonance is astounding. Saying the N word is outrageous, but the latent racism that really affects every day life is A -Ok. Uh huh. Sure.

Alright...speak on it

[Anonymous]

Remind me why this is a big deal??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, it happens. You an entire race of people do this every day, all of them? Oooookay. Sure.

who said they do anything everyday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So..outraged white folks: What are you going to do in response to this Paula Deen scandal? Are you still going to criticize "black names" in your baby name threads? Still talk about "stores for poors"? Let your kids go to schools with a 75%+ population of black students?

What say you DCUM crowd? How will you stand up and change the racist views of America? Because, IMO, calling someone a nigger and demeaning them in other prejudice/stereotypical ways are the same.

Word. Cognitive dissonance is astounding. Saying the N word is outrageous, but the latent racism that really affects every day life is A -Ok. Uh huh. Sure.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

I just told my husband about this, and he said she should choke on a "paound of mai-yon-naise."

[Anonymous]

Cognitive Dissonance
love it

[Anonymous]

why is paula deen any worse than all those DCUM folk wirried about FARMS kids and low income housing and renters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

Because it was "normal" behaviour it is acceptable to use it?
This is how ignorance and racism are perpetuated...
Awww..it's ok...she grew up hearing the denigration and degredation of people...so if she uses the word...it was just the "normal" thing for her...
By the way I don't necessarily think any "less" of her...but I do think differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

Because it was "normal" behaviour it is acceptable to use it?
This is how ignorance and racism are perpetuated...
Awww..it's ok...she grew up hearing the denigration and degredation of people...so if she uses the word...it was just the "normal" thing for her...
By the way I don't necessarily think any "less" of her...but I do think differently.

I'm the OP of the first comment and I did not say it was still acceptable. In fact, Paula doesn't even say that- she says she doesn't use the word anymore because things have changed. I only said of course she has used the word before due to the time and place she grew up in. Same with my family members who use it. I'm not excusing it, but these are largely uneducated farm workers from the rural south- it's how they grew up, it's what they know. I'm not lecturing them on their language. Whether Paula still does use this word or not, I do not know, and I also don't know if this former employee is actually owed any money for "pain and suffering" from allegedly hearing the word used. I do know IF Paula or Bubba said it, it wasn't the first time a woman who lives in Georgia has heard that word used. Frankly, she just sounds like a litigious person to me. "I'm a white woman who heard other white people say the n-word, give me some money." Please. No wonder black people are rolling their eyes at all of this. It's a white woman playing the victim card on behalf of black people who actually HAVE been victimized in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

Because it was "normal" behaviour it is acceptable to use it?
This is how ignorance and racism are perpetuated...
Awww..it's ok...she grew up hearing the denigration and degredation of people...so if she uses the word...it was just the "normal" thing for her...
By the way I don't necessarily think any "less" of her...but I do think differently.

I'm the OP of the first comment and I did not say it was still acceptable. In fact, Paula doesn't even say that- she says she doesn't use the word anymore because things have changed. I only said of course she has used the word before due to the time and place she grew up in. Same with my family members who use it. I'm not excusing it, but these are largely uneducated farm workers from the rural south- it's how they grew up, it's what they know. I'm not lecturing them on their language. Whether Paula still does use this word or not, I do not know, and I also don't know if this former employee is actually owed any money for "pain and suffering" from allegedly hearing the word used. I do know IF Paula or Bubba said it, it wasn't the first time a woman who lives in Georgia has heard that word used. Frankly, she just sounds like a litigious person to me. "I'm a white woman who heard other white people say the n-word, give me some money." Please. No wonder black people are rolling their eyes at all of this. It's a white woman playing the victim card on behalf of black people who actually HAVE been victimized in the past.

You have got to be joking....
The woman is suing for racial and sexual discrimination in the work place...that is not just because she heard the word Nigger.
Is that what you got from reading about the lawsuit?
And if that word was used in the workplace...it CANNOT BE TOLERATED...no more than kike, fag, or any other epithet that is demeaning and degrading...
and if u use those words are used on a regular basis...i would bet there is other demeaning, degrading, and discriminatory behaviour that goes along with it...
All told -- it creates A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT...which is grounds for a discrimination lawsuit.
And most importantly...since when is the woman suing white?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

Because it was "normal" behaviour it is acceptable to use it?
This is how ignorance and racism are perpetuated...
Awww..it's ok...she grew up hearing the denigration and degredation of people...so if she uses the word...it was just the "normal" thing for her...
By the way I don't necessarily think any "less" of her...but I do think differently.

