Dr. Laura's "N word" Rant

[Madeline]

I grew up in New York, Radioman. I can vividly recall the slurs for Italians being spoken by adults around me. (And the ones for damned near every other group of humans on Earth.) With real hate behind them.

These are disturbing memories, and WTF anyone would want to revive or import a racial slur into their speech in 2010 escapes me.

 

[RadiomanATL]

I grew up in New York, Radioman. I can vividly recall the slurs for Italians being spoken by adults around me. (And the ones for damned near every other group of humans on Earth.) With real hate behind them.

These are disturbing memories, and WTF anyone would want to revive or import a racial slur into their speech in 2010 escapes me.

So no deer parmigiana?

Most people I run into have no idea that there are slurs for Italians.

 

[Zona]

Sorry, I gotta side with Dr. Schlessinger on this one even though I'm not a big fan of hers. She's absolutely right.

Then do you also agree with her when she said: "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."

Or do you still think that she was right to say ******, and that she was wrong to say that she was wrong?

Were her initial comments right or wrong? And was her admitting that she was wrong, right or wrong?

Her initial comments were right on. Her apology is political correctness in action, or she may have been threatened with losing her radio show. Sign of the times.

Still goes back to the original comment: why is the word "******" a racial epithet when Whites say it and not when Blacks say it?

YOu missed the bigger question...why did this woman tell the caller she shouldnt marry outside her race and how she should get a sense of humor when the N word is spewed in her own home.

Oh and as far as the N word thing....Asians, italians, polish, jewish AND BLACK people call themselves names IN THIER OWN CIRCLE. Why is this so hard for you to understand?

 

[Madeline]

I grew up in New York, Radioman. I can vividly recall the slurs for Italians being spoken by adults around me. (And the ones for damned near every other group of humans on Earth.) With real hate behind them.

These are disturbing memories, and WTF anyone would want to revive or import a racial slur into their speech in 2010 escapes me.

So no deer parmigiana?

Most people I run into have no idea that there are slurs for Italians.

And ain't that a beautiful thing?

 

[Zona]

Mebbe the funniest movie ever made.

no no no dag blamit, I said the Sheriff is a NNNNEEEEAAAARRRR.

 

[Madeline]

♫ men are always coming and going...and always too soon....♪

That was pretty risque stuff in the early 70's.

 

[Zona]

♫ men are always coming and going...and always too soon....♪

That was pretty risque stuff in the early 70's.

Revick!

 

[Madeline]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-SlyicdHEw]YouTube - Blazing Saddles Work Song[/ame]

I can't believe there are people who have not seen this movie!

 

[rightwinger]

the n-word wasn't the worst thing that she said in her rant. i mean she said some really stereo typical things that bothered me. like the story she told about telling her body guard on the team because he is black and white men can't jump. then she went on saying Obama was a black thing (I'm black and I voted for Hilary Clinton during the primary season).

and laughed at the fact she thought just because black comics use the n-word it's OK. you have to be an idiot to take what is OK and not OK to say from HBO.

saying the n-word is not OK. I remember growing up my father never let me and my brother say that word.

I agree, her use of the N word without directing it personally was not offensive in itself. But the context of her rant that blacks need a thicker skin was repulsive.
Her "I have a black bodyguard, so I know what I am talking about" was condescending. For her to equate her time on a basketball court with the discrimination blacks have faced shows how sheltered and elitist she really is.

I just don't understande why anyone listens to her opinions anymore

 

[MikeK]

I assume you are quoting rap music lyrics. Ya, some are despicable...but the target audience is young, and the young have always enjoyed music that annoyed the shit outta old people, MikeK.

Yes, that homicidally psychopathic poetry is lyrics taken from the medium known as "rap." And while the music of younger generations has typically expressed a shift from the existing temperament and social attitude of previous generations, the most prominent examples being the emergence of "boogie-woogie" in the 30s, "rock & roll" in the 50s and "heavy metal" of our presently manic social phase, can you point to any medium of expression, common to any time in history, including the rise of Nazi Germany, in which such unbridled, unmitigated, brazenly visceral and murderous hatred emerged in a form calling itself music and has been tolerated by even the most politically liberal segment of a supposedly civilized society? That isn't "music." It is the essence of the mentality of a segment of a rising generation. It is a warning!

And it is preposterous to claim "blacks have reached equality". You sound like an educated person, and I assume you know this.

Some people are born rich and some are born good-looking. Some even begin playing Chopin at age nine. I was born with none of those advantages or attributes but I am equal to those more fortunate than I in terms of my legal access and protections under the Law.

That is the kind of equality I'm talking about. Perhaps it's been a long time coming for Black people in America but that's neither my fault nor yours and the important thing is it's here now.

Life is, always has been and always will be, harder for some than for others. So much for the elasticity of the word, equality.

 

[Madeline]

MikeK, drive through poor neighborhoods in Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, etc. and then repeat that claim. It just don't hold water.

Born poor and black? The odds are overwhelming that will never change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/books/review/Ford-t.html

 

[Zona]

MikeK, drive through poor neighborhoods in Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, etc. and then repeat that claim. It just don't hold water.

Born poor and black? The odds are overwhelming that will never change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/books/review/Ford-t.html

There are ways to change that vicious cycle. Its the same for being white and poor really...imo. If you are born poor (I am an example) and you see, day after day, the same crap, you begin to believe that is the norm and are expected to continue on with that cycle.

Like I said, there are ways to change this. Everyone in my family did.

 

[Foxfyre]

MikeK, drive through poor neighborhoods in Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, etc. and then repeat that claim. It just don't hold water.

Born poor and black? The odds are overwhelming that will never change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/books/review/Ford-t.html

You know I love you Maddie, but I disagree here. The odds that black kids will be born is of course correct. I don't buy that it is inevitable that they will be born mostly poor . . . UNLESS . . . we continue social policies that treat black people as separate from the mainstream, as objects to be condescended to and patronized because they won't have the chance otherwise, and/or treat black people as inferiors with the assumption that they can't survive or be 'equal' without 'Whitey's' help.

When we make room to make the brass ring accessible to ALL our citizens and then expect them to take the initiative to reach for it, we will see dramatic improvement. Handing them the ring isn't going to ever get them further on down the road.

When we return to traditional American values in which we see and encourage traditional marriage and the two parent family as the norm, we will see most child poverty essentially eliminated. And though many single parents are doing great jobs holding their families together, we won't achieve that by thinking it is somehow virtuous or enlightened to see fathers as unimportant.

And part of the solution is to start accepting people as they are and what they are and not giving hateful words like the "n" word any more power than any other hateful, ugly euphemism or insult by which we describe people. In that sense, I think Dr. Laura was right.

 

[Madeline]

MikeK, drive through poor neighborhoods in Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, etc. and then repeat that claim. It just don't hold water.

Born poor and black? The odds are overwhelming that will never change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/books/review/Ford-t.html

You know I love you Maddie, but I disagree here. The odds that black kids will be born is of course correct. I don't buy that it is inevitable that they will be born mostly poor . . . UNLESS . . . we continue social policies that treat black people as separate from the mainstream, as objects to be condescended to and patronized because they won't have the chance otherwise, and/or treat black people as inferiors with the assumption that they can't survive or be 'equal' without 'Whitey's' help.

When we make room to make the brass ring accessible to ALL our citizens and then expect them to take the initiative to reach for it, we will see dramatic improvement. Handing them the ring isn't going to ever get them further on down the road.

When we return to traditional American values in which we see and encourage traditional marriage and the two parent family as the norm, we will see most child poverty essentially eliminated. And though many single parents are doing great jobs holding their families together, we won't achieve that by thinking it is somehow virtuous or enlightened to see fathers as unimportant.

And part of the solution is to start accepting people as they are and what they are and not giving hateful words like the "n" word any more power than any other hateful, ugly euphemism or insult by which we describe people. In that sense, I think Dr. Laura was right.

foxfyre, you have a good heart. Reasonable people can disagree as to how to lift children from poverty. I might not emphasize the same things as you do, but clearly, we both wish we could affect change.

 

[Sheldon]

Yes, that homicidally psychopathic poetry is lyrics taken from the medium known as "rap." And while the music of younger generations has typically expressed a shift from the existing temperament and social attitude of previous generations, the most prominent examples being the emergence of "boogie-woogie" in the 30s, "rock & roll" in the 50s and "heavy metal" of our presently manic social phase, can you point to any medium of expression, common to any time in history, including the rise of Nazi Germany, in which such unbridled, unmitigated, brazenly visceral and murderous hatred emerged in a form calling itself music and has been tolerated by even the most politically liberal segment of a supposedly civilized society? That isn't "music." It is the essence of the mentality of a segment of a rising generation. It is a warning!

Change your Depends, dude. It's not a warning, any more than are the neo-Nazi rock bands. I could pull up some Landser lyrics for example of racism in rock.

those quoted lyrics are from some rappers and labels I've never even heard of before, not even anywhere close to mainstream or anyone who's relevant in the underground. You took the absolute worst of the worst from some inconsequential artists, and are now trying to extrapolate it into some commentary about modern popular music. I don't know why.

As far as the violence rapped about in some hip-hop, i think that's two-fold. One is, it's a product of where the rappers come from--you speak what you know about. Two is, big label execs realize that there's a certain image that sells a lot of records (and no song/album is going to make it big without suburban white kids), so they push the image and the rappers who rap about things that foist that image: the muscular black man with jewelry and talks about fucking some club hos while smoking on a blunt.

Like the Republican party, hip-hop is going through some dueling self-image issues. A lot of listeners, which i'm one, reject that corporatized hip-hop in favor of underground artists that rap about real things: love, rejection, anxiety, achievement etc, where the emphasis is on the art of stringing words together, and not on the image of being 'a street thug' that the corporations like.

But even those corporate-sponsored thugs are fluffy bunnies compared to the lyrics you quoted. Not a meaningful representative sample, imo.

 

[Sheldon]

Because discounting someone's statements is important if the nick ain't "macho" IYO? Or because "Dresden" is such a pretty line of fine china?

look i understand you live in Cleveland....Ive been there....i can understand why your so miserable.....but do you think Egg Salad can defend him or herself?....i really dont give a rats ass what you think....a talking Egg Salad....now that might be worth a listen...

You have the ability to determine the race of a poster, but you can't figure out gender? huh? Aren't my posts manly enough?

 

[Madeline]

Apparently Harry can't nail gender or ethnicity. Must make online dating challenging.

 

[Harry Dresden]

You have the ability to determine the race of a poster, but you can't figure out gender? huh? Aren't my posts manly enough?

since i have only encountered you in about 3 or 4 threads....and since you dont have that many posts.....no....i dont know what your gender is.....sorry....get out more....

 

[Harry Dresden]

Apparently Harry can't nail gender or ethnicity. Must make online dating challenging.

does not online dating have pictures and a little background info?.....

 

[Rinata]

YouTube - Blazing Saddles Work Song

I can't believe there are people who have not seen this movie!

Really!!! It was pretty funny.