But Paula Deen in her private life and never on her show gets canned by the Food Network for a racial epithet for which she profusely apologizes! Why the double standard by the mass media? No apologies from Bill Maher who used bigoted language on his HBO show and he stays, Paula Deen apologizes for something no one knew she said and she's fired!
Paula Deen has never ever on her cooking show at the Cooking Network, ever said anything derogatory about anyone. She is a good ole Georgia gal from Albany, (pronounced All-Benny)Georgia but has lived in Savannah for many years.
As one who grew up in the south, I have blushed in shock and discomfort as I heard little old white ladies, prim and proper use the "n" word and very casually. It is shocking but it is used and we all know it down here, blacks and whites alike. Yes, there is prejudice in the south and racist remarks are made, more so in the past than today, but the "n" word is still used and blacks also use it towards each other and I know this first hand and yes when they saw me blushing they laughed (but that is a cultural thing and I'm not justifying whites using the same epithet by pointing this out).
And while the south has a troubling record with racism, prejudice, not to mention slavery, I would posit that relations today between blacks and whites are much better in Georgia than in Chicago, New York and Boston. I could be wrong, but I think this is true.
But I'm not trying to be an apologist for the south in this regard, but to point out the hypocrisy and double standard of our mass media as it concerns prejudicial remarks made by an entertainer in her private life and ones made by an entertainer regularly on his HBO show. Yes, Bill Maher is perhaps the most bigoted anti-Catholic entertainer there is and weekly raunchy words spew from his mouth, especially toward the Catholic Church and her clergy.
The Catholic League has gone after Bill Maher but to no avail:
There is no other entertainer in the nation who has repeatedly spoken about the Catholic Church, especially its priests, in more vile and obscene terms than Bill Maher. Vicious beyond belief, his remarks would be condemned – indeed he would be fired – if directed at any other demographic group. Over and over again he libels [sic] priests, portraying all of them as sexual abusers. And he does so with impunity.
So, why the double standard? What has Paula Deen said on her show that has been offensive to anyone? What has Bill Maher said on his show that has been bigoted anti-Catholic diatribes?
The mass media's hypocrisy is unbelievable!
31 comments:
A racial "epitaph"? Is she speaking about someone who died? Try "epithet."
And "Paula Deen apologizes for something no one knew she said" is not the case. The person suing her knew what she said.... And many others have supported the litigant, describing their personal experiences of Ms. Deen's choice of epithets.
There are two "bigotries" that will not be tolerated in the psuedo-morality of the liberal establishment: Racism and anything anti-gay. Just look at Mel Gibson. There are still actors, producers and directors who refuse to work with him, no matter what he does.
There is surely a double-standard, and we must not be a part of it. Jesus Christ came to bring Mercy to everyone, regardless of their sins. You can recognize the counterfeit morality by its refusal to forgive.
Paula Deen is embarrassing and just listening to her makes me cringe. However, you cannot convince me that the very liberals who will be mocking and denouncing her for the next several weeks are any less bigoted. We ALL need God's mercy. When we deny that, there is no choice left but to scapegoat. Deen is just the latest.
That darn spell check! It is corrected. But the point is that she didn't do it on her show but Bill Maher does, why are you giving him a pass?
The point is, whether it is done on the air on in one's living room, it is wrong.
You say, "No one knew" what she said. Well, all the evidence points to that statement being 100%wrong.
I'm guessing these two offensive persons are famous enough that I should have heard of them, but they're both new to me. At any rate, there certainly is a difference between an offender who repents in public and an offender who never repents, even in private.
I'm afraid there are merciless secular "scribes and Pharisees" today, even of the variety that publicly correct the grammar of others!
Grammar Police R Us
The Syntax Squad, The Apostrophe Annex, the Comma Commission, the Semi Colon SWAT Team, and the Homophone Hunters.
You Have Been Warned
It's the venue. Maher hates in the right place, Deen didn't.
rcg has a good point. Denouncing Catholics on air is very different from denouncing Catholic employees.
I think we need to do a better job being Catholic before getting too defensive. And, the fact is many bishops did give known child molesters authority over children, but those bishops were never punished for their actions. I'm afraid secular society needs to see accountability for bishops before it can treat the Church kindly.
Well, Fr. has not seen fit to publish my posts *sigh* Suffice it to say that I am a Paula Deen advocate. All this stuff is a lot of self-righteous nonsense. Get a life.
Pin/Gene - Maybe you'd be even more of a fan if Ms. Deen used you term - "Feral Minority" - to refer to African-Americans.
