I've been mulling over Dr. Laura Schlessinger's on air n-word meltdown for the past two weeks. My friend, writer Mark Olmsted, calls Dr. Laura's n-word rant a "positively orgasmic repetition of the word."
Dr. Laura's agitation with the black woman who called her show to ask for advice on handling racially insensitive comments from her white husband's white friends was very clear. She immediately suggested that the caller was overly sensitive to questions from her white husband's white friends asking her to explain all things black. Feeling that perhaps Dr. Laura didn't fully understand her concerns, the caller offered what she considered to be an egregious example of offensive comment.
CALLER: How about the N-word? So, the N-word's been thrown around --
SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nigger, nigger, nigger.
CALLER: That isn't --
SCHLESSINGER: 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. Don't hang up, I want to talk to you some more. Don't go away. (Follow this link to read the entire transcript or to listen to the audio.)
Jeez Dr. Laura, what's so confusing about this? The n-word was used as the most degrading insult that a white person could use in speaking to or of a black person for more than 300 hundred years. It was not ever used with affection by white people. I won't belabor this point. Thoughtful people already get it and trying to reach the lame-brained Dr. Laura and her clones is about as rewarding as trying to teach a pig to salsa.
What I don't understand is under what circumstances does Dr. Laura or any white person want to use the n-word? Is it a desire to be able to greet black people with a joyous, hello n-word? Or to demonstrate one's street cred by dropping the word in casual conversation? If you are white and feel that your freedom of expression is severely impacted by being unable to freely use the n-word, then I have a suggestion. Develop a close, affectionate relationship with a black person, and then ask your new BFF if it's okay to call him or her the n-word.
Clearly, Dr. Laura isn't alone in her resentment that there is a double standard when it comes to the use of the n-word. Comments abound from Internet users lamenting, "Why is it okay for black people to use the n-word but white people can't?" By the way, it appears to only be white people (not all, just some)
who are feeling deprived. I've never heard any Latino, Asian, or Indian people who are woebegone because they have been denied the use of the n-word.
In spite of Dr. Laura's repeated use of the n-word (11 times in under seven minutes), I find her use of the word to be the least offensive part of her comments. Her assertion that the only reason that black people voted for Obama was because he was half-black says far more about her racist assumptions than her fascination with the n-word.
SCHLESSINGER: No, no, no. I think that's -- well, listen, without giving much thought, 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. You gotta know that. That's not a surprise.
What absolute arrogance to assume that her vast "black" experience has qualified Dr. Laura to identify any set of behaviors as a "black thing." She also tells the caller that it's the caller's problem that she doesn't have a sense of humor.
CALLER: I know what the N-word means and I know it came from a white person. And I know the white person made it bad.
SCHLESSINGER: 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.
Perhaps I'm just humorless, but it has never crossed my mind to laugh at being called the n-word by a white person.
Dr. Laura appears particularly obsessed with the use of the n-word by black comedians on HBO; she mentions it more than once in her discussion with the caller. She takes particular offense at the notion of the n-word being restricted to use by only black people.
CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word
SCHLESSINGER: It's -- it depends how it's said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it's OK.
CALLER: But you're not black. They're not black. My husband is white.
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, I see. So, a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can't do much about that.
The doctor is correct; there is a double standard. The n-word is loaded with history and all sorts of emotional baggage. White people don't get to say it to black people. That's what this is really about. If white people want to call each other by the n-word, I really don't care and I've never heard any other black person lamenting that white people are calling each other by the n-word. The prohibition isn't against using the n-word; it's against white people calling black people niggers. You can't say it because we won't tolerate it any more. What black people say to each other has nothing to do with it. I laugh at jokes in which black comics say the n-word because it's a shared joke, an insider thing. We don't have any problem with white audiences laughing at the use of the n-word by black comedians, but white people do not get to address us under any circumstances by that word, so get over it and move on to things of substance.
By the way, comedian Jeff Foxworthy self-identifies as a redneck and he's darn funny doing it. When is the last time you've heard black people getting all bent out of shape because we want to call white folks rednecks?
Well this all comes back to the whole conservative meltdown over "political correctness." It really chaffs their britches that the brown people and women and gays are suddenly on an equal footing, culturally speaking. Suddenly we have openly gay people flaunting their openly gay-ness in the culture, women executives and presidential candidates and ZOMG ZOMG DID YOU NOTICE THE PRESIDENT IS BLACK???!!!
ReplyDeleteThe "black people only voted for Obama because he's black" thing has always been especially offensive to me, for all the reasons you point out and because the Laura Schlessinger types seems to forget that we've had African American presidential candidates as long as I can remember. Jesse Jackson, Carol Mosley Braun, Shirley Chisholm, Al Sharpton, Alan Keyes ... none of those people made it very far. Why not?
Really at its root is this deep seated fear and resentment that the age of white privilege is over. I"m not saying racism is over because clearly that's not the case but a huge chunk of the white conservative movement is very uneasy in this new, diverse world.
When you mentioned the pretend Doctor and orgasm, I threw up in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteThis