Dr. Laura repeatedly says 'n----r' on the air, apologizes

[Newsjock]

Source: LAradio.com

David Bernhart of Burbank was listening to KFWB’s Dr. Laura Schlessinger yesterday afternoon in the 1 p.m. hour. “Dr. Laura blurted out the N-word several times in rapid succession to a caller, a black woman married to a white man, wanted to ask about racially hurtful remarks that other white people make to her and why her husband does nothing about them. Dr. Laura quickly concluded that the woman was hypersensitive, first pointing to African-American comedians on HBO who employ the N-word and then to black people in general, stating that the word is practically a term of endearment within that community. Not surprisingly, the caller was dissatisfied to hear that if some blacks call each other a particular word, everybody should feel free to use it. At that point, Dr. Laura might have steered the conversation in a better direction.”

... “Yes, I did use the ‘n’ word and I regretted it as soon as the call was over,” responded Dr. Laura when asked about Bernhart’s experience. “While it was in the context of making a point about the unfortunate use of that term by others who deem it acceptable or funny, it is a word that is hateful, hurtful and I should not have used it even to prove a point. After the call, I was terribly upset about it and pulled myself off the air for the rest of the show. Wednesday, at the top of my program, I will apologize to my listeners.”

Read more: http://laradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=667:the-qnq-word&catid=2:los-angeles

[Bluebear]

1. "I am my kid's bigot."

[saltpoint]

14. - - -

:thumbsup:

:hi:

[Skittles]

2. gawd she is one stupid fucking woman

it's the difference between the old lady at the cafeteria register calling me "honey" and a male boss calling me "honey" - same word, entirely different context

[Duke Newcombe]

3. Mr. Olbermann...can you include this woman the next time you say...

"This woman is an idiot"?

[Blue Owl]

56. or when he says

"Worst... Person... in the World..."

(organ playing Bach's Toccata & Fugue)

[fishwax]

4. she's a bigot -- no surprise there

:puke:

[blondeatlast]

5. Sad to say she'll probably gain listeners for it. What a weird, sad, sick world is talk radio. nt

[kestrel91316]

6. Would it be crass for people to start calling in to her show and calling her a "kike"? Just curious.

[slampoet]

34. The definition of a Kike is a jew who is so awful that even fellow jews can't stand them.....

I have always taken Kike to mean the exact opposite of Mench


This sounds like what Dr Laura has become.

[PavePusher]

7. Can someone please list the rules for proper use of the word?

'Cause I'm sure as fuck confused.

[marmar]

8. Do you have some great desire to run around saying "n****r" or something?

nt

[PavePusher]

13. Hmmm, perhaps I should have used the 'sarcasm' tag....

The point being that it's O.K. for some people to use it, but not others, and the "rules" (when they exist) seem to be based on race and social class.

Which makes those "rules" very suspect in my book.


Edit: In the meantime, let's continue to Breibart/Sherrod this thing. Fun...!

[marmar]

15. Sorry, but someone from outside of a given racial or ethnic group shouldn't be using such words....

I'm black, and I never use it and wish other African Americans would stop, but I suppose I get the whole group bonding, taking-a-negative-and-turning-it-around philosophy. Same with Latinos calling each other "sp*cs" or gay men calling each other "f*gs". ........ But if you're not a member of a given group, then why would you be using the word, except in a derisive way?

[PavePusher]

31. So it would be O.K. for Whoopi Goldberg to say it, but not Joy Behar?

Fifty Cent, O.K., Eminem, not O.K.?

Am I getting this right?

[wtmusic]

32. It would be clearer that it was being used sarcastically

Personally, I think it's pretty obnoxious whoever says it

[marmar]

33. Yes, you are.

Note that Eminem doesn't use the term, despite being very much a part of hip-hop culture. Why? Because he "gets it".

