Is it 1940 again?

[No Elephants]

Johnny Depp is playing Tonto? I thought the era when Hollywood cast white people as Native Americans was over?

There is no dearth of Native American actors, but there is a great dearth of roles for them.

I am surprised there has not been more blowback about that casting choice.

Then, there's Paula Deen, accused of using the N word often, which she denies, at least lately. But she did admit to wanting to throw her brother a wedding that would look as though it had occurred "pre-civil War, complete with older African American males waiting on guests while wearing outfits worn by slaves who were chosen to serve their owner's family and guest up at the big house, instead of working in the fields.

And when asked if she wanted to hire n-----s for her brothers' wedding, or something to that effect, she said "No, because they were not that. They were older, very professional African American men."

Apparently, no one asked her what she meant by that statement. Too bad. Because, from her answer, it sure seems as though, even today, there is a group of African Americans she would consider correctly classified as n-----s.

So, did someone finally succeed in turning back time? I need to know because I saw the first sequel to Back to the Future and it's not pretty when someone alters history by messing with the space time continuum. So, if it's 1940 again, I should be moving on up to that big waiting room in the sky until it's time for me to be born.

[Enthusiast]

1. Since the 2008 election there has been a huge

resurgence of racism in this nation.

Fair or not, a large segment of the American people blame the President for their declining standard of living. And Obama is black, so any blame is shared by his entire race. That's just the way we do things in the greatest nation on earth. All native Americans were also blamed for the actions of a few.

[No Elephants]

2. Maybe so, but, in Deen's deposition, she testified to having used the n word years ago.

So, I don't think her situation has anything to do with Obama.

I think she is one of those who can't get over their regret over emancipation, even though it happened long before she was born. Like the Lady Antebellum group.

The nostalgia and fondness among some Southerners for the good old days before slavery ended is something that I will never understand. In my life, I had never seen anything about that era made a fond subject--and I've always lived in states that actually won that accursed bloody war.

The most I saw growing up was maybe a memorial statue to a Civil War soldier in public park, along with other memorial statues. But now, re-enacting in general is more popular. Still, I've only ever seen Revolutionary War re-enacters, and those at the Paul Revere House.

I can barely bear to watch the guy on Antique Road show who seems to have made a fetish of civil war weapons. Reminds me: The only time I know of that an appraiser was drummed out of the Antique Road Show for fraud was a Southern appraiser who had arranged to have someone come in to his table with a Confederate sword.

[No Elephants]

3. Let the record show thqta I posted the OP before the Daily Show aired.

The Daily Show picked up on the same thing as I did about her waiter comment. And the Daily Show got the quote from her deposition correct because they apparently had access to the text. My version was a little off (but I got the gist right).


During the deposition, Deen mentioned that she had gotten the idea of African American waiters for her brother's plantation-themed wedding from a restaurant she had visited, where middle aged African American male waiters were dressed in white jackets and black bow ties. (Sounds more like dinner jackets to me than house slave garb, but what do I know? Dinner jackets are appropriate for, well, dinner, if you're being formal. While all the waiters were African American, though, is something else.)

Her questioner asked whether there was any chance she had slipped when discussing this and used the N word.

Deen's reply was: No, because that's not what these men were. They were professional black men, doing a fabulous job." (referring to the d waiters in white jackets at the restaurant she had visited.)

[Enthusiast]

4. Yes, I tape it every evening now - the Daily Show.

My anger with Maddow continues. It's MSNBC in general. They suck the least but they betray our interests. Duh.

We must rely on comedians for real insight now. Fascist America. Who would have thought we would be so easy to conquer.

Paula Deen. She always struck me as sort of an airhead food enthusiast. I liked some of the food she prepared. I do not shy away from rich pork, beef or chicken dishes. She sort of overdid the butter thing. No vegan here. But the racist shit is beyond the pale.

[No Elephants]

5. In general, I can watch only so much MSNBC these days.

As with DU, MSNBC was like oxygen when Bush was in office, or, at least, the few Democratic anchors who were on MSNBC then were like oxygen. (Olberman first, then Maddow. Matthews very literally drooled over Bush in 2004 before Obama made his leg tingle in 2008.)

In hindsight, it almost seems as though the MSNBC crowd knew Obama was going to beat Hillary. At least, they all seemed in his corner and borderline disrespectful of her. At the time, I am sorry to say that was okay with me because I was soooo pro Obama at the time.

