Just an observation about Paula Deen and her offensive comments. I’m struck by the fact that although she admits to everything that she’s done, admits to using offensive language, and even got on national TV and apologized, actually begged for forgiveness, that most with whom she’s involved in business, the “Food Channel”, etc, are now bent on destroying her career, and making that happen as we speak. She made mistakes, grave mistakes. To some, these mistakes would be unpardonable. And in this reporter’s humble opinion, they’d be more than entitled to that opinion. But Ms. Deen has acknowledged those mistakes, asked for forgiveness, and has actually at one point in her apology, said something to the effect; “I need to learn more about others, and what offends them”. Doesn’t matter though, her career is now in a nose dive, assisted by anyone and everyone who she “worked with or for”. My personal opinion is, that very much like most of us, she made comments, said things, suggested things, acted in certain ways, that in all probability, she didn’t even realize that her words and deeds were hurtful, and offensive to people of color. Until I enlisted in the Marine Corps, and served with folks from all over this great nation of ours; with folks of every racial, ethnic, political, and social group and strata, and I mean from KKK members, Street Gang members, to folks that were taking time off from college to find themselves. I never knew about the things that we, as white folks, say and do, that we think nothing of, and would never think that they were racist, offensive, exclusionary, etc., yet in reality, they are. Before being shown the error of our ways, we’ve all said things like (and these are paraphrased); “I’m not a racist, I have three black friends, one of whom is among my best friends”. In the words of comedian D.L. Hughley; “If you’re counting, you’re being racist”. Or I think we’ve all heard at one time or another, maybe even said; “I don’t see what the big deal is, slavery was century or two ago, what are those folks still in an uproar about, my ancestors never owned slaves”. Or; “Why are the Hispanics up in arms, we as a country have given them a chance to come here, make a living, maybe even get a green card and become citizens. And now, what is our thanks, they are pouring across our borders, illegal as hell, and don’t seem to get it that we are a sovereign nation”. Before I continue, I’m not just talking about the US in the following comments; I’m talking about every group of people that’s ever inhabited the planet. I think this is an attitude that’s largely human nature. But, I’ve always been amazed at how the racial, ethnic or geopolitical group that oppresses another, is entirely ready to forgive and forget, and of course the ones that have been oppressed, exploited, etc, it takes time to heal the wounds, time to heal the divisions, etc. Take a look at after action Germany-Jewish People. South Africans-the Apartheid Govnt, the Tutsi’s and Hutu’s in Rwanda, etc. But in the mean time, insult is added to injury, when the “oppressing” group, doesn’t acknowledge their part in the wrong doing. Now those folks that would say that they weren’t there, they had no part in it, are absolutely correct. But to take the attitude, that because that’s the case, then let’s just forgive and forget about me and all of the wrongs that were done in the past, and if you aren’t going to let me off the hook, well you’re just a trouble maker, a malcontent, that just won’t let go of the past. And of course, the list of well intentioned remarks, comments, and statements, that in reality are offensive, goes on and on, but I think you get the idea. So if you look at this whole incident, and others like it. There is a person who’s committed a wrong doing. They admit to it all, apologize and actually humble themselves as best they can, before the nation, on camera. And basically, we’re kicking the dirt in her face as we drag her away to obscurity, and ruin. And what does that teach anyone and everyone who sees it. Wull, you have to lie, because if you don’t, you’re just going to be ruined anyway. We use that as a parenting technique in this country, don’t we? We tell our kids not to lie, not to be deceptive, and if you do, just come forward, admit it, and we’ll deal with it then. And then most kids, are either punished severely, or treated in such a way (the shaming of a “liar”, etc), that they learn that; “Hell, I might as well lie, I came clean the last time, and I was made to feel less than human, a sinner, and made miserable for weeks!!!” In the Marine Corps, I was a member of a Reconnaissance Scout Team. Our job was to observe, and report back about anything that we were tasked with as an operation or mission. Now the Corps has a unique way of dealing with liars. And keep in mind, we have to trust that our mate, in whatever capacity, is going to accurately, and without fail, tell the rest of us the truth, about whatever the issue, because if he doesn’t, then Sh%t will happen, people will be injured and/or killed. Yes, that would be both in training, and when you find yourself in “the hard place”. So what we used to do, is once someone has been identified as one who will, let’s say; “embellish somewhat”, well then everyone else in the team, platoon, whatever the unit size, just starts double checking on anything and everything that the guy says from then on. When we caught the lie, we would, and in private, confront him with the bad news that we knew he’d lied about something, and naturally, he’d be so embarrassed by it, usually it would end right then and there. There was a rare case that I saw, that the guy continued to lie, to the point of his behavior becoming almost pathological. Well the Officers and Sgts didn’t punish him, didn’t make him pull extra duty cleaning the bathrooms or anything of the sort. We would just keep catching him over and over again, until it just became futile for him to continue to try. And eventually, it stopped. So back to Ms. Deen, she didn’t lie, she comes clean with all of this situation’s warts intact. And true to our good old “American Way of Doing Things”, we are getting ready to ruin her, or try really hard to do so if after all’s said and done, we just can’t. But let’s look at another little incident where someone “embellished a bit”. And that would be Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman, and his testimony during the OJ Simpson trial. When asked by OJ’s defense team, if he (Fuhrman) had ever used the “N” word, if he’d ever been verbally or physically abusive towards people of color, and several other “point blank” questions about his views on racial and ethnic relations within the LAPD. He lied, under oath I might add, and says something to the effect of; “No, of course not”. Defense attorney F Lee Bailey then double checks with Fuhrman, asking him one more time, and allowing him an “out”; “Then you’re telling this court, that you’ve never used the “N” word, never used a racial slur, etc, etc”. Detective Fuhrman again denies it all. So if you weren’t aware of all of that stuff during that trial, I’ll let you look up the details, but needless to say, the defense, in their efforts to destroy the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, specifically the investigators on the case, literally lines up a whole bunch of people who proceed to offer up testimony counter to Fuhrman’s claim, they even produce a taped interview with Fuhrman, and records his use of offensive, racist language, etc., and makes a complete ass of the man. They proved him to be without a doubt, an out and out liar, and destroyed Fuhrman’s credibility for purposes of the trial, and really, from that point on in his law enforcement career. So in closing let’s look at things in contrast to one another. Shortly after the completion of the OJ trial, Fuhrman retired, and moved to Sand Point Idaho. Wrote a book about the OJ trial, highly critical of the LAPD??? Initially, the District Attorney refused to bring perjury charges against Fuhrman, explaining that Fuhrman’s lies weren’t of material impact to the OJ case. This, even though Fuhrman had repeatedly invoked his fifth amendment right to remain silent so as not to incriminate himself, when asked questions regarding falsified police reports, inconsistent verbal instructions to perpetrators, etc, and of course his use of racist language, etc. Finally, another DA did file perjury charges against Fuhrman, and he (Fuhrman), initially plead no contest, and accepted plea deal that included three years probation and a very nominal fine. He went on to write a book about the Michael Skakel (Sp?) case, where years ago, I think in the 70s, Skakel murdered Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Conn. And essentially, Fuhrman has kind of comfortably retired, sort of dissolving into the “woodwork” of obscurity. Now Ms. Deen is slowly but surely having everything taken from her, her career, her outlet for her cooking shows, etc. She’s being sued in Civil Court about the racist/discriminatory practices in one of her restaurants, and is looking squarely in the face of professional career, and personal financial, ruin. Anyone knowledgeable about such things legal, knows that this lawsuit, and all of the media attention, both negative and any that’s positive, are career busters. So, in a condensed form, what do we see….A Police Detective, sworn to uphold the law, to protect and serve, who is proven to be a liar, and perjurer of the worst kind, a falsifier of reports used to prosecute people, to ruin their good names, etc. He denies his every involvement in the use of racial epithets, and discriminatory attitudes at all levels of his police work. And where is he now? And, we have Paula Deen, who admits to everything, has begged for forgiveness, says she’s still got a whole lot to learn about her fellow man. And where is she now? Doesn’t matter what color you are, what group you fancy yourself to belong to, what religion that soothes your soul, if both of these folks had wronged you in any way, ask yourself, who is it of the two that you’d be more likely to forgive.?
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 16:44:41 +0000
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