Dr. Laura Schlessinger has been in all the headlines this week after her racial tirade last week when she dropped the N word 11 times in a conversation with a caller on her radio show. I don't believe that her use of the word was a direct attempt to be racist. She was trying to explain that the word is used on TV and in music by African Americans and argued why the word was taboo. I personally do not use the word because I find it offensive but she does bring up an interesting point there. If one person can't say it, why can another? That's a debate that will never have an answer and I digress.
Her rant was not void of racial comments. While supposedly being interrupted by the caller, Dr. Laura was unhappy and told the caller, "Don't NAACP me." I'm not going to assume what situation she was referencing but clearly it was a dig at the organization that, while it is not without its own troubles, has helped millions of people over the years. It's this kind of snark and sarcasm that makes her show unbearable to listen to. At least to me.
These statements are not the controversy. Yes, people were upset by her use of the word and people were calling for an apology. She issued that apology and the situation appeared to be dead. No one was calling for her to be fired and there were no fines placed on her by the FCC or any other entity. Then, earlier this week she announced that she would not be renewing her contract at the end of the year because she wants to get her First Amendment rights back. Don't scratch your head too hard here because I've already been doing it for you. I can't figure out where she lost her rights.
As mentioned before, she was not, and at this moment will not, be fired and she has not been fined. Seems to me like she made a statement that upset people but many of us in the broadcast business do that every day. I said "crap" on the air once and an irate mother called up complaining about me. She said she couldn't believe that my station would allow such foul language from its staff and asked what kind of punishment I would receive. She even called it the "C" word. I apologized, much to my dismay, and we moved on. The N word is much more incendiary and Dr. Laura had the same punishment. She had to give an apology. I don't believe that's really a violation of her First Amendment rights. That's just called being a decent human being. Remember Don Imus? He made what appeared to be racial comments about a specific group of female basketball players and he was promptly fired. He never complained about any violation of his rights and he went on to find a new job. Again I ask, where are these violations of Dr. Laura's rights coming from?
One other point to be made is that the N word is not an illegal word. The FCC does not consider that to be a banned word like the F, S and C words for example. There is no fine for using the N word even though most outlets do shy away from it. If I were to say F**k on the radio one morning I would be fined $250k and would more than likely be fired as well. That sounds more like a violation of my First Amendment rights than her situation.
We live in a day where the more controversy and problems you cause, the more popular and rich you become. People in the media understand this just as much as a dirtbag from the Jersey Shore does. Why would a prominent female broadcaster let an opportunity for free press go to waste? That's what Dr. Laura is really going for. It's an attempt to create a controversy that is not actually there, and become the martyr of it. It's a brilliant idea really. Her popularity will soar as millions of sympathizers will rush to comfort her in clearly what is a blatant attempt of the big government to silence her. It's a shame that none of these people will realize she is bringing all of it upon herself just for a little extra attention.
I'm going to end this post with an interview between Dr. Laura and CNN's John Roberts. Roberts doesn't simply bow down to her like most interviewers do and it basically proves that this whole bit is a complete publicity stunt.
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