Yesterday, Media Matters posted audio and transcript of Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s racially-charged rant in which she, in her own words, “articulated the ‘n’ word all the way out — more than one time.” [11 times in five minutes, according to the Huffington Post.] Schlessinger’s tirade occurred earlier this week during a segment with an African-American caller, whom she said “had a chip on [her] shoulder.” She has since apologized for her remarks. CNN’s Rick Sanchez was the first cable news host to pick up on the story, and the network has run four segments on it since. MSNBC reported on Schlessinger’s remarks twice already today. But how many segments has Fox News run? According to a ThinkProgress review of the network’s coverage, zero.
Why has Fox News ignored the story? Perhaps because Schlessinger is a regular guest on the network. Just last year, Sean Hannity hosted the right wing radio host to promote her new book.
Update: The American Prospect’s Jamelle Bouie comments that Schlessinger’s use of the "n-word" was "the least racist thing" about her rant:
The caller – a black woman – is in an interracial marriage with a white man, and is increasingly frustrated with the racist jokes and comments made by her husband’s friends and family. […] To recap: Dr. Laura immediately dismisses her caller’s problems, uses a racist joke to prove her non-racism, insists that black people voted for Obama over nothing but racial solidarity (as if pre-Obama, African Americans never voted for Democrats), strongly resents the fact that "black guys" can use the N-word but she can’t, and declares that "if you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry outside of your race." Dr. Laura isn’t known for her sensitivity, but this is an impressive display of raw racial resentment.
That Fox didn’t carry it is more easily understood that the actual things Dr. Laura said. You just don’t talk like this if you don’t mean it. I usually skip over this kind of quaisi-news, but she sounds like some 1950’s member of the White Citizens Council’s Ladies Auxilliary. I could only listen for a minute or so to Laura’s rant. It’s just too far over the line – apology or not. Time to retire, Dr. Laura. I’m not seeing any way she can recover from this other than go over to the Dark Side…
Until she made news over this, I had forgotten all about “Dr. Laura.” She used to be the one we got outraged at over her vile anti-gay rants. But, signs of the changing times, she has slipped into irrelevancy over that.
But I remember the triumph we felt when she lost her TV show largely, we felt, due to the growing clout of gay groups who protested and, I believe, there was a boycott of people who advertised on her show. It took her off TV but then apparently she has survived on talk radio.
As an interracial dating expert, I thought Dr. Laura’s comments were beyond insensitive, not just the N-word rant, but that is it was so misplaced. This was not a conversation about being PC or even racist, it was a woman with a real marital problem that was reaching out for advice, which is really hard for most people and instead of really listening and helping her with her problem Dr. Laura uses Jade to put forth her own agenda.
Our blog, Racy JC focuses on dating within different races and cultures (Asian, Black, Indian, Jewish, Latino, among others) and approaches these issues in a new, honest, real, and non-PC way. Please check it out!
Yesterday, Media Matters posted audio and transcript of Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s racially-charged rant in which she, in her own words, “articulated the ‘n’ word all the way out — more than one time.” [11 times in five minutes, according to the Huffington Post.] Schlessinger’s tirade occurred earlier this week during a segment with an African-American caller, whom she said “had a chip on [her] shoulder.” She has since apologized for her remarks. CNN’s Rick Sanchez was the first cable news host to pick up on the story, and the network has run four segments on it since. MSNBC reported on Schlessinger’s remarks twice already today. But how many segments has Fox News run? According to a ThinkProgress review of the network’s coverage, zero.
Until she made news over this, I had forgotten all about “Dr. Laura.” She used to be the one we got outraged at over her vile anti-gay rants. But, signs of the changing times, she has slipped into irrelevancy over that.
But I remember the triumph we felt when she lost her TV show largely, we felt, due to the growing clout of gay groups who protested and, I believe, there was a boycott of people who advertised on her show. It took her off TV but then apparently she has survived on talk radio.
As an interracial dating expert, I thought Dr. Laura’s comments were beyond insensitive, not just the N-word rant, but that is it was so misplaced. This was not a conversation about being PC or even racist, it was a woman with a real marital problem that was reaching out for advice, which is really hard for most people and instead of really listening and helping her with her problem Dr. Laura uses Jade to put forth her own agenda.
Our blog, Racy JC focuses on dating within different races and cultures (Asian, Black, Indian, Jewish, Latino, among others) and approaches these issues in a new, honest, real, and non-PC way. Please check it out!
http://jcdaviesauthor.com/
social media: jcdaviesauthor
And never forget intercultural dating is great and you can do it! Racy JC