Dr. Laura’s Racist Rant and the First Amendment
I wrote the below post last weekend after seeing Marji’s … and then forgot to publish it, until seeing the news this morning that Dr. Laura is saying goodbye to her radio show, so that she can engage her “First Amendment rights” (translation: spew racist rants) in peace. Apparently, she lamented to Larry King last night that her rights were being infringed. How so? People were complaining. People objected to her racist ramblings. People asked her advertisers to cut ties. People — gasp! — were speaking up freely, after she herself spoke out freely (and despicably). Clearly, free-speech rights were being trampled on left and right. *eyeroll* Someone get this woman a copy of the First Amendment. From Mediaite:
“I want to regain my First Amendment rights,” Schlessinger told Larry King. “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind, and in my heart, what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent, and attack affiliates and attack sponsors.”
The radio host said she would be taking her advice online and continue to write books where she wouldn’t have to “live in fear” of people getting upset because she was giving advice that was viewed as offensive by the public.
Uh, newsflash, Dr. Laura: If what’s on your mind and in your heart is ignorant racist vitriol, people are going to get angry regardless of whether you say it on the radio or write it in a blog post or publish it in a book. And as anyone paying attention to the would-be martyr’s story well knows, this wasn’t about silencing dissent — it was about calling out and refusing to tolerate blatant racism.
And on that racism, as I point out in the original post below, I continue to be frustrated by some media outlets’ focus solely on Dr. Laura’s use of the n-word, as if that was the extent of her jaw-dropping commentary. But I won’t repeat my (brief) thoughts on that here; they’re below.
A tip of my hat to Josh of Free Press for the alert on Dr. Laura’s impending departure from radio and her ridiculous victim-playing, which you can “fail” here. Edit: See also the post at ColorLines and this one too, both of which I previously missed.
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Marji just published a post over at one of her other hangouts that left me scooping my jaw up off the floor. Until reading it, I hadn’t heard about Dr. Laura’s outrageous, blatant display of ignorance and racism on her show this week; it happened when a black female listener called in about the frustration she was feeling regarding racist remarks from her white husband’s friends and family. When you read Marji’s post, don’t just read the post. Listen to the audio, embedded at the bottom, as well. Marji’s summary isn’t an exaggeration or an analysis of implied messages; it really is a straightforward summary of what the woman came right out and said. Indeed, the summary doesn’t even begin to relay the full horror of Dr. Laura’s remarks. Hearing for myself not only what she said but also how she said it – the tone she used and the way she plowed over her caller’s attempts to speak – left me even more stunned (and furious). You’ll hear that the caller could barely get in a word after her first sentence, trying to explain the problem, and that truly, the ignorant radio host’s racist reactions were immediate.
And if you’ve seen news reports about the talk show host’s apology for the diatribe, you may have seen (as I just did upon browsing) a lot of focus on Dr. Laura’s inexcusable, repeated use of the n-word during the conversation, and that is all she really apologized for, but please, note that her excitable repetition of the n-word is not remotely, remotely the only racist thing she said! We could cut that part out, and the whole damn thing, from start to finish, would still be one ignorant, bigoted, racist, all-around-offensive remark and reaction after another. Near the end of her ranting, which continued after the caller had hung up, she summed it up with this neat little explanation: You see, there isn’t really racism anymore. All those “black activists,” with all their “hypersensitivities” and, apparently, quests for “power,” just want people to think that racism exists.
If anyone has seen a campaign targeting the advertisers who support this vile person’s program, please, let us know.
From Marji: “Dr. Laura, Reverse Racism for the Fail”
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
Love your post. I agree! Dr. Laura seems to think that she’s the only one with First Amendment rights. I love the way she turned the story around though. Last week it was about her saying the “N” word. This week, it’s about her trampled First Amendment rights. Way to go Dr. Laura!
Don’t forget your racist bingo card when listening!:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizhenry/3185596306/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckytekkie/472730062/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizhenry/3185596402/
(The first card comes *thisclose* to generating multiple “wins,” so much racism did “Dr.” Laura manage to cram into her +/- 5-minute diatribe.)
I completely agree! Everyone is upset with her n-words. But that was not the issue at hand, really. The biggest issue I had was that she condoned statements like, “What do you black people do?” That is NEVER okay. Caucasians should have enough empathy to realize African-Americans live life the same way Caucasians do. Also, she completely berated a caller. Isn’t it, you know, kind of her job to console her callers? Don’t callers call her because they need her help/advice? It is her job to be nice. It’s good she quit because I don’t think she is actually qualified to deal with people respectfully. Thank you for this post and enlightening me to the awful truths of our society, when even professionals that can be heard loud and clear regularly can be racist, and just plain cold-hearted. When we will ever learn? It is hard for me to have hope that veganism will ever be wide-spread when we can’t even have empathy for our fellow humans. =(
Hi, Arianna. Thanks for your thoughts. I wouldn’t say her job is to “console” callers or be nice across the board, but her bigotry (in general) and racism mean that her ability to give solid, objective, sound, intelligent advice is laughable.
One gentle word of caution though regarding this comment: “Caucasians should have enough empathy to realize African-Americans live life the same way Caucasians do.” I know that this sentiment is well intended, but (1) I don’t think it’s a matter of empathy, and (2) this kind of statement seems to imply that we are indeed living in some kind of postracial society when we’re not and/or that we (and our lives) are all the same, when that’s not true either, whether we’re talking about race or socioeconomic status or gender or sexuality or whatever else. Beyond not all living (or being able to live or even necessarily wanting to live) the same kinds of lives, we also don’t experience discrimination and injustices and bigotry and so on in our day-to-day lives in the same ways, and indeed, this incident was proof of that.
As for this — “It is hard for me to have hope that veganism will ever be wide-spread when we can’t even have empathy for our fellow humans” — don’t give up hope yet. I still don’t know that I’d use the word “empathy” here or that I consider simple lack of empathy the problem, but I think I know what you mean. Progress can seem painfully slow, but I’m not willing to throw in the towel just yet.
Thanks for your comment back. I don’t feel comfortable with it, though. I thought my general ideas would be understood. No, we don’t all live exactly alike, but we live generally alike. We are all human. I think empathy has a huge deal to do with it. I actually draw that from a video posted on this site about empathy. In the video, we only had empathy for our own tribe way back when, it then grew to other tribes, which then grew to bigger and bigger populations and now we have empathy for even different countries because we realize that we are all human and have the general desires of other humans. To do with race, people aren’t being empathetic enough to realize that people of different races aren’t completely different, strange, etc. We have different cultures, and from person to person we have different lifestyles, yes. This does not mean we are all completely, totally different to the point we need to say/phrase questions like, “What do you black people do?” If that person had empathy, he/she wouldn’t have asked that, realizing we all live life. He/she could maybe be kind enough to phrase the question better, also coming from having empathy for that other person. Again, thanks for your comment back. I was agreeing with the post. I was thanking you for your post. I was adding in my opinions, and feel like I was stupid in some way with the way you commented back. You made me feel very low and uneducated. I don’t think I will give opinions on your posts anymore. Next time, I will just thank you and move on.
Arianna, I can’t respond in detail right now because of a deadine, but quickly, I do want to say that I’m sincerely sorry if we misunderstood each other and if I made you feel condescended to. That truly wasn’t my intention.
It was funny how conservatives like Ms. Palin, who typically see the “free market” as sacrosanct, followed Dr. Laura on the First Amendment line, while completely ignoring the inherent contradiction: it was the “free market”, through supply and demand, that pushed Dr. Laura out. Her audience decreased, and thus, so did demand; ending the supply for that “good”, then, was a logical consequence.