The flying fickle finger of fate strikes again. This time the arrow hit Paula Deen straight into her Southern charm like a knife sliding through melted butta. Is she a racist? I don’t think so. I don’t think she hates anyone for their race.
That’s not to say that dropping the N bomb or wishing for a plantation wedding just like Miz Scarlet is the correct thing to do, but I believe that she had no malice when she said it. And shouldn’t that really be the criteria to judge someone’s remarks? If there were true malice behind the words, and not just careless stupidity.
However, in this world of political correctness, the southern lady that got too big for her britches had to be knocked down a peg or two, and that old flying fickle finger of fate descended upon her head just like Maxwell Silverhammer came crashing down in that old Beatles song.
Most all of her sponsors canned her, kicked her to the curb, and cowardly stood by as others kicked her to the curb. Each and every one threw her under the bus faster than ice cream melting on a muggy summer afternoon as they tsked- tsked to the media. After all, they all had the right to judge, didn’t they? All of them innocent of any type of reproach. Nope, they could judge her because their reputations were pristine, lily white, and pure as the driven snow. Certainly so.
But still, it makes me wonder if the sponsors were so adamant about her horrible act, why are others, who are equally or a whole lot more offensive than she, not treated in the same way?
No one says a word when Bill Maher trashes the Catholics. In fact, HBO keeps him rolling in the dough and the audiences love him. His show is one of the top-rated on the network. But then, Catholic-trashing must be acceptable to all those purists out there.
No, it just had to be Paula. After all, a woman who picked herself up by her bootstraps, raised two sons on her own, and built a million dollar business from making sandwiches just had to be taught a lesson.
Paula was just the sacrificial lamb this season and followed in Martha Stewart’s footsteps — Martha was another successful woman too — and she had to be taught a lesson as well.
Not for Nuthin,™ but notice a pattern here? Makes me wonder just who the next victim of the flying fickle finger of fate is going to be. I can hardly wait.
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
Joanna DelBuono writes about national issues every Wednesday on BrooklynDaily.com. E-mail her at jdelbuono@cnglocal.com.
