I had been meaning to bring this up several days ago...I no longer have tv but word travels on the Internets and I found this interesting because I used to listen to Dr. Laura. Why? Well, I have always enjoyed advice shows, although I always found her to be seething with hostility just below the surface. They eventually took her off in Chicago and I recently looked online to listen to one of her affiliates but it's rather toxic. In any case, I listened to her infamous N-word diatribe a few days ago. The best thing to do is look on Youtube for the 7-minute version because it provides the full call. I think it's absurd to claim that she's a racist for simply saying the word a bunch of times. I think she's a very insensitive person, though. The caller was a Black woman married to a White man who had friends and/or relatives who would always ask her how Black people feel about whatever they were talking about. I would feel bad if I were her, simply because she's being treated as if she doesn't belong and her difference is being emphasized. Dr. Laura glossed over it and when the woman mentioned that they were saying the N-word, Dr. Laura basically said that it's no big deal because Black entertainers say it all the time on HBO. My feeling though is that Dr. Laura's basic attitude is to say "get over it" regardless of the caller or the subject involved.

About the N-word: I dislike it intensely, as I do all racial/ethnic/gender slurs. I am not all that PC, either, but name-calling is something I detest. However, I do not buy that it is empowering for Blacks to call themselves that word, or gays to call themselves 'queer' or the F-word. Or women call themselves bitches. It just drives me batty to hear that pretzel logic!

I agree, it just perpetuates a negative behavior...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Dr. Laura has always had this judgemental, holier-than-thou attitude, but I do not like the practice of firing people for lapses in judgment or whatever they think she did. Jimmy the Greek, even Don Imus, have unfairly been targeted and punished. In the case of Imus, he said 'nappy-headed hoes' about some Black female college basketball players. He was trying to be "hip" and I believe his co-host was a Black man (who I think laughed at the remark). I believe that Imus thought that was the way people talk nowadays and that it was funny for an older White man to say it. Of course the girls were offended (I can also understand their feelings) but here is an interesting thing which happened afterwards: the coach had some kind of press conference with the players to explain how everyone felt and she and all the players HAD STRAIGHTENED THEIR "nappy" hair! I thought that was interesting and strange--they were both offended and self-conscious enough to process their hair. So they bought into that statement of his, which was sad to me.

That's really weird about their hair. Way to illustrate a point, wow.

I think it's a REALLY bizarre phenomenon that so many black people use that word as they do. It is still offensive to me as it doesn't reflect so much a white history for me personally (I wasnt' there) as it does a history of extreme injustice and ugly behavior that is harmful to all. It creates as much of a line between groups of people as anything else we've experienced in the past and it's negative and harmful and gross. I'm not trying to imply that slavery was in any way less than horrific to black people by implying a common bond of shared harm in the current social usage of the N word, not by a long shot. I am however stating that it's my opinion that including such a derogatory slang moniker in every day language fosters a climate of hurt, anger, imbalance and harm. it does nothing to elevate, enlighten or heal. Quite the opposite. I would have a hard time saying or even typing that word out in full for the purpose of discussion, even in this day and age when the foulest of language has lost it's ability to shock that one is still abhorent to me.

I agree entirely.

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

My one thought when listening to that rant was, "The Emperor has no clothes!"

N word-shmen word, "Dr." Laura was about as helpful to that woman as someone setting her on fire would have been. Actually, she wasn't just unhelpful, she was accusatory--you all should just shush up now that one of yours is in office, was the implication. Like the N word is by virtue of this now coated in fluffy lil' tabby kittens or something. That kind of obliviousness is breathtaking.

My mom listened to her show when it first aired here in the Detroit area, and I found DL mostly considered in her advice, but just a skosh condescending at times; it was very subtle. Gradually she seemed to become more strident--the transformation was complete after those saucy pics of hers made it onto the interwebs. She became significantly harsher and unhelpful. I found myself, if we were listening in the car, say, exclaiming to my mom, "Well, how does that solve anything for that caller? That's not good advice!"

Hateful, insecure, self absorbed people shouldn't have radio shows dispensing personal advice. That is all.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2010 03:03PM by Tamukha.

banana who,

Now if she had phrased it diplomatically as you do, above, yes. However, if she had phrased it as you do, above, she wouldn't be Dr. Laura. Contempt, yes, that is just the right word for what she seemed to convey to callers. I saw her on Larry King the other night, whining about how her First Amendment right was being quashed, wha-wha, and poor Larry tried[futiley] to point out that the First Amendment doesn't protect you from the consequences of your speech, that sponsors have a right to pull their support of a show because of controversy[this is called "capitalism," Dr. Laura]. But it just went, woop, right over Dr. Laura's head.

I used to listen to her and she actually changed my views regarding daycare (against it) and other issues related to raising children. However, she had her own issues with her only child. I don't know if you remember a few years ago when her son posted a Facebook page with all kinds of crazy comments, pics. He was serving in the military at the time. Now when I try to Google him and retrieve that page, it won't come up. It helps being a millionaire when you have a scandal. Throw some money at it and erase the problem. I actually felt sorry for Dr. Laura about her nude pics. That was totally unfair for her ex to make them public.

Dr. Laura always seemed extremely condescending, arrogant, and deluded to me, I'm very glad she's off the air. She appeals to a certain crowd however, and no doubt she'll pick up the pieces and we'll hear from her again in some other outrageous context.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Palin, Dr Laura, isn't there another one, that girl with the long blonde hari who was so pro-war and anti everything reasonable in any arena. She wrote a book or something, she was a real a$$wipe. Or maybe it was just one of those two. Might as well me, these conservative wackjob women are freaking interchangable!

coco,

You are thinking of that lovely Ann Coulter. That's all I can post without going into apoplexy.

banana who,

Nudie pics--low blow and unfair to her, agreed. But when has something like that happened to a truly kind person, eh? Vanessa Hudgens, perhaps.

Kooky son--sadly foreseeable; that adage about people in glass houses, etc.

Family dynamics advice--particularily vexing, because I totally agreed with her ideas on most issues pertaining to this. As I recall, she was very adamant about consequences, about requiring one's children to deal with the consequences of their behavior. Irony, huh?

That's the one. What her damage is I don't even want to know. What a freak.

I never cared for Dr. Laura or listened to her, but after hearing the clip, I think technically she was illustrating the use of the word, and the whole thing got blown out of proportion, as is the modus operandi these days. Political Correctness gone amok.

Ann Coulter ...ack !

nuff said ;p

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Digging up a not so current event...Someone sent me this last week, it's good for a laugh!




On her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr.Laura, written by a US man, and posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:
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Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan.
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education

swimmer,

[shrieking with laughter]I died when someone first sent that to me years ago--smackdown of Biblical proportions! Blessed be the acadamecians, for theirs is the eradication of hypocrisy, amen.

Amen Indeed!

I wonder what we think of Bill Maher saying the N-word....

[www.youtube.com]

Does it depend on Who says it?

KidRaw,

It's a matter of illustration and nuance, not an iota of which was in evidence in Dr. Laura's tirade. Maher is explaining the coded semantics of Gingrich's use of "Kenyan . . . tribesman." So, yes, it matters who says it and whether they mean to be offensive. Dr. Laura clearly didn't give a rodent's tuchus that she was being offensive, as at no point did she express regret that she might have offended the caller; not even a facsimile of sorrow to keep her jobbie wobbie.

We are sitting on the edge of breaking a rule of this forum, so that's all I'm gonna say about that here, all righty