Forgiveness varies on remarks

You know, this Paula Deen matter is interesting. First, and it should go without saying, using a racially derogatory term, whether in public or in private, or whether used in anger or otherwise, whether uttered last week or 30 years ago, is not acceptable. But it’s not any more shocking than learning from an African-American witness, in the George Zimmerman trial last month, that it is normal for folks in her neighborhood to call white people “crackers.”

And whether or not people believe Paula Deen is (or was) racist for having used that racially derogatory term is not the point.

The bottom line is this: She admitted her mistake and apologized, but it wasn’t enough. Almost overnight, she was red by The Food Network, and cut loose from QVC, Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, Sears, J.C. Penney, Caesars Palace, Walgreens and Kmart.

But why was her apology not enough? Isn’t America the land of second chances? Bill Clinton lied to the American people regarding Monica Lewinsky. He apologized, and he was forgiven. In fact, he was the toast of last year’s Democrat National Convention.

Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin tweets gay slurs, and Jamie Foxx says that starring in the lm “Django Unchained” was fun because he gets to murder “white” people, yet both of these guys got “free passes” from both the media and the American people.

And even as Walmart associates were clearing their shelves of Paula Deen cookware and cookbooks, the DVD of “Django Unchained,” which uses a derogatory racial term 112 times, remains prominently displayed on Walmart shelves and is even promoted with a special DVD bonus disc, available exclusively at Walmart.

So, what gives? Maybe it’s not Paula Deen’s apology that wasn’t suf cient. After all, Bill Maher of HBO didn’t apologize at all when he referred to Sarah Palin in a sexually derogatory manner – and he swears he never will apologize to her, either.

It obviously hasn’t affected his television show’s ratings, because just last year, he averaged 1.4 million viewers during one of his shows, marking his biggest audience in almost eight years.

Then there’s President Obama, who has done his share of apologizing too. He has been around the world apologizing for America, saying we “sometimes make mistakes” and that “there have been times where America has shown arrogance.”

Even so, our stature in the world is still declining and our national security continues to be diminished.

So, if it’s not the apology that makes a difference, when folks misspeak or otherwise make some transgression, could it be that maybe the media doesn’t report as much or as often, when some folks mess up, and so they come out from a scandal relatively unscathed? Or is it that we all just feel better about ourselves when we see certain public gures fall?

It’s ironic that many people of faith, who are often accused of being too judgmental and speaking out loudly about the immorality of others, are the very same ones urging forgiveness here and encouraging the understanding that tolerance of other’s views, and agreeing with them, are altogether and completely different.

What is interesting too is that the same media folks, who so staunchly promote a freedom from religion, while at the same time demeaning people of faith as intolerant and narrow-minded, are the same media folks who are exhibiting intolerance and narrow-mindedness themselves.

They have skewered Paula Deen in the town square of public opinion, causing her business partners to ee for cover, even though many in the African-American community, as well as public gures, from Jimmy Carter to Rush Limbaugh, have all urged forgiveness.

But why was her apology not enough? Isn’t America the land of second chances? Bill Clinton lied to the American people regarding Monica Lewinsky.

Of course, our culture doesn’t do a lot of celebrating of forgiveness, does it? We mainly just get mad at one another. And then folks simply want to get even. But this time, at this hour, can we handle this differently? Can we simply forgive, as one nation, under God?

After all, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.”

Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman and attorney. He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and editor of The Caddo Republican. His columns have appeared regularly in The Forum since 2007. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by email at louisavallone@mac.com.