[Nye Bevan]

37. Eminem doesn't use the term? Really?

(Intro)
I love niggas! I love niggas!
Cause niggas are me!
And I should only love that 'presents me
I love to see niggas go through changes (Whoooo!!)
I love to see niggas shoot through shit (Did it again)
And to all niggas that do it I love


http://www.lyricstime.com/eminem-nigga-lyrics.html

[JonLP24]

39. 50 Cent sung the Intro

and the chorus after Biggie.

[marmar]

42. Eminem is conspicuously absent from the intro, n'est-ce pas?

nt

[Nye Bevan]

52. So he releases a song under his own name whose first line is "I love niggas"

but because he doesn't actually sing that line himself we are supposed to think he is some kind of paragon of virtue for avoiding the n-word?

[marmar]

53. I really don't know what you're supposed to think....

.... nor do I really care that much.

[slampoet]

55. Amen.

Funny we are asked to define it for him instead of Nye Bevan asking black people he knows in his neighborhood in Stamford, CT.

[Nye Bevan]

59. You're the one who claimed that he "doesn't use the term" because he "get's it".

I just don't see how that is consistent with releasing a record whose first line is "I love niggers". I guess it must be ironic, or something.

[Ignis]

75. That's not the spelling used in the song. Your slip is showing.

:hi:

[Nye Bevan]

78. I FINALLY GET IT! It's offensive to say "niggers" but perfectly fine to say "niggas"!

Thank you so much for enlightening me! (But what if Dr Laura claims that she was actually saying "niggas"?)

[Ignis]

87. No, it's offensive for you to say either.

[Nye Bevan]

90. But it's not offensive for Eminem to release a song containing the word "niggas"

provided that it is spelled that way and not the other way? Who granted Eminem this special immunity from outrage?

[Ignis]

91. How often does Eminem say that word in the song?

I'm not a fan, so I'll leave it up to you to listen and tell me.

[Nye Bevan]

93. There's a tape of him saying "I don't like that nigger shit/ I'm just here to make a bigger hit"

http://www.rapnews.net/0-202-258095-00.html

[Ignis]

94. Oh, you read Rap News Network?

I'll admit I'm surprised. :shrug: When did you start reading RNN?

In any event, could you answer my question above, please?

[Nye Bevan]

95. OK, we get it. You don't like people saying the "N word" but you are an Eminem fan

and you are twisting yourself into knots trying to give him a pass for saying this word and for writing and releasing songs containing it. I actually like some of his music myself but I don't feel the need to pretend that he is some kind of paragon of virtue.

[Ignis]

96. Reading is fun and mental. Post #91: "I'm not a fan"

I can't make it much more clear than that. :shrug:

ETA linky: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8928464&mesg_id=8940591

[Starbucks Anarchist]

67. Beastie Boys did a similar thing with "Get It Together."

Q-Tip (who is black) had a verse where the word popped up a few times (the version ending in -a, not -er). It's okay for black people to say it because they're part of the in group (this applies to other minorities and their slurs), but for someone not part of the in group in the racial sense (even hip-hop kings like the Beasties or Eminem) is taboo.

[Nye Bevan]

80. What about a mixed race person?

How black to they have to be before they are allowed to say it? Is this a "one drop of blood" kind of thing?

[Raineyb]

85. Why the hell are you so interested in the whens and whys of using the word.

The word is offensive. Don't fucking use it period.

[Ignis]

74. Yes, that is correct. Any other questions?

[MilesColtrane]

22. You could always go to Compton, Watts, Harlem, or Houston's Fifth Ward and use the word loudly...

and frequently.

I'm sure you'll find some African Americans there who will spiritedly engage you on these "suspect" rules to which you allude.

[Canuckistanian]

24. There is no "proper" use for that word

So just don't use it.

[Erose999]

44. When one Black person says it to another it cancels itself out

The idea of Black people using it is to try to reclaim the power of the word as their own.

Think of it in terms of magnetism.

