I articulated the"n" word all the way out......

I have written before on good ol' Dr. Laura.  Well she's at it again....and this time (crosses fingers) maybe she will cease to exist anywhere people can hear her speak.  But like a phoenix she will rise up even more powerful...probably even run for office - Sarah's VP?

Dr. Laura "I articulated the"n" word all the way out" Schlessinger made an apology. It was kind of an actual apology and not a Fauxpology:

“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.

You can read a transcript of the phone call that started it all here.  It ends with this:

[Dr. Laura] 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.”

And what I just heard from Jade is a lot of what I hear from black-think — and it’s really distressting [sic] and disturbing. And to put it in its context, she said the N-word, and I said, on HBO, listening to black comics, you hear “n!gger, n!gger, n!gger.” I didn’t call anybody a n!gger. Nice try, Jade. Actually, sucky try.

Need a sense of humor, sense of humor — and answer the question. When somebody says, “What do blacks think?” say, “This is what I think. This is what I read that if you take a poll the majority of blacks think this.” Answer the question and discuss the issue. It’s like we can’t discuss anything without saying there’s -isms?

We have to be able to discuss these things. We’re people — goodness gracious me. Ah — hypersensitivity, OK, which is being bred by black activists. I really thought that once we had a black president, the attempt to demonize whites hating blacks would stop, but it seems to have grown, and I don’t get it. Yes, I do. It’s all about power. I do get it. It’s all about power and that’s sad because what should be in power is not power or righteousness to do good — that should be the greatest power.

You can get a pretty good grasp of her mindset, especially from her apology.  She's been doing this for a long-long-long time not to understand the dynamics at play.  This was not an issue about hypersensitivity on the part of the caller, but with Dr. Laura herself.  What really chaps Dr. Laura - and those with a similar mindset -  is the fear of saying anything about Obama and having it be construed as being racist.  But that's only a concern for those that know themselves to be such - which is why statements such as  "It’s like we can’t discuss anything without saying there’s -isms?"

I can discus it - that's what I am doing in this post, but unlike Dr. Laura I get what is going on, which is why you would never hear me say "We’ve got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that’s hilarious."  It's no such thing, it's an issue that is real and it does not go away because some milestone was met.  It will end when racism ends or is pushed down into the tail end of the bell curve.

There is a difference between a question posed for an answer and one posed because on an "ism."  I am pretty sure that the caller - Jade - knows the difference.  The adamant hatred for Obama is not in proportion to what he has done or not done as President.  So it has to be something else. I think though, it is something much more sinister in play here, and it involves the inability of Dr. Laura to call President Obama a nigger.  This inability is one not of her own making but a societal shift towards what is commonly referred to as being "PC."  The old guard white attitudes towards race - those held by the Dr. Laura's of the world - are being phased out by a reality that one's "race" is really not that important.  But this is troubling for those who are adamant that there really is a difference and that their views are being relegated to some 2nd class status simply because they are white.

In other words because "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" now that we have a black President why cant' I call him a nigger...I mean "black guys talking to each other seem to think it’s OK. 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" so if I think he's a nigger why can't I outright call him one?

The simplemindedness of whites - especially those who lead and guide them -believe that all should be OK now....that you blacks have reached the top, why aren't you satisfied?  What they fail to understand - and this is just inexcusable for someone with Dr. Laura's background - is that their "race" is a constant factor for blacks.

I don't think about being white.  It does not enter into the equation of who I am.  But blacks do.  Whether they want to or not - their "race" is always a factor.  It is inescapable and has to do with a dynamic that is uniquely American.  The caller - Jade - understood that what was in play was this constant reminder that she is black, which for her means the person making the comment sees her as not like them - instead she is different.

She does not see herself as different, she sees herself as just like everybody else, but the world outside her "race" - as well as from those within it - constantly want to make her different.  That's not being hypersensitive - that's being fed up.

I can't speak for Jade, but I will bet anything that she is no more proud of being black as I am being white.  She wants to be left alone and to be seen as every other neighbor, wife, friend, relative, coworker, professional - that is as a whole person.  That was the point of her call - she was asking Dr. Laura "how can I get them to just let me be me?"

But Dr. Laura didn't get it then and she doesn't get it now.  It has nothing to do with articulating the "n" word "all the way out" nor on making a "philosophical point"  It's not the word that's the issue, it's the complete and utter insensitivity to its usage and what it means - you are different - not good different - but inferior different.  I don't shy away from it - my last post used it and this one does too.  The difference here is that I don't use it because "blacks on HBO use it so why can't I."  I use it for the word it is -and I use it in it's raw unadulterated form.  I get it, and again, it is inexcusable for Dr. Laura not to understand the dynamics in play with the use of the word by blacks.  By using it, blacks control it, they make it their own and by doing that they devalue it by making it just an everyday word.  That's Psychology 101.

But then again, maybe that's telling about the kind of person she is.  Arrogant, self-righteous, smug - and a bigot.

Nice try, Dr. Laura. Actually, sucky try.