Dr. Laura Quits In Support of N-Word Freedom

If you're not familiar with Dr. Laura, she's the AM radio socially conservative psych / soc advice personality who is prone to arrogantly mocking and bullying the vulnerable morons that call her for advice. A few days ago a black woman called up complaining her white husband and his familly make racially offensive comments to her including the use of the N-Word. Dr. Laura went on an extended rant accusing the woman, and blacks in general, of being over sensitive and touched on a range of racially sensitive topics, using the N-Word repeatedly.

Apparently whoever holds her leash was not happy and she's announced she's quitting her show at the end of her contract which expires at the end of 2010. On Larry King Live she complained that she wants her 1st Ammendment rights back, though she wasn't clear about who took them. Clearly she has the legal right to say the N-Word, but as with everyone in America, her 1st Ammendment rights don't apply in the work place. That is, if advertisers don't want their commercials to follow an inflammatory rant using the N-Word, then her bosses lose Money when she does it, and that being what It is all about, she has to stop doing it.

Comments? Here's a few points of discussion:

1. Are US blacks over sensitive to racial jokes and use of the N-Word (In the rant Dr. Laura made a joke about blacks being better at basketball than whites).

2. Does it make any sense at all that blacks can use the N-Word freely but whites cannot? Like, I can lose my job for using that word even if I don't say it as a slur at a black co-worker. Does that perpetuate racial inequality in some way?

3. Did blacks vote for Obama only because he's half-black (and not because he portrayed himself as liberal), which Dr. Laura claimed in her rant?

4. Assuming its her bosses that are leaning on her to cut it out, and prompting her to quit, are they doing the right thing? Ultimately it comes down to the Money. If not, what IS the right thing?

5. If you're familiar with Dr. Laura's show, what's your impression of her? About 15 years ago I listened to her show a half dozen times and concluded, like I said above, that she's arrogant, abusive and bullies her callers in a sometimes awful manner and I stopped listening. What do you think?

AM shows are still around? :bulb: I thought they were just used for sports broadcasting when the tube blacks them out...

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About 15 years ago I listened to her show a half dozen times and concluded, like I said above, that she's arrogant, abusive and bullies her callers in a sometimes awful manner and I stopped listening.

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Same here. Used to listen to her in the car on long road trips. She said controversial things then, too, about women's roles as wives and mothers. But she'd say it in such a snotty way it did sound abusive, like bullying the callers. You could almost hear her sneer. (I recall a public 'outrage' about things she'd spout on religion, but can't remember the specifics.)

She used her Doctor title and "advice" radio show to get callers, people in turmoil or conflict who thought the good doctor might help. But instead she used every opportunity as her personal soap box, to advance her political agenda. Almost like a female Rush Limbaugh.

She used to be big on personal responsibility, but apparently that's for everyone else and not her. She's saying her 1st Amendment rights have been usurped :rolleyes: when in fact she said exactly what she wanted. It's the public reaction she doesn't like, so she's blaming others for being too sensitive. Damn the caller's inter-racial marriage problems, Dr. Laura wanted to climb her high horse and complain about black people using the N word, but white people can't.

She's a fraud.

See, she wasn't concerned with the caller's problem. She "wanted to make a philosophical point" and go on a rant. If she wants a political radio show, fine. But don't call it an Advice Show and drag vulnerable callers into it. She's a fraud.

Here's the transcript:

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008120045


She may be a total jerk otherwise but she wasn't the big bad wolf in this one.

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SCHLESSINGER: Well, can you give me an example of a racist comment? 'Cause sometimes people are hypersensitive. So tell me what's -- give me two good examples of racist comments.

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That's the first thing she says to the caller. You can see she's setting the bait, to take it where she wants to go, not really concerned with helping the caller. Dr. Laura is a psychologist, using her title and pedigree for a show to "help people". She knows better but chooses her own self-interests first. :down:

Doesn't seem that bad, what she says. I mean, offensive and rude, sure, but that's what her show is about right? Funny how she listens to the problem, doesn't address it at all and only makes her own point.

Firing her for it seems a bit over the top too, since well, they did hire her just to be offensive and stupid like this, so they shouldn't be surprised when she actually is.

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Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

AM shows are still around? :bulb: I thought they were just used for sports broadcasting when the tube blacks them out...

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Don't forget political propaganda and brainwashing, perhaps the most important use of AM radio today.

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Originally Posted by GGT

Same here. Used to listen to her in the car on long road trips. She said controversial things then, too, about women's roles as wives and mothers. But she'd say it in such a snotty way it did sound abusive, like bullying the callers. You could almost hear her sneer. (I recall a public 'outrage' about things she'd spout on religion, but can't remember the specifics.)

