WILL FOX TURN PAULA DEEN INTO A CIVIL RIGHTS MARTYR?

Tweets from Eric Bolling of Fox News:

Publisher of Paula Deen's upcoming cookbook dropped her but sales of her most current cookbook hit #1 on Amazon up 1300%. #CashinIn today

— ericbolling (@ericbolling) June 29, 2013

#CashinIn: Paula Deen comeback, Cookbook sales soaring+ IRS buy $108m wine, porn with OUR credit card+Teens promote O-care 1130a FNC

— ericbolling (@ericbolling) June 29, 2013

The tweets refer to Cashin' In, Bolling's weekend show on Fox, which is apparently going to report on a "Paula Deen comeback" despite the fact that that's not exactly what she seems to be going through right now:

... In a brief statement Friday, Ballantine Books announced it had canceled publication of "Paula Deen's New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up." The book was scheduled for release in October...

Deen has lost many of her business relationships following revelations that she used racial slurs in the past. Sears Holdings Corp and J.C. Penney Co. Friday that they're cutting ties with Deen, following similar announcements from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Home Depot.

Last week, the Food Network said that it would not renew her contract. She was also dropped by Smithfield Foods, Caesars Entertainment stripped her name from restaurants and drug company Novo Nordisk said it was suspending its work with her.

But, yeah, Amazon has her last book at #1 and the canceled book at #2. So a lot of fans are still with her.

The comments at the Amazon page for the last book include some people who seem as if they might be well-meaning, if perhaps inclined to hit you over the head with their well-meaning-ness:

I don't normally buy items for a policical statement but this time I have. Paula has freedom of speech and I have the power of the buck. Today I bought this book AND a box of cheerios (in support of their ad that contains a mixed race marriage). Time for American to grow up beyond the age of ten years old, get over the polical correctness crap and get on with life.

Others, not so much:

Since there seems to be a double-standard for the use of the "N" word, maybe we need a rule book on its use: e.g., whites can't use it because they have to be politically correct at all times, blacks can use it among themselves, wealthy film producers can use it and make lots of money (they get a free pass). What? No rule book? That's silly? Well then, why don't we just nix the word and be a little kinder to one another!

Although that's not nearly as bad as this Facebook post, found by The Atlantic's Alexander Abad-Santos at a Tumblr called White People Mad at the Food Network:





Are you picking up a common thread in the defenses of Deen? Referring to Deen's critics, The Atlantic's Abad-Santos says,

... people are more upset that Deen's deposition has roots in an employment discrimination lawsuit with a slew of ugly allegations, the most serious of which is that Deen enabled a hostile and racist work environment.

He notes, in particular, the detail that galled me the most: that she "fantasiz[ed] about an antebellum-themed wedding, complete with slaves."

But that's not what this is being reduced to, in the eyes of Deen's defenders. To them, she's being crucified for one decades-old use of the N-word -- and that's it.

Generally speaking, that's Fox's comfort zone: creating and/or exploiting angry white people's perceptions of what's going on, rather than what's actually going on. So, as Abad-Santos points out, we get this from Fox's Todd Starnes:

The liberal anti-South media is trying to crucify Paula Deen. They accuse her of using a derogatory word to describe a black person.

Paula admitted she used the word -- back in the 1980s - when a black guy walked into the bank, stuck a gun in her face and ordered her to hand over the cash.

The national media failed to mention that part of the story....

So, to sum up: loyal fan base, story that can be distorted to make liberals into the villains, and two Foxsters (Starnes and Bolling) already in her corner.

I expect Deen to be a regular on Fox & Friends by Labor Day.