Indeed so, Ignotus. If she had used that term, it would have evidenced particularly acute observational skills as well as good common sense and judgement. It is unfortunate that she chose the more colloquial and less acceptable synonym...
But, I remind you again, Ignotus, I did not use the term originally in reference to Blacks. You automatically assumed that the term referred to them...I suppose that puts you right up there with Paula in terms of perception and insight. LOL! Hey, pass the fried chicken...
It is a tired excuse when one side defends their actions through the poor behavior of others. I remember learning as a child that saying "but my sister did it too" was not much of a defense for my bad behavior. Sadly, it seems many did not learn that simple lesson.
Bill Maher's comments are usually in bad taste, and so are the ones Paula Dean is under fire for (who IMHO has always been overrated, as has Maher). There is no use wasting time defending either.
Bill Maher can be quite funny about some things sometimes, and in my book humor can often redeem what would otherwise be unacceptably offensive, especially when the Fool speaks truth to the King/Emperor – pointing out that he has no clothes, for example. =). But there are limits, and Bill Maher often exceeds them. He seems to be a militant atheist on a crusade against religion and, in this particular area, an equal opportunity bigot – check out what he says about Muslims some time. However, I suspect he is quite sincere in his atheism and would love to see someone really “take him on” regarding the fundamentals of faith in a “serious conversation.”
I have seen this happen with another public atheist,Christopher Hitchins, who sadly is now deceased. I always had respect, and some affection, for Hitchins, even though I disagreed with him on this point as well as several others. And I would like to believe that when the Truth was finally revealed to him in a way he could not deny that he repented and has been forgiven, especially as I have seen him say that he would like to be able to believe but just could not.
In the Bulletin yesterday Father McDonald wondered how many people actually oppose God with full consent of the will as opposed to having Satan rob them of their free will or use a mental illness to exacerbate their sins to the detriment of others. It seems like a good question, and I wonder where Bill Maher fits in to that.
As for Paula Deen, I have never heard of her before.
But the point is Paula das not done it on her show unlike Bill maher and Paula as begged for forgiveness acknowledging her wrong doing which Bill Maher has not and will not do.
Evil and stupidity are often indistinguishable to the victim. I would cynically ask why Ms. Deen didn't find some way to build an inclusive environment when she accumulated the power and authority to do so. I am against reparations, but am completely in favor of building up underutilized resources.
As far a Maher goes: if we had to face Satan on equal footing, if he had freedom to prey on us, we would all be in Hell long ago. It is only through our freedom of will that Satan acts through us. It is the same will that needs to confess and open out hearts to our Savior. I can pray for Maher's soul, and I sincerely do, but not because he is overcome by Satan, but because he let Satan in.
Pin/Gene - You did use the term originally as a reference to African-Americans.
You said, "Oh, God. Don't tell me Ignotus is anti-gun. LOL!! It figures. That is so pitiful...I guess he really believes all those feral minorities he loves so much are gonna' give up their guns jus' 'cause we ax 'em nice. LOL!
April 30, 2012 at 4:38 PM
When you said "...jus' 'cause we ax 'em nice." were you attempting to mimic a Lithuanian jargon or dialect? An Asian jargon or dialect? No, you were very clear from the start that your target was African-Americans.
When challenged on your use of the term "feral minority" you said,
"I have already answered your question, Ignotus. Here it is again, a high percentage of Blacks (I do not know any African Americans) behave like beasts of the field. They may be seen on the news every night and in newspaper headlines every day committing various felonies, murdering people, rioting, organizing flash mobs, and various other anti-social feral behaviors. If this is how the liberal media (who love minorities) report them, then how much worse might it really be. Yep, feral minorities. That pretty much captures it for me. Now, see...wasn't that easy.
March 3, 2013 at 8:53 PM
You said "a high percentage of Blacks..."
Yes, your use of the term referred to Blacks. And it still does.
That was not my first use of the term, Ignotus. That was a later response to you on another subject, that of gun control. Get it right.
Father, I think the different treatment of Deen and Maher has more to do with economics and ratings than anti-Catholicism. Deen's ratings were slipping and the Food Network has many sponsors who would pull their ads before getting caught in this controversy. So an apology wouldn't save her and gave the network a convenient excuse to cut ties.
Meanwhile, HBO is a subscription service (ie no ads) that many Catholic pay for (knowingly or unknowingly) despite his comments. I would bet a silver dollar that if Catholics canceled their HBO subscriptions in droves and send the message that it was because of Maher he would get pulled. After all all these media giants care about is $$.