Two similarly oriented poles are going to repel each other (the word will bounce off and not mean anything). Its when opposing poles contact (like a White person using the word) that it sticks and has meaning.

If I were to call another White person (Rush Limbaugh, for example) a "cracker," would that even mean anything, given that we are both White?

[superduperfarleft]

51. Sure, it's easy. If you're white, don't use it. n/t

[Ignis]

76. TOO MANY RULES!

:rant:

[lukasahero]

63. If you're white, don't use it.

How is it that people don't get that?

[PavePusher]

72. So the rules are based on.... racism. Got it.

I love the smell of irony in the morning, it lingers all day long.

[Raineyb]

73. Do you have some overwhelming need to use the word? The rules are simple. Don't fucking use the

word.

White people complaining that they can't use the word anymore doesn't garner any sympathy and frankly pisses people off.

[Ignis]

77. No, they're based on a history of oppression and slavery.

And you either do not understand the meaning of "irony" or are deliberately misusing the word. I vote for the former, but wouldn't be surprised by the latter.

[lukasahero]

81. Nope - they're based on common courtesy

As a white person, I understand that this word was used by white people to degrade and demean black people. My white parents taught me the word was vulgar and never, ever to be used. Your parents my have raised you otherwise.

[pipi_k]

82. No...the rules are based on consideration, as well as a few other things like

perhaps privilege.

Like when you can call one of your siblings a dirty name but nobody else can. In fact, you'd probably kick the ass of someone who called that same sibling the same thing.

Your privilege. Nobody else's.


Another example...I can call myself fat. You can't.

[fishwax]

86. lol -- yeah, it's so racist that white people can't use the n-word

:rofl:

:eyes:

:puke:

[Ignis]

88. Can you believe this shit?

I thought this had been already been carefully explained to all the Angry White Men during the '90s. Is this a new crop or something?

:shrug:

[Johnny2X2X]

97. How about this

If you have to ask, assume that you aren't allowed to use it ever.

[marmar]

9. "Dr." Laura is a piece of mierda.....

nt

[Scurrilous]

10. Indeed. n/t

[political_Dem]

11. It was only a matter time before that woman would show her true colors.

What took her so long?

:sarcasm:

[Raineyb]

40. Really. I'm not surprised at all.

What I don't get is why the fuck would a black woman call that moron for advice?

If you're a black woman married to a white man and people make slurs at you in his presence and he doesn't say or do anything, DIVORCE HIS SORRY ASS!

That bit of free advice brought to you by Dr. RaineyB

(I'm not actually a doctor but neither is that racist bitch Laura)

[political_Dem]

46. Great advice. What you said presents more truth than anything Dr. Laura would say.

That caller should divorce that ass. His lack of action during those tense situations proves he's a cowardly and worthless pos.

Actually, the sister did a service to the society at large. Her call brought out the utter ugliness embodied by that foul woman and her horrid talk show.

Dr. Laura can try to make an apology to smooth this over (a là Michael Richards), but people will still know that she used such derogatory language on her talk show. There is no going back for her.

To this day, I don't know why people listen to Dr. Laura. Her attitude made me sick when she first came on the scene. And now (with what I know about her along with this incident), she is most definitely lower than the scum of the earth.

[Karenina]

60. This is true no matter WHAT the configuration.

If your HUSBAND "allows" attacks against you fomented by his family, GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE. Whether they are religious or cultural or political, SAVE YOURSELF and any offspring you may have.

[Raineyb]

70. Quite true.

If your spouse doesn't have your back kick him to the curb.

I still don't know why that woman called "Dr." Laura of all people.

[pipi_k]

83. Huh...I saw her true colors back in 1995...

A couple I know...recovering alcoholics...thought very highly of her and recommended her radio show way back then.

I listened for a while and decided that she's either a poor excuse for a human being, or she sure puts on a good act.

