OK, so this Paula Deen thing.
So, if I have it straight (and it really doesn't matter if I do not) some years ago, she used the word nigger (that which you would term the "N-word") in some manner of discourse. Now, her television program has been cancelled and her corporate sponsors have abandoned her because of it. I think that's pretty much it.
What the masses fail to note is that the people at The Food Network (a real television station) have realized is that people like Paula Deen fall from the trees. As such, they have determined that any blip in her media radar will determine her fate. Ergo, when she says nigger, they say, goodbye. And it's on to the next big media chef. Simple.
There are no first amendment rights that have been trampled upon. Merely, a company has determined that their standards do not equate with the standards of their employees. Paula will not be prosecuted under the full extent of the law. She will merely be terminated by her employer. Our constitution says nothing about that.
I'm not sure what we expect of our Constitution. We suppose that it protects us from anything that we say because we are free to say it, but that isn't the case. We think that it gives us the rights to do whatever stupid thing that comes into our minds, but that isn't the case. It's the reason the Supreme Court was created.
The founding fathers had no clue of cable television or the Internet and how the influence of each would create non-stop entertainment choices for millions of Americans. Those millions of Americans would be made up of diverse minorities who would have been given rights by our Congress and court system that entitled them to what we told them was equal treatment under the law.
Boobs like Paula Deen found jobs broadcasting on television, in front of millions of diverse Americans. Likewise, boobs like professional athletes, movie stars, musicians and television stars found junk like Twitter and professed their innermost thoughts on those sites. What they failed to realize was that millions of diverse Americans would read and view that junk.
Had Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Frankin seen those advancements in technology, they surely would have written-in safeguards to protect boobs like them from their own thoughts and feelings. After all, it's their actions that matter, right?
But, like with semi-automatic weapons and the second amendment, their vision was short-sighted. As such, modern man has seen fit to adapt their viewpoint to his own end. Those same people seem to believe that it is OK for people like Paula Deen to say nigger when, in fact, she means "black people" and (to hear her tell it) she didn't even mean nigger to be derogatory. There's your case.
Wal-Mart, Smithfield Foods, Caesar's and The Food Network have decided that they do not want to deal with the controversy, and have terminated Paula as their spokesperson. Instead, they will find another fat, middle-aged, white woman to do their cooking for them.
Take that, first amendment!
