Paula Deen May Be a Racist, But She Has Integrity

just called out a twitterer for a comment they made regarding Paula Deen’s appearance on MasterChef US.

https://twitter.com/ryanrogers/status/372975490157391872

@ryanrogers decided to make the above comment about the racial makeup of the guests at the dinner party on the latest episode of MasterChef US. first, the episode was shot months before her admission of using the word “nigger” once in her past under what she explained to be a specific, private circumstance, so one with any common sense would take that into consideration. second, nearly 1/3 of the guests were not white, which he’s conveniently left out to make his point. third, the dinner party was a reward for local volunteers and the work they’ve done as explained by the show’s hosts, and as such, the lack of blacks either means there’s a lack of them in her local community or a lack of them doing volunteer work. based on this observation, it says more about her local community than her, when taken into context.

however, @ryanrogers conveniently left out these pertinent facts to support his conclusion, resulting in his inferring that Paula Deen is racist. by his own conclusion, despite 1/3 of the guests being non-white, we asians “don’t count” in his view. he’s not alone in this though, as the majority of outspoken Americans purposely leave out information to support their opinions in hopes of strengthening their case. unfortunately, when being outspoken, other people can hear you and many of us sit silently and witness these leaps of logic until a few of us decide to call you out. this is one example.

i have never met Paula Deen and i’ve never been a fan of her recipes or cooking shows. i’m fairly certain @ryanrogers hasn’t met her either. based on the fact that i have no first-hand knowledge of her, i cannot say if she’s a racist or not. however, i can say that she has integrity, as she confessed to having used that disparaging term once, privately and under strenuous circumstances, while on the stand during a lawsuit brought against her that was ultimately dismissed by the judge who deemed the accusation against her was baseless. she didn’t have to admit what she did in court. she could have perjured herself and no one would have been the wiser, like thousands of others who claim they have never used a racially charged word before in their life. instead, she chose to fess up, showing that she values integrity in herself and others. does that make her not a racist? no. it just shows she has integrity and that at least counts for something… if anything, it should encourage those without integrity, to admit to themselves and others that they’ve made mistakes in the past, should stop pointing fingers at her. the rest of us should then take into careful account the facts and context surrounding what she does from here on in before rushing to judge her. if anything, to not make intentional leaps of logic just to condemn her for having the integrity to admit her mistakes.

most people don’t even know what integrity is, much less possess it. someone who intentionally leaves out facts to lend weight in their judgment of others clearly lacks integrity themselves, otherwise they wouldn’t have done such a thing.

in his attempt to condemn publicly over twitter Paula Deen, @ryanrogers abandoned integrity and logic, and even displays the very same racism he accuses her of by marginalizing the other minorities in the crowd, in a poor attempt to lend credence to his rushed judgment.