Ruminating On: Condoning Racism with Paula Deen

I’m back. Buckle up, folks.

I was going to let this one go by the wayside, simply turn my head and walk away, but I can’t do it. Nope. Nuh uh. The most recent offense I’ve come across regarding Paula Deen and her epic douchebaggery is a simple hastag: #teampaula. On Facebook, I posted a status update, which read, “#teampaula … You have to be kidding me? More like #teamcondoningracism .“ That’s what this is. You damaged sycophants understand that, right? Who am I kidding? Of course you don’t. So let me have a word with you. No, keep reading. When I’m done here, I want you in the comments section, defending yourself. I promise to allow all posts.

Let me first provide a rebuttal for your predictable defense of this twit. Paula Deen admitted to everything. She even apologized. So, please, don’t give me “This is just the word of a disgruntled employee.” If they are “disgruntled,” they have a damn good reason to be. Imagine working for Deen and her brother, Bubba; the sexual harassment, being called their “little monkey”, hearing a slew of other racist and anti-semantic jokes, just to name a few. Wouldn’t you be a little perturbed?

I’m not blowing anything out of proportion here. This is a big deal, kids. Anyone who can use the N word so flippantly does not deserve the public spotlight. Her age shouldn’t be used as a shield, either. There are many persons over sixty who would never think to utter the word, not even in private company. And if you’re sitting at home, shrugging, thinking, “We’ve all said it,” you’re part of the problem. What Paula Deen did was inexcusable in this day and age. Just because she’s ten years and two Twinkies shy of a nursing home doesn’t mean she gets to say whatever the hell she wants without repercussions. She screwed the pooch. Let her take her lashings. She was allowed her freedom of speech, but that doesn’t protect her from the backlash.

The lines we draw between us have a great deal to do with what’s wrong with the world. I’m not the first person to say we’re all the same, but I will repeat it until my dying day. We are no different. It’s a goddamn shame that the only time we come together in this country is when someone decides to explode a bomb during a marathon or fly planes into our buildings. Every other day, we’re at each other’s throats, trying to make it obvious that we’re so damn different. How? How are we different? Skin color doesn’t matter. Religion really doesn’t fucking matter. And politics is nothing but a fallacy measuring contest with the prize going to the best liar.

I’m fed up with people condoning racism. It is what it is. It’s the tolerance of intolerance. You’re not better than someone just because you were born paler, or richer, or straight. You’re nothing but a walking, talking sack of flesh, blood, and bones, just like me. For her to say, “It’s just something people my age were raised saying,” is a travesty. My message to her is this: Do not lump yourself in with the likes of my mother, who is your age. Mom is sixty-six. I’ve never heard the word slip from her mouth, not even to describe someone else saying it. Not all southerners are inherently racist. People like you are the reason people mock those that live south of the Mason/Dixon line. You’re high class trash, the equivalent of taking a shit in a bucket of Kaluga River Caviar.

Paula Deen does need not a team, nor does she deserve support. She deserves to go away.