The Internet is atwitter over Paula Deen’s Tuesday announcement that she has type-2 diabetes. Although she has had the disease for three years, she spoke of her disease to Al Roker only this morning. She said that she waited so long to come forward with her diagnosis because she wanted to bring something to the table in the discussion of diabetes, not because she worried the diagnosis would put her reputation in jeopardy. Deen doesn't sound like she will change her cooking style now; rather, she said that she always recommended moderation in cooking Paula's Best Dishes.

The queen of butter, sugar and fat has long been criticized for her excessively-caloric recipes, and many of the sites carrying Deen’s diabetes story seem awfully smug about her diagnosis. She’s a grown woman; she doesn’t need any “I told ya so’s!”

I witnessed a very vocal disagreement about the morality of Paula Deen’s cooking show last Friday night at a Korean barbeque. Two quite heavy men were discussing Paula: one was pro-Deen, the other anti-Deen. One argued that her fatty recipes were contributing to the obesity epidemic, but the other held the view that people could make their own decisions about whether or not to watch Deen’s show, let alone cook her food. Deen herself has repeatedly said that she is entertainment, not a doctor.

The ironic part about the conversation, certainly, was one man claimed agency in creating his own weight problems, while the other pointed to external stimuli for making him fat. Certainly, the obesity epidemic cannot be explained by blaming only one cause or the other. The media has affected personal life choices, but those individuals making these choices are not completely in the dark about the consequences of the culinary choices.

Applying this scenario to Paula Deen, she may make it seem delicious and right and even logical to cook with two sticks of butter and a whole package of sugar, but if you cook with sticks of butter everyday, you know very well what will happen to your heart and your weight. That’s the crux in the argument about the American obesity epidemic: where does media responsibility stop and personal discretion start? That's also the question we don't know how to answer.

So, does Paula Deen’s diabetes diagnosis signal some sort of poetic justice? Does her failing health serve as a reminder that cooking the way Deen does has consequences? Perhaps. That isn’t to say that Paula Deen’s diabetes serves as a punishment for her promotion of obesity in the United States. Rather, it illustrates that Deen’s health is another casualty of the high-fat food market in which she herself participates and extenuates.

What do you think about Deen’s diagnosis?