So I'm not at all surprised at her latest disgust-fest.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

12. I was four or maybe five years old.

My mother asked my why I didn't want to play with so and so. My reply 'because he's a nigger'. Now before too many of my fellow DU'ers jump my case, let me finish the story :)
I had no idea what I was saying,I doubt I'd ever said it before in my short life.
It took my mother about 3 steps to get from inside the screen door of the house to the front lawn where I was standing, scoop me up and take me to the bathroom where she proceeded to literally, I repeat literally, wash my mouth out with soap. I was told that word was not for me to say. It wasn't our family's word to use.
It took forty years before I could even think of that word without tasting the soap...............

[JustAnotherGen]

41. I was 5

When I used a derogatory word for Asians that I'd heard on the playground.


Personally - The old Ivory dish soap made the sponge taste rather heady with a nice bouquet through the nose. :-)

Your mom and my mom sound like sister who were parted at birth - but you know what? They raised us right! :rofl:

[wryter2000]

92. My mother, too

I don't think I had even heard the N word when I asked my mother one night why all the singers on the radio sounded "negro," which was the polite term at the time. (I'm older than dirt.) I think I was around 5 or 6. I had no idea why she got so angry with me, but she told me in no uncertain terms that we did not treat people unfairly because of their race. It's one of my earliest memories, and I think it got stuck in my head because her reaction was so out of line with what I thought was a simple question.

For me, the issue is one of simple courtesy. If someone asks you not to call them something, don't call them that. Duh! I can't say it costs me not to use that word or any other number of group put-downs. I even learned to say chalk board instead of black board, and they were black in the days when I was a baby dinosaur.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. OMG. Did this really happen?

[Newsjock]

17. Yes

Here's her blog, now with today's apology added:
http://www.drlaurablog.com

These are my opening comments from my radio program today:

I talk every day about doing the right thing. And yesterday, I did the wrong thing.

I didn’t intend to hurt people, but I did. And that makes it the wrong thing to have done.

I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the “n” word all the way out - more than one time. And that was wrong. I’ll say it again - that was wrong.

I ended up, I’m sure, with many of you losing the point I was trying to make, because you were shocked by the fact that I said the word. I, myself, realized I had made a horrible mistake, and was so upset I could not finish the show. I pulled myself off the air at the end of the hour. I had to finish the hour, because 20 minutes of dead air doesn’t work. I am very sorry. And it just won’t happen again.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. showing her true colors

[jaysunb]

20. She's shown lots of "things."

:evilgrin:

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. lol. I remember when those photos were released. The internet just about shut down

[jaysunb]

26. I still have mine and look at them

every now and then. :rofl:

Actually, we're about the same age and ran in the same circles back then, I thought she was hot, but never could understand how she went from Bill Balance to the guy she married. :shrug:

Still don't understand why she took such a hard right turn.

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. I would listen to her in the 80s, she was lib, then all of a sudden she went hard right

For awhile she was orthodox jewish, then she wasn't <shrug>

[closeupready]

89. She was exploiting the prevailing political mood.

Trying to be another Rush Limbaugh, I guess.

[underpants]

69. One of them had to kick through that door and since no one has cared about her in years

she was the one

The rightwing (especially radio) will use this to use it more regularly. You watch.

[AsahinaKimi]

19. This should qualify her for

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD! Go get her Keith!

[UTUSN]

23. K&R #19 n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

25. I bet it felt good too. nt

[closeupready]

27. There we go. As if we needed ANOTHER reason to switch her program off.

I mean, sheez, why oh WHY do people continue to listen to these right-wing maniacs???

[pinboy3niner]

29. "pulled myself off the air for the rest of the show."

Not according to one of the commenters, who listened to the show and reported:

#3 D 2010-08-11 09:39
She did NOT pull herself from the air for the rest of the program. A later caller congratulated her on her racist tirade, and Dr Laura *laughed*, agreed, and thanked the caller for her sentiments!

She told millions of people that it was alright to use the N word!

