SMITHBITS

LIMON CO (IFS)- Gee Dr. Laura, I used to listen to you every night, and I did like your short lived television show. What has happened to you? Forgot your meds, did we? Well, I'm not going to beat you up or anything like that, but it is time that you hang up your radio microphone and call it a career.




Dr. Laura and the N-Word: No, It's Not Okay for You to Say It!
By Jam Donaldson on Aug 13th 2010 12:52PM

I'm starting to believe there is a condition called the "N-word meltdown," where white folks just go crazy and start repeating it over and over for no reason.

Well-known conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger (pictured) went all Michael Richards on a caller who reached out to her for help regarding her interracial marriage.

The caller wanted the good doctor's advice on whether to confront her husband's friends, whom she believed were making racist comments about her.

During the exchange on Tuesday's show, Schlessinger said the woman, who called herself Jade, was being too sensitive for complaining about her husband's friends. When the woman asked if the N-word was offensive, Schlessinger said, "Black guys say it all the time," then went on to repeat it several times.

"I articulated the N-word all the way out -- more than one time," Schlessinger said in comments from the opening of her radio show that she posted on her site.

Translation: she put the dreaded "er" on the end instead of the "ga."

When will white people just accept the fact that black folks can use the N-word, but they cannot. Why is this such a complicated life rule for them?

It's actually quite simple. Jews can say things about other Jews that non-Jews can't say. Gays can say things about gays that straights can't say. Latinos can say things about Latinos that non-Latinos can't say. I have an Asian friend who referred to new Asian immigrants as FOBs (fresh-off-the-boats). But she probably would have kicked my ass if I had referred to them that way. And I respect that. You can talk about your own mama, but no one else can. It's really easy, white people.

Schlessinger said on her Website on Wednesday that she was wrong in using the word for what she called an attempt to make a philosophical point.

Why are white folks so intent on rationalizing their use of the word? You can't use it, period. Get over it.

When the caller objected, Schlessinger replied:

"Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians."

I don't know what black comedians Dr. Laura listens to but I can't remember any using "nigger" in their acts. Moreover, should a woman tolerate a bunch of people in her house using the N-word in a way she finds offensive because they do it on 'Def Comedy Jam'?

Look, white folks, I'll break it down for you: Black folks don't call each other "nigger"; we say "nigga." And whether you accept it or not, there is a huge distinction.

As an African American woman, I can't ever remember using "nigger" in my life in referring to another black person. Though, on a bad day at my DMV, I may say "nigga" in my head several times.

Dr. Laura and other white folks who put forth this "well, black people use it, why can't I" argument seem so tied to their own supremacy that they just can't accept that there are things we can do that they can't -- and it bugs the hell out of them.

In all fairness, Schlessinger did not direct the epithet at the woman but said she used it to suggest how often she hears it, and that it should not automatically be a cause for offense, which is also the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's about context, Dr. Laura. Who's saying it, why, how and in what environment? Who are you to say what should offend this woman?

This is not a debate on the infamous N-word. Some people say no one should use it; others say it's fine. Frankly, I couldn't care less. Either way, this is not about that.

It's about respecting a culture's right to its own intracultural norms. If your use of the word offends me, that's really all you need to know.

We don't have to explain why you can't say it, we don't have to defend our use of it and we don't have to tolerate you saying it. You just can't. It's like family. You can talk about each other, but no one else can. And as long as everyone remembers that, we should get along just fine.