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The only religion controversy I recall is that she advocated people of different religions shouldn't marry. Religion was very important in her mind to keep a family together and if you have a Jew and a Christian, that meant one or both were not going to church and/or if they both attended then they went separately. That and it cause rifts when it came to how the children should be raised. If you take religion seriously, I think these are valid points. But it plays against the 'diversity is good' social trend.

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Originally Posted by Aimless

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Huh. NPR didn't mention that she'd made a formal no nonsense apology, and that concerns me. When did the apology go public?

Also, NPR didn't play the part where she says "if you're that sensitive about racial issues, then you shouldn't have married out of your race." That sounds terrible.

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Originally Posted by Flixy

Doesn't seem that bad, what she says. I mean, offensive and rude, sure, but that's what her show is about right? Funny how she listens to the problem, doesn't address it at all and only makes her own point.

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Yeah, she's a real piece of work in the context of an advice show host. That's why I couldn't watch her. She was outright mean to very vulnerable people. What blew my mind is why people called her in the first place. You don't have to listen very long to see she's all about kicking people around.

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Firing her for it seems a bit over the top too, since well, they did hire her just to be offensive and stupid like this, so they shouldn't be surprised when she actually is.

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AFAIK she hasn't been fired, she's quitting when her contract expires. I'm guessing she's pissed off by the pressure her bosses are putting on her and figures she can pick up her toys and play in a different sandbox if they arn't going to support her. And she has plenty of time to back out too and/or milk her audience for support on air.

By the way, I do find it weird that only white people can be racist, but the small amount of 'black comedy' I saw made a lot of jokes about 'the white man' which was suddenly okay.

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Originally Posted by Flixy

By the way, I do find it weird that only white people can be racist, but the small amount of 'black comedy' I saw made a lot of jokes about 'the white man' which was suddenly okay.

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Yup. There is most definitely a double standard for between what whites can say and blacks can say. It's strikingly blatant and unfair, really. Note, I edited in a response above to your earlier post.

I saw the "apology" on CNN last night. She was also on Larry King. As usual, she ignored her caller and didn't apologize for ignoring her marital problems. She wanted to talk about social racial issues and double standards, and even then she blew it.

Now cable news is showing Palin tweets saying Dr. Laura shouldn't quit but "reload" and stand up for her constitutional rights. Then they retrieve old quotes from Dr. Laura saying Palin is a horrible choice for republican VP candidate, and criticized her for having a disabled 5th child and leaving family to campaign. Then they show Palin criticizing whoever it was for using the Retard word (and should never use the N word).

It's cable news drama and irritating buzzzzzing noise around important issues of race and speech. :coffee:

Getting encouragement from Sarah Palin to fight the good fight is how any thinking person knows they screwed up. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Huh. NPR didn't mention that she'd made a formal no nonsense apology, and that concerns me. When did the apology go public?

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The next day or something. She opened the next show with it.

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Also, NPR didn't play the part where she says "if you're that sensitive about racial issues, then you shouldn't have married out of your race." That sounds terrible.

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It sounds terrible until you actually read the entire transcript. The only agenda she seemed to have in the case of this conversation was to hold up an alternative interpretation to a woman who wanted to vent, and, later on, to defend herself from the woman's unjustified ire. This is why I posted the entire transcript, because if you cherry pick and take sentences out of context it sounds really bad. Which is funny when you consider Schlessinger's protests that the caller shouldn't take things out of context eg. wrt Schlessinger's use of the n-word :D

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Originally Posted by Aimless

The next day or something. She opened the next show with it.

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Its disappointing to me that NPR didn't mention the apology in their discussion. They had a black correspondent on and they talked over what she said, played clips, and the black guy commented on it from his racial POV. He stood fast on the right of black people to use the N-Word while white people cannot. He said is the same thing as Jerry Seinfeld making Jew jokes where as non-Jew commedians can't. And he said the reason was because blacks went through slavery and Jim Crow and segregation and so have earned the right. How do you feel about that?

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It sounds terrible until you actually read the entire transcript.

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Just to note, reading a transcript leaves out the nuances of a conversation that sometimes can make a big difference in how its taken. I haven't heard the entire thing nor have I read much if any of the transcript, so I'm not making an arugment either way in this issue. But I will say she sounded nasty in the clips I heard. .

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Comments? Here's a few points of discussion:

1. Are US blacks over sensitive to racial jokes and use of the N-Word (In the rant Dr. Laura made a joke about blacks being better at basketball than whites).

2. Does it make any sense at all that blacks can use the N-Word freely but whites cannot? Like, I can lose my job for using that word even if I don't say it as a slur at a black co-worker. Does that perpetuate racial inequality in some way?

3. Did blacks vote for Obama only because he's half-black (and not because he portrayed himself as liberal), which Dr. Laura claimed in her rant?

4. Assuming its her bosses that are leaning on her to cut it out, and prompting her to quit, are they doing the right thing? Ultimately it comes down to the Money. If not, what IS the right thing?