Anon 1
Pin/Gene - So tell us then, to which minority were you referring originally when you called the minority a "feral minority"?
Ignotus, I did not specify one. I simply used the term "feral minorities." You provided the referent.
There are a couple of dangerous feral minorities in this country...Muslims are one and a high percentage of blacks comprise the other. The evidence for this is in the news media every day and, since the media just love minorities generally, if the media report them as feral minorities to this degree, then how much worse must they really be?
You can save yourself the trouble of cataloguing my previous posts (although I am flattered). I have never denied anything I have said and would say it again..unlike a certain apostate priest on this blog...LOL!
Pin/Gen - But you used the term "feral minority" in reference to one, not many. And you used it in referring to African-Americans.
You provided the referent by mimicking African-American jargon.
No, you can't deny what you have said, but you sure are trying to white-wash it now.
I am not white washing anything. You chose the wrong quote, dummy. That was not my first use of the term. You can't even glean the archives properly. Besides, I have already told you I consider the general run of blacks in this country to be a feral minority, along with Muslims. You continue to appear less intelligent than one might presume for a Priest...or anyone else, for that matter.
Pin/Gene - What, then, was your first use of "feral minority" and to which minority were you referring at that first use?
It would be helpful if you could give the precise date/time for the usage.
Just a thought:
"When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things."
Who hasn't said or done something the regret? And she has evidently sincerely apologized. So what's to see here?
Ignotus, You are the one with the neurotic need to search the archives for my posts. I do not have time for such foolishness. I know very well what I said initially. The issue is not to whom I was refering (I have already told you it was blacks). The issue and the irony is that, in my initial post, there was no expressed referent and you provided it, assuming it referred to blacks which, if you still do not get it,indicates that you and Paula Deen have much in common. I'll bet her biscuits are better than your's, though.
Pin/Gene - No, you denied that your original reference was to Blacks. Then, when I posted irrefutable evidence that your denial was demonstrably false, you started to hem and haw, claiming you had not intended it to mean Blacks. Now, you come full circle to, "I have already told you it was blacks."
Racism is ugly, from Deen, from Maher, and from Pin/Gene.
Ignotus, LISTEN CAREFULLY...you quoted the wrong post. My original post simply used the term "feral minorities" with no particular referent. Go find that post. You have not provided "irrefutable evidence" for anything other than your own obsessional neurosis and your inability to parse the blog archives.
I never hem and haw...if Fr. would have posted all my opinions of you, then you would understand that even more clearly...
Pin/Gene - You referred to a "feral minority." Your intention was clear from that moment, and has been made clearer by your subsequent posts, that when you said "feral minority" you meant African-Americans.
If you want to provide evidence from the blog that that is not what you meant, cite your first use of "feral minority." It's that simple.
I am late to the party on this one.
I confess: I watched Paula Deen’s original show on the Food Network. It was a sweet and nice escape from the world when it first aired (around 2001, September 11?). This was before all the shtick (and the overly Southern Fried accent). And, don’t tell anyone, I drove to Savannah one Saturday just to eat at the Lady and Son’s (and again to meet her at some event – where I received a kiss on the cheek). I liked her a lot (and secretly still do).
However, she became just another media personality hocking a brand. She sells things on television (hams, pots and pans, and furniture) using her Southern-fried shtick. All of that can be taken away because the brand is damaged. Mahr is not selling Virginia hams, drapes, coffee tables, etc. to a section of the population where it is profitable to be “pure” and “down-home” without all the other Southern baggage. Remember, Martha Stewart is back on PBS. There is hope for good ole Pauler.
And, if I remember correctly, Bill Mahr had his own on ABC (?) show removed because of his comments about the a certain president (or something related to him – I can’t remember). He is on HBO. If it offends – cancel it.
As for all the other digressions relating to “feral minorities” wouldn’t it be better just to say the “N word” and stop all the tap dancing (I couldn’t resist). The word itself, Feral, works in the line racism given the context of the discussion and American Southern history relating to images of black men and women (whether that be the black-beast rapist image of Southern Secessionist and Revisionist literature to the Gold Dust Twins selling washing powder to Scarlet’s Mammie).
But image this: what if Mel Gibson wrote and directed some kind of “crap-ola” (Archie Bunker’s best line) like Tyler Perry? Can you imagine the horror and rejection of it when it is called out for what it is? But this only shows how deep racism is imbedded in American culture and how deeply complicated (and regional) it is.
And, yes, every once in a blue moon I say the “N-word” too. It is bad to say? Yes. I, like Paula, am imperfect. But I do not have all those people to please to keep buying my wares.
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