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?