Opinion

Deen’s biggest flaw? It’s her rotten recipes

The Issue: Comments by celebrity chef Paula Deen that have been called racist, and her cooking advice.

***

Thank you for finally calling out the clowns of the Food Network for what they are (“Good Riddance to the Queen of Trashy Food,” Steve Cuozzo, June 25).

The concept of celebrity chefs should be banished to the third circle of hell, along with Guy Fieri and Paula Deen, who reminds me of a more-made-up version of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera.

But for all her crimes, the cry of “racist” rings the most hollow. We’re ready to pillory her because she called someone a name? Seriously?

I guess when a black person calls a white man a name, it’s OK.

This is another case of political correctness run amok.

Jonathan Collins

Bernardsville, NJ

Steve Cuozzo was on point, and it was refreshing to see the other side of the debate, far from all the supportive comments you’d see on Deen’s Facebook page.

I have a thought on the quote, “Many attend, but few comprehend.”

In Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” there’s an emphasis on kitsch, or popular junk art.

It’s something many people like, but it’s empty and meaningless; there needs to be some sort of artistic intelligentsia to balance everyday, quotidian kitsch art.

Contrary to the concept’s meaning, Deen’s cooking expands people’s waistlines and has adverse health effects, which doesn’t make it so empty or meaningless — it might change the idea of kitsch.

I am reminded of Anthony Bourdain’s characterization of her that she “knows how to play the victim.”

Jonathan Grady

Manhattan

I think Cuozzo gives too much credit to Deen’s recipes. They haven’t influenced as many people as you’d think.

It’s likely James Gandolfini never watched or was influenced by her.

People eat whatever they want and unfortunately, it’s all supersized orders in America.

Also, I honestly do not think she is racist. In my opinion, she is simply one of those old Southerners who haven’t yet arrived in the 21st century. She’s still stuck in her old-fashioned ways and has no clue.

R. McKinney

Red Bank, NJ

The country is fast rejecting Judeo-Christian morality for political atheism, resulting in the rise of fascism under the moniker of “progressivism.”

We saw this happen in the former Soviet Union, which may have murdered as many as 60 million of its own citizens, and under Mao Zedong in China, a regime that may have killed as many as 100 million people.

The unjust assault on Deen for something she said in private 30 years ago about a man who robbed her at gunpoint is a case in point. Her career is being attacked and greatly harmed for something she thought in a moment of legitimate anger, but never believed as one of her core principles.

The assault against her and the culture of lying are evidence that a great darkness has overtaken the nation, and that the citizens of this country are losing the freedom to speak and think as individuals, putting us in real danger.

The atmosphere is ripe for the rise of a dictator in this country, as power is being consolidated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

Chris Cecil

San Diego, Calif.

My family were immigrants who cherished their roles in the food business. Health and well-being, as well as taste, were central.

I’ve wondered for years what the draw was of this annoying person whose food revolted me?

Although I do not celebrate anyone’s pain, I am happy she will no longer command the respect of the general audience.

Cuozzo’s last comment that “Many attend, but few comprehend” is priceless and has application in the art world, as well.

M. Cocchiarelli-Berger

Walsenberg, Colo.

I grew up in the “sticks and stones can break my bones” generation.

Where did that go?

We’re going to destroy Deen’s life for something stupid and insensitive that she might have said decades ago? If saying stupid, insensitive things was worth having your life destroyed, then most of us would be in trouble.

John Scott

Dumont, NJ