I'm the OP of the first comment and I did not say it was still acceptable. In fact, Paula doesn't even say that- she says she doesn't use the word anymore because things have changed. I only said of course she has used the word before due to the time and place she grew up in. Same with my family members who use it. I'm not excusing it, but these are largely uneducated farm workers from the rural south- it's how they grew up, it's what they know. I'm not lecturing them on their language. Whether Paula still does use this word or not, I do not know, and I also don't know if this former employee is actually owed any money for "pain and suffering" from allegedly hearing the word used. I do know IF Paula or Bubba said it, it wasn't the first time a woman who lives in Georgia has heard that word used. Frankly, she just sounds like a litigious person to me. "I'm a white woman who heard other white people say the n-word, give me some money." Please. No wonder black people are rolling their eyes at all of this. It's a white woman playing the victim card on behalf of black people who actually HAVE been victimized in the past.

You have got to be joking....
The woman is suing for racial and sexual discrimination in the work place...that is not just because she heard the word Nigger.
Is that what you got from reading about the lawsuit?
And if that word was used in the workplace...it CANNOT BE TOLERATED...no more than kike, fag, or any other epithet that is demeaning and degrading...
and if u use those words are used on a regular basis...i would bet there is other demeaning, degrading, and discriminatory behaviour that goes along with it...
All told -- it creates A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT...which is grounds for a discrimination lawsuit.
And most importantly...since when is the woman suing white?

I presume she's been white since birth. This article clearly states she is white: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/03/07/paula-deen-denies-claims-by-employee-who-says-was-sexually-harassed/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this would surprise me. Of course she and her brother used the n-word; they grew up in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. My family is from Georgia and older uncles and such still use those terms on occasion. I don't condone it, but for people who grew up in the rural South in that time period, it was totally, totally normal. So no, if the Deen family used that word, I would not be the least bit surprised. The real question is does this woman suing them deserve to be compensated for hearing the Hierses/Deens use the n-word on occasion.

This, and for this reason and as someone raised in the south in the 60's who heard the word a lot, I don't think any less of Paula.

Because it was "normal" behaviour it is acceptable to use it?
This is how ignorance and racism are perpetuated...
Awww..it's ok...she grew up hearing the denigration and degredation of people...so if she uses the word...it was just the "normal" thing for her...
By the way I don't necessarily think any "less" of her...but I do think differently.

I'm the OP of the first comment and I did not say it was still acceptable. In fact, Paula doesn't even say that- she says she doesn't use the word anymore because things have changed. I only said of course she has used the word before due to the time and place she grew up in. Same with my family members who use it. I'm not excusing it, but these are largely uneducated farm workers from the rural south- it's how they grew up, it's what they know. I'm not lecturing them on their language. Whether Paula still does use this word or not, I do not know, and I also don't know if this former employee is actually owed any money for "pain and suffering" from allegedly hearing the word used. I do know IF Paula or Bubba said it, it wasn't the first time a woman who lives in Georgia has heard that word used. Frankly, she just sounds like a litigious person to me. "I'm a white woman who heard other white people say the n-word, give me some money." Please. No wonder black people are rolling their eyes at all of this. It's a white woman playing the victim card on behalf of black people who actually HAVE been victimized in the past.

You have got to be joking....
The woman is suing for racial and sexual discrimination in the work place...that is not just because she heard the word Nigger.
Is that what you got from reading about the lawsuit?
And if that word was used in the workplace...it CANNOT BE TOLERATED...no more than kike, fag, or any other epithet that is demeaning and degrading...
and if u use those words are used on a regular basis...i would bet there is other demeaning, degrading, and discriminatory behaviour that goes along with it...
All told -- it creates A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT...which is grounds for a discrimination lawsuit.
And most importantly...since when is the woman suing white?

I presume she's been white since birth. This article clearly states she is white: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/03/07/paula-deen-denies-claims-by-employee-who-says-was-sexually-harassed/

Ok-- never saw that reference in any other article...
As far as the proverbial eye-rolling -- in the context of the conversation on this board...eyes have been rolled at people's so-called "shock" that paula would use the word or that anyone would...not at the woman who sued