5. If you're familiar with Dr. Laura's show, what's your impression of her? About 15 years ago I listened to her show a half dozen times and concluded, like I said above, that she's arrogant, abusive and bullies her callers in a sometimes awful manner and I stopped listening. What do you think?

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1. No

2. No, not really. I understand why it's the case, the emotional reasoning going on, but from a rational perspective it's just ridiculous.

3. Yes and no. Was that the ONLY REASON AT ALL they had? Of course not, but c'mon, we all know it was the major reason for the 90% vote in the Dem primaries *and remember, our voices carry more weight in primary votes than in general elections*

4. Sure.

5. Same as yours. With a bit more vitriol, considering the homophobia she fans.

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Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy

With a bit more vitriol, considering the homophobia she fans.

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Oh yeah, I forgot she was anti-gay. Not sure where she gets that from (aside from the standard conservative line, that is). I mean, her views on mixed religion families has a solid social foundation, but I'm not sure why she's down on the gay thing.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Oh yeah, I forgot she was anti-gay. Not sure where she gets that from (aside from the standard conservative line, that is). I mean, her views on mixed religion families has a solid social foundation, but I'm not sure why she's down on the gay thing.

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She's an Old Testament Twat.

Can we say n***** or something instead of "n-word"? Seriously.

Americans can't, they can't even use words that look/sound like it any longer :D

I used to like listening to Dr Laura's shows while driving in the US. I hardly ever could muster any sympathy for her callers. The shows themselves were quite entertaining I thought. During the shows I listened to she never covered the 'gay' thing, so I had to learn about her homophobia online many years later.

I understand this just means she's going to stop doing life radio, but she's got it well covered through newer media. So it may very well be that this indeed frees her of restraints she can do without and enables her to make more money.

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Originally Posted by Steely Glint

Can we say n***** or something instead of "n-word"? Seriously.

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You're not giving it the proper respect. It should be capped, like this: N-Word. Anyway, you can use anything you want, I don't care. Just don't use a giant pink font....

I wonder how she'd have responded if the caller had called her something *derogatory? She's Jewish, orthodox maybe. I recall she wasn't in favor of mixing races or religions.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

You're not giving it the proper respect. It should be capped, like this: N-Word. Anyway, you can use anything you want, I don't care. Just don't use a giant pink font....

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Spoiler:

MADE YOU LOOK!

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Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

Spoiler:

MADE YOU LOOK!

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:D Well done.

So....I'm trying to think what kind of advice that caller should have been given. Her husband's friends and their neighbors sound like they keep bringing up race, asking her about what black people do, what do black people like, over and over. Like she's the only black person they know. Over time that's gotta grind on the nerves, even if it's an attempt to understand any perceived differences without trying to be rude, or use slurs. Does the same thing happen in the work place, with "the token" gay, Jew, black, whatever?

Wonder what their courtship was like, or how her husband could be blind that it's bugging her.

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Originally Posted by Hazir

Americans can't, they can't even use words that look/sound like it any longer :D

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I sniggered. :)

Snickered, sorry.

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She brings up a good point. Shame she's such a dingbat.

People are talking more about her shenanigans than about american sensitivity to the nigger word and racial double-standards, which are far more interesting.

None of that deep rooted cultural stuff can be changed on a dime anyway. That's why Dr. Laura's quitting her job. She thought she could grab America's culture by one tenticle and swing it around and she found out that tentacle had poisoned barbs and was connected to a fifty ton green photosynthetic land whale. Ouch. She's old enough to know better, but the accumulated arrogance of decades running a show where she gets to kick people around for having seemingly dumb problems puffed her head up big enough her judgement was completely clouded.

:haha: to choobie.

What we need now is an updated George Carlin version of The List, things we can't say on tv or radio. :D

George is dead though . . . . :( Probably burning in hell too.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

None of that deep rooted cultural stuff can be changed on a dime anyway. That's why Dr. Laura's quitting her job. She thought she could grab America's culture by one tenticle and swing it around and she found out that tentacle had poisoned barbs and was connected to a fifty ton green photosynthetic land whale. Ouch. She's old enough to know better, but the accumulated arrogance of decades running a show where she gets to kick people around for having seemingly dumb problems puffed her head up big enough her judgement was completely clouded.

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Well, it is funny that as Dr Laura gets thrown out for having a hissy fit about who can or can not use the word nigger, a big proportion of Americans think it's quite ok to not just use abusive language towards muslims but to actually limit their civil rights.

Not sure what dots you're connecting here. Its likely those who think the n-word shouldn't be used on the radio likely don't oppose the muslim community center. Both are more liberal PC stances, I would think. The good doctor probably, though I'm not sure, would side agaisnt the muslum center. Just guessing, but she's conservative and this is a conservative issue.