I probably would not even have noticed the (relative) dismissiveness and disrespect as to Hillary except that I was posting at the time with a couple of very strong Hillary supporters who yowled over every slight, perceived or real.

I would never have voted for Hillary--nor will I. Still, in hindsight, it was not right.

It is annoying that pundits have already been saying for months that, if she chooses to run, she would clear the primary field: no other Democrat would choose to challenge her and none has a chance of succeeding. Talk about trying to create a self-fulfilling prophesy.

If she chooses to run, LOL. As "if" there's ever been a doubt.

In 2008, I was posting with a woman from Hawaii who was also very pro Obama. She would post a photo of Hillary, with an odd facial expression and a tall wig with little signs stuck in it, one saying 2008, another saying 2012 and a third saying 2016. It never got old for me. And it still rings true.

[No Elephants]

6. On Deen: Yes, the racist stuff is beyond the pale. On the other hand, the

worst thing that Paula Deen can do for me is, if I choose to tune in to her show, offer me a recipe for a dish that I should not make. And she's gotten more air time for in the last week than the Afghan Occupation, where we've been getting nowhere, while bleeding money, lives and limbs for longer than it took us to defeat both Germany and Japan in WWII. And I have no option to change the channel. So, I try to keep it in perspective.

Maybe it's something about cooking shows?


PBS once put on a cooking show by the Carraba brothers of Carraba's restaurant chain fame.

In 2001 (the week of 911, in fact), I had been to the Houston location, which was still operated by the Carraba family members who founded the chain. A cousin regularly takes a huge table there once a week--whichever family members and friends of his who want to show up. They don't even have to RSVP. So, they indulge him by serving family style. As a result, I got to sample several dishes and several desserts.

I really enjoyed the food, and I live in what is supposedly one of the meccas of Italian restaurants in the U.S. So, I was pysched about getting some of their recipes and cooking tips.

I watched one and a half an episode and could not bear to watch any more.

In that short time, I had heard the two chuckle together over just about every racial, ethnic and religious stereotype known to U.S. humankind. It was relentless.

What made it worse for me was that they seemed totally oblivious to how horrid and bigoted they were being. Just two good-natured, likeable good ole boys, havin' big fun chatting and laughing amiably, while cooking them up a storm.

:puke:

After the first show, I thought maybe they were done with schtick, so I tuned in again, but it was more of the same. As far as I know, PBS never renewed them. I hope not, anyway.

Then, there's this about allegedly racist, sexist and homophobic remarks from Food Network's Guy Fieri. http://gothamist.com/2011/10/13/guy_fieri_lawsuit_gets_racist_homop.php

That, too, was revealed by sworn testimony in a lawsuit. Food Network fired Deen as soon as her deposition hit the fan, but Cieri is still doing fine on the Food Network. In a press release, not under oath, of course, "his team" denied the testimony. Maybe that made the difference for the Food Network?

And, Alton Brown, on the Food Network, supposedly contributes heavily to anti-gay causes and is not above race "humor."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018280935

http://persephonemagazine.com/2012/04/04/what-i-watched-last-night-when-the-hosts-are-dicks/

Hard to believe that the Food Network is unaware of that.

Alton Brown is still doing fine on the Food Network, too, though Deen got fired right away.

[Enthusiast]

7. I enjoy reading your thoughts on this, No Elephants.

I had no idea that Alton Brown was anti-gay. Maybe he has a little touch of teh gay himself?

My parents, both of the "greatest generation", were under the influence of every racial, ethnic and religious stereotype. But, believe it or not, there wasn't an evil bone in their bodies. They were simply a product of the time.

Where I live there isn't much ethnic, racial and religious diversity as in urban areas. So there was actually no one to be offended. About the closest thing to an ethnic group around here were second generation Middle Eastern-Lebanese-Syrian Catholic and Italian immigrants. I reached adulthood having never interacted with a black person or Jew. Seriously. We are mostly backwoods hicks here, for the most part. When I went to work in the nearby "city" I was told in no uncertain terms that "ni**ers" were bad news. Basically everything about them was bad, or so it was pointed out to me, since I was so ignorant. Although these are more enlightened times racism persists.

The late 20th Century! What an amazing time!

[No Elephants]

8. I don't know all the causes of racism--or all the cause of true egalitariansim.

I think humankind has always had people who were xenophobic, racist, etc., those who judged people solely on behavior, those who were in between and those who changed
, for better or for worse, as they got older.

And, maybe also people who were one way or another, depending on who they were with and who they thought might be listening because their convicctions for good or ill were not that strong.