What else did she say?
- A "Black" president means that "Black" peole have to stop bitching about racism and oppression.
- "Black" people voted for Obama just because he is "Black."

[UTUSN]

30. ?Did she REALLY? WHO does she think she IS - LIMBOsevich?!1 n/t

[DevonRex]

35. More like somebody yanked her off her mike by her hair and she

was upset because they messed up her salon "doo." Then she was forced to apologize or lose her sponsors.

[Nye Bevan]

36. To be fair, Robert Byrd used that word on TV in 2001

and he should have been even more sensitive given his Exalted Cyclops KKK past. It doesn't sound like Laura used the word maliciously. In general, the rule seems to be that only young black rappers are allowed to use this word, but only if is spelled "niggaz", for some reason. And they are the only people allowed to address women as "bitches".

[Kweli4Real]

45. No, The Rule is ...

before asking, or trying to define, what the rules are, you should ask yourself why it is of any importance to you? Are you, knowing the controversy and hurt that it may cause, contemplating using the word? Then, ask yourself what that says about you!

[slampoet]

49. Nye Bevan is just confirming he lives in Stamford, CT by his comments.

[KamaAina]

68. Aw, c'mon. Give Stamford a break.

I grew up near there, and while it is true that many affluent repuke corporate types live and work there, it, unlike neighboring towns such as Darien and Greenwich, has a diverse population, including a sizable African American community (yes, even projects!)

[joeybee12]

38. Dr. Laura is a worthless diseased prostitute...oops, oh, I apologize...

...it's like it never happened now!

[marmar]

43. You should be apologizing......to prostitutes !!!!!

:)

[joeybee12]

47. I know, i know...

at least, compared to that festering boil Dr Laura, prostitutes make an honest living.

[Mad_Dem_X]

48. She still has listeners??

I can't believe this harpy is still on the air. :crazy:

[cbdo2007]

50. She didn't call the woman the "N" word did she?? Just using it, especially when

arguing whether or not it shoudl be used or not, is not racist.

[slampoet]

54. Dr. Laura's conclusion was that the N-word SHOULD be used.

How does that make you feel?

[cbdo2007]

64. Did you actually hear it on the Laura show or are you basing that on the OP?

I dont' see her coming to that conclusion in the summary listed in the OP.

It doesn't make me "feel" anything, just based the description in the OP she was using the N word as an example, yet was not calling anyone the N word or using it as a weapon toward anyone.

[slampoet]

65. Listen to the show.

[pipi_k]

84. the problem was that...

the woman who called merely asked for help in dealing with her husband's friends who use that word, and the fact that her husband can't, or won't, stand up to them.

That turned into "Dr Laura" shaming the woman for not being able to deal with it at all...no sense of humor...don't marry outside your race...etc.

In effect, she used that word to make the caller 'wrong' about feeling demeaned by it.

That was unnecessary. Totally.

[derby378]

57. Nader?

Sorry, I'm in a cantankerous mood today. How the mighty Dr. Laura has fallen.

[Blue_Tires]

58. i didn't even know she was still on the air...

won't be for much longer, now...

[Karenina]

61. This is probing new depths of the rabbit hole...

Good luck to you all.

[leeroysphitz]

62. It would be wonderful if this ignorant, hate-filled, bigoted hipocrite were pulled of the air. n/t

[Permanut]

66. But she's a doctor !1!!

She has a PHD in Physiology, so I'm sure she's qualified to give people advice on race, or relationships, politics, just about anything. And because she knows so much about these things, she's qualified to use words us ordinary folks don't use.


:sarcasm:

[Freetradesucks]

71. Me and my boyz call each other "Cracker"

all the time! But if someone from a different race called me a "Cracker"!? Hoooo boy, it would be on!

.........or maybe it wouldn't be, because I don't give a flying fuck.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

79. Typical Dr Laura

Letting her fellow right-wing racist assholes off the hook while bashing the victim. Fuck her.