<p>My grandfather used N toes once in front of me when he referred to brazil nuts. I almost went into shock. I had no idea what he meant and could not believe that the term even existed.</p>
<p>Not to excuse it but my grandparents generation used terms of all kinds that are unacceptable. You should have heard my Northern Irish grandmother refer to Catholics.</p>
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LOL 
Okay, razor. Is it because I’m a middle class white kid with two working parents, a brother, and a golden retriever. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The controversy isn’t just Paula Deen using the N word, but that the work place was toxic for anyone except a heterosexual white male. Just reading the transcript, without the N work, paints a pretty clear picture that she condones the way the restaurant was run and felt racial jokes and pornography in the work place was appropriate.</p>
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<p>Same here. When I first heard of Paula Deen I thumbed through one of her butter and sugar drenched cookbooks and looked at her rather porky appearance and wondered why in the world anyone would want to copy her cooking. A lot of her dishes are a heart attack on a plate (or more specifically to her own case, Type 2 diabetes).</p>
<p>But does her cooking or nutritional habits have anything to do with these allegations???</p>
<p>I’m with GT - the use of the “N” word pales against the other contents of the transcript.</p>
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<p>The essence of equality is one rule for everyone regardless of race. If African Americans expect one rule to apply to them (can use N word) and another rule apply to whites (can’t use N word) they are treating people differently solely because of their race. That’s better known as racism. </p>
<p>BTW, are you suggesting its ok for a white person to refer to an African American by the N word as long as the white person does not mean the word to be offensive?</p>
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That definitely was not suggested. You missed a key phrase: each other.</p>
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This reminds me of one of Childish Gambino’s songs. razor, you should know this song because you know more about rap music than I do. :)</p>
<p>If I’m a fa**ot spell it right, I got way more than two g’s</p>
<p>This song addresses some of the topics we’re talking about right now actually…
Can we hear the n-word one day and not get upset?</p>
<p>This song is also a perfect example of why razor doesn’t like rap music:
And I’m cu**ing on her face, have I gone too far?
I don’t know, who cares, I don’t love that broad</p>
<p>Richard Pryor used the n word profusely, tried to defuse it by “owning” it. Then he went to Africa, loved all the people he saw and never used the n word again. It’s been decades since then and I wish more people had gotten the message.</p>
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<p>Never liked Paula Deen and found her restaurant generally unappealing. But her cousin’s cakes are tasty! <a href=“http://www.seniorlvgmag.com/gabriel.html[/url]”>http://www.seniorlvgmag.com/gabriel.html</a></p>
<p>I am not a fan of Paula Dean, but’s not clear to me what exactly she is supposed to have done.</p>
<p>It sounds like she says that yes, in her lifetime she has uttered the N word, but she has thought it was wrong for a long time and wouldn’t do so now. Is someone saying that she used it comparatively recently, at work?</p>
<p>She also seemed to be saying that a restaurant she went to had a particularly well-turned-out, gentlemanly and gracious waitstaff, and that she would have liked to hire them en masse to serve at a party she was having because it would help set a nice tone, but she was afraid that people would think she was trying to evoke the time of slavery since they were all black men. Like Lake Washington, I’d like to hear a lot more about this before concluding that she was attempting to play plantation complete with slaves.</p>
<p>Regarding her brother viewing porn, she doesn’t seem to approve of it as much as accept it as something men do. She says that he shouldn’t open an explicit image at work when it could be seen by anyone who might be offended. She also seems to accept that ethnic–and by extension, racial–humor is common. I think that she’s probably right on both counts, unfortunately. It would be more admirable to put her foot down and tell her brother to cut it out, but sounds like he’s the miscreant, not her.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m being unduly naive.</p>
<p>I think that transcript as a whole just showed an appalling lack of sensitivity and awareness on her part. All that butter may have gone to her head.</p>
<p>*I was actually going to make a thread about this a while back. </p>
<p>I have black friends. They use it. I tell them they shouldn’t. They hold back on it. Not all black people use it. It’s definitely tied to one’s background and upbringing. *</p>
<p>We have never allowed that word in our home. My parents didn’t either. I have never uttered that word, nor do I even say the alpha either since I think that’s just as bad.</p>
<p>However, I have had to call the parents of AA children who’ve used that word in my home and wouldn’t stop using it after being told that the word is not allowed.</p>
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That is understandable. They were being disrespectful in your house.</p>
<p>I love the Food Network. I have never liked Paula Deen. Ever. She drives me nuts on so many levels. </p>
<p>And I love butter. But I believe in health first. </p>
<p>As for THIS, I don’t understand the whole controversy. I just haven’t caught up on it. </p>
<p>With regards to that word, I hear it dozens of times a day at the shelter where I work. It drives me up a flippin wall because we can’t say anything about it. The majority of our clients are black and if a white woman were to say it, there would be hell to pay (I’ve seen it first-hand). There are things that black women say that white women blow up over, too. And Latinas.
Most of my black friends from college HATE that word. They understand that it’s not “their” word and they don’t like it. As an LGBT person, I don’t use the “f” word either and I honestly don’t think I know any LGBT person that uses it.</p>
<p>I have always felt, rhh, that using the N word or other words, even within an identity group, is still a use as a power term or power play. If you can call someone the N word or K or F or even a “dumb s-word” (first try got asterisks, you’ll still get my drift,) is an attempt to suggest they are lesser. Sometimes a throwback, sometimes a caricature, sometimes a reflection of their difficult place in society. Not as “loving” and “respectful” and “bonding” as one may pretend. Think about it. Whether it’s the group doing it or an outsider. Groups can bond in other ways that take them forward, without needing terms that cling to past stereotypes or dismissals. When you have a choice, use it wisely.</p>
<p>On a lighter note, John Oliver and Jessica Williams on The Daily Show did a really funny bit on this topic. Check it out. Her last line was something like: Ms. Deen has done more harm to black Americans with her cooking than with her words…</p>
<p>The latest news is that The Food Network will not renew her contract. I think that’s the end of the road for her. I do not understand how people like Paula Deen and Rachael Ray can become so rich and famous with basically no culinary skills while more deserving chefs are barely making it. It almost goes against ours discussions here in CC about quality of education. Regarding the use of the N word: I believe that African-Americans will have a harder time getting rid of it if they continue to use it themselves. I understand the whole cultural thing but if the word is not acceptable and it is offensive it should not be use it, period.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>My father has advanced, early onset, AD. He didn’t like sweets, my mom cooked mainly whole foods that consisted of lean protein and greens, and he exercised daily. My father’s neurologist and I meet every six months and I can promise you that if diet plays a role in this cruel disease it plays a small role. It makes me crazy to hear people throw around studies about disease as if that one study is the key to prevention. </p>
<p>For those of you who say you don’t understand the fascination with Deen, you’re certainly spending a lot of time and energy posting about her.</p>
<p>While Alzheimer’s Disease seams to have a genetic component as it’s main trigger there are other types of dementia that are caused by atherosclerosis.
One of the causes of atherosclerosis is poor diet or a diet rich in saturated fats.</p>
<p>BTW I do not think you will find one doctor that will dispute the fact that a healthy diet is the key to many preventable diseases, like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart problems (non-family related), etc. Another aspect to be consider here is speed of disease progression. I think the article wanted to emphasize the fact that fats accelerated the formation of amyloid plaque and that a healthy diet might slow down that process.</p>