"Honey, I'm Your Cook, Not Your Doctor"

     I really didn't want to ring in on the current Paula Deen racist controversy, but hearing about her current plight, I recalled one of Deen's appearances on the Oprah Show, to make traditional pound cake. Dropping a block of butter into the mix master, Deen looked at Oprah's expression. Oprah, on a perpetual weight-loss regime, looked horrified. Deen said, "Honey I'm your cook, not your doctor!" It was a funny moment -- I laughed right along with the audience. 

     Some years after the pound cake fiasco, Paula Deen developed Type II Diabetes. Apparently she made changes in her personal food preferences. She also made a deal to endorse Novo Nordisc's Victoza, a drug used for weight loss and blood sugar control. 
     Whether the famous Southern cook's illness prompted her to back away from promoting and preparing drop-dead decadent food,  I couldn't say. The Food Network, however, should have been more concerned about the killer recipes than the possibility Paula Deen used or condoned racist language.

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes ... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. -Eleanor Roosevelt

     Perhaps, though, the biggest concern is what happened, when Nova Nordisc approached Deen to endorse Victoza. Deen, herself, may have experienced success with the drug, but she is in no way qualified to recommend it. Unfortunately people, particularly Americans, wrongly put stock in anything and everything celebrities say and do. Pharmaceutical marketing directors know this, and use celebrities to aggressively market their products.

     Victoza (liraglutide) is now the subject of controversy and lawsuits. The drug is alleged to have caused acute pancreatitis, even, increased the risk of thyroid and pancreatic cancers, as well as putting consumers at risk for kidney failure and severe allergic reactions.  http://douglassreport.com/2012/05/25/new-warning-over-the-injectable-drug-victoza/

     Paula Deen may have taken lightly, warnings about bad food choices, as she took the occasional racist crack or dirty joke in stride. She chose not tell her brother what to do and say in the context of his business, taking a "boys will be boys" approach to his persona. According to Deen, she tended to her side of  the business, but left her brother's side of the business to him. This may make her a passive sexist or racist, or not. We aren't all proud of our relatives, and we can imagine being too busy to pay close attention, especially with multiple business and financial interests of our own to attend. Paula Deen is a cook, not a doctor. Neither is she a role model of the 21st Century Woman, unless we're talking about being a survivor and a tremendous success. 

     Toxic language, negative attitudes, snide jokes, decadent foods, drugs with deadly potential ... are all there for the taking. We choose constantly and the choice is ours. Will we be the people to promote  change for the better? We can choose that, too. 

If we're to be seeing, hearing or speaking evil, though, let's talk about  pharmaceutical giants.