Advice
Another One Falls Off the Wagon – Dr. Laura
Being a huge Opie and Anthony fan i hardly ever listen to any other talk radio programs. Because of this i tend to miss a lot of the happenings in other shows. I was largely unfamiliar with Dr. Laura Schlessinger until the other day when she made a “racial rant”. If you missed it the text file of the audio, here it is:
SCHLESSINGER: Jade, welcome to the program.
CALLER: Hi, Dr. Laura.
SCHLESSINGER: Hi.
CALLER: I’m having an issue with my husband where I’m starting to grow very resentful of him. I’m black, and he’s white. We’ve been around some of his friends and family members who start making racist comments as if I’m not there or if I’m not black. And my husband ignores those comments, and it hurts my feelings. And he acts like –
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.
CALLER: OK. Last night — good example — we had a neighbor come over, and this neighbor — when every time he comes over, it’s always a black comment. It’s, “Oh, well, how do you black people like doing this?” And, “Do black people really like doing that?” And for a long time, I would ignore it. But last night, I got to the point where it –
SCHLESSINGER: I don’t think that’s racist.
CALLER: Well, the stereotype –
SCHLESSINGER: I don’t think that’s racist. No, I think that –
CALLER: [unintelligible]
SCHLESSINGER: No, no, no. I think that’s — well, listen, without giving much thought, a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply ’cause he was half-black. Didn’t matter what he was gonna do in office, it was a black thing. You gotta know that. That’s not a surprise. Not everything that somebody says — we had friends over the other day; we got about 35 people here — the guys who were gonna start playing basketball. I was going to go out and play basketball. My bodyguard and my dear friend is a black man. And I said, “White men can’t jump; I want you on my team.” That was racist? That was funny.
CALLER: How about the N-word? So, the N-word’s been thrown around –
SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nigger, nigger, nigger.
CALLER: That isn’t –
SCHLESSINGER: I don’t get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it’s a horrible thing; but when black people say it, it’s affectionate. It’s very confusing. Don’t hang up, I want to talk to you some more. Don’t go away.
I’m Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I’ll be right back.
After taking a commercial break, Schlessinger resumed her discussion with the caller:
SCHLESSINGER: I’m Dr. Laura Schlessinger, talking to Jade. What did you think about during the break, by the way?
CALLER: I was a little caught back by the N-word that you spewed out, I have to be honest with you. But my point is, race relations –
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, then I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comedians.
CALLER: But that doesn’t make it right. I mean, race is a [unintelligible] –
SCHLESSINGER: My dear, my dear –
CALLER: — since Obama’s been in office –
SCHLESSINGER: — the point I’m trying to make –
CALLER: — racism has come to another level that’s unacceptable.
SCHLESSINGER: Yeah. We’ve got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that’s hilarious.
CALLER: But I think, honestly, because there’s more white people afraid of a black man taking over the nation.
SCHLESSINGER: They’re afraid.
CALLER: If you want to be honest about it [unintelligible]
SCHLESSINGER: Dear, they voted him in. Only 12 percent of the population’s black. Whites voted him in.
CALLER: It was the younger generation that did it. It wasn’t the older white people who did it.
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, OK.
CALLER: It was the younger generation –
SCHLESSINGER: All right. All right.
CALLER: — that did it.
SCHLESSINGER: Chip on your shoulder. I can’t do much about that.
CALLER: It’s not like that.
SCHLESSINGER: Yeah. I think you have too much sensitivity –
CALLER: So it’s OK to say “nigger”?
SCHLESSINGER: — and not enough sense of humor.
CALLER: It’s OK to say that word?
SCHLESSINGER: It depends how it’s said.
CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
SCHLESSINGER: It’s — it depends how it’s said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it’s OK.
CALLER: But you’re not black. They’re not black. My husband is white.
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, I see. So, a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can’t do much about that.
CALLER: I can’t believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the “nigger” word, and I hope everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: I didn’t spew out the “nigger” word.
CALLER: You said, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.”
SCHLESSINGER: Right, I said that’s what you hear.
CALLER: Everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: Yes, they did.
CALLER: I hope everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: They did, and I’ll say it again –
CALLER: So what makes it OK for you to say the word?
SCHLESSINGER: — nigger, nigger, nigger is what you hear on HB –
CALLER: So what makes it –
SCHLESSINGER: Why don’t you let me finish a sentence?
CALLER: OK.
SCHLESSINGER: Don’t take things out of context. Don’t double N — NAACP me. Tape the –
CALLER: I know what the NAACP –
SCHLESSINGER: Leave them in context.
CALLER: I know what the N-word means and I know it came from a white person. And I know the white person made it bad.
SCHLESSINGER: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Can’t have this argument. You know what? If you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry out of your race. If you’re going to marry out of your race, people are going to say, “OK, what do blacks think? What do whites think? What do Jews think? What do Catholics think?” Of course there isn’t a one-think per se. But in general there’s “think.
I support Dr. Laura in her arguement because honestly she is correct. It’s not a matter of race, it is a matter of context. So Dr. Laura I tip my glass to you and your new friends Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, and Don Imus. May they be all the support you will ever need because rebounding from this is a tough task to overcome.
Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
StumbleUpon
It’s actually good to see this in written form and I would have to say I don’t see anything wrong with it. She handled herself very well and wasn’t trying to use it in a bad way. I don’t believe in the white black thing anymore.
I have a few issues with the interview.
Firstly, “Dr.” Laura is full of shit. She’s posing as a woman giving other women advise, but she’s nothing more than a radio personality that panders to a male audience. She gives a women’s perspective like Bill O’Reilly gives an independent perspective. Before the caller got a chance to explain her situation, the good Doctor’s biases and initial intent automatically made her suspect, “‘Cause sometimes people[niggers] are hypersensitive.”
Next, using HBO as a standard of behavior and language in a civilized society is border-lining retardation. If I use the word cunt, repeatedly, in the workplace, can I use that argument with MEO, because I watched Deadwood on HBO?
Lastly, Laura is now showing her true colors as a glorious idiot, quitting her job, because she’s lost her 1st Amendment rights. I wasn’t aware the government took away any of her 1st Amendment rights. She gave those away for a spot in radio. That’s the gilded cage of media. They pay you money to talk, but you must maintain certain standards of conduct on the air. Actually, I’m surprised that after all those years in the business, she has absolutely no idea how it works.
“What, advertisers don’t want to be associated with my racial argument? What, they paid for product exposure, without any negative connotations attached? What a strange world we live in.”
Tide doesn’t want to champion the right for white people being able to use racial slurs in popular media. Tide wants to sell laundry detergent.
…I just can’t stay off this topic and have to add more.
Here’s a situation to think about. Take this statement from the caller.
“How about the N-word? So, the N-word’s been thrown around ”
The good Doctor had no problem with that, because a comedian on HBO said it.
What if I was one of the guys at her home, throwing around racial slurs. What if they had a child and I told the father, “Hey, where’s that little half-nigger baby of yours?” Should that bother her? Of course not. A comedian on HBO said it, so I should be just fine with it.
Since my IQ is a bit lower I can’t completely with your rational but I will say I firmly believe it’s fair game in the context of a conversation about race, the word, or discussion. I think where it’s inappropriate is in situation where the Seinfeld guy used it during his rant on stage during his standup.
I am blast with the N-Word in Walmart, supermarkets, and around society in general. It’s become a term used in normal conversation (as sad as it is). People can keep hanging on to their sensitivities but in the end I don’t play with double edged swords well.
I don’t feel guilty for slavery because I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t make the word bad. I don’t use it as a racial slur. I doubt the good doctor does those things either. Her comparision may have been bad but I think her appreciation for the topic was in good spirits.
Just because someone does it, doesn’t mean I want it done in my home. We can make dick jokes all day, but I don’t want it in my home.
Also, does this woman identify herself as a nigger? I’m going out on a limb to say no. Your argument is that she should, because you heard some people at Walmart and the grocery store use it. I’m from Texas, therefore, by your argument, I am a redneck, because you’ve heard people from Texas identify themselves as rednecks. If I don’t want you to call me a redneck, it doesn’t matter, because other people are doing it.
I totally agree with you on a few things. I don’t feel responsible for slavery. I didn’t make the word bad…and I believe the race conversation in America is dishonest. I don’t say African-American, I say black, just as I expect someone to call me white, not Caucasian. Reason being, not all dark-skinned people originate from Africa, just as not all white people originate from the caucauses of Asia.
I think the sensitivities stem from some people wanting to be thought of as something better than a nigger.
I don’t think this is a double-edged sword. You’re making the assumption that this woman is that person in that supermarket. “She’s black and all black people act the same way and do the same things.”
Adam the point is that the word is unacceptable in any form. Blacks assume its ok to call eachother that term but they are just further degrading their culture.
The problem that Dr. Laura had is that she did not put the letter ‘a’ at the end of the word. Because as we all know the word ‘nigga’ is not offensive but the word ‘nigger’ is. How does this make it better? I’m not really sure but that just goes to show how fucked up our society really is.
While i don’t think that Dr. Laura had bad intentions, she should know better. I think that her argument is correct she just used extremely poor examples to try and prove her point.
beav I know you are not a redneck, you are an elite Texan. You put an image in my head of having my family using the N-word in my home as casual conversation. I don’t know if I could handle that. I am glad I got you to write the N-word though.
Mike your gay.
I refuse to use the term “the N-word”. It’s childish, like telling a joke and saying poo poo, instead of shit.
It’s in the context that you’re using it. When I was using it, in was in the context of a conversation about covert(and overt) racism. It wouldn’t have the same impact, if I said, “Hey, where’s that little half-N-word baby of yours?”
…that and I’m not a nationally syndicated radio show host. Adam can’t fire me, he doesn’t pay me.
I am going to start paying you…hehe. I think this was a good conversation and I have no doubt this is not the end of the debate on this article. Thanks Mike for bringing the big guns to town.
Glenn Beck probably pleasures himself to this audio recording every night while weeping silently in the fetal position.
Good to see you commenting, Nikki.
Glad I’m not the only liberal hippie here, to battle these bloodthirsty Republicans.