Savannah Now journalist Tom Barton writes that Paula Deen's very public fall from grace is the equivalent of a modern-day lynching:

Today, the celebrity chef that Forbes said earned $18 million in 2012 is being hung out to dry financially. To add insult to injury, the woman behind the lawsuit, Lisa T. Jackson, admitted that she never heard Deen make a racist remark. Or, do anything discriminatory. But when you’ve threatened to inflict “permanent” harm on someone, facts don’t matter. It’s about whipping a mob into a frenzy.

It’s a lynching for our times. Yes, that word shouldn’t be idly used. But given the injustice, it fits.

None of this absolves Deen from using a racist slur. It doesn’t excuse her brother, Earl W. “Bubba” Hiers, who’s accused of sexual harassment. But there is such as thing as punishment fitting the crime. This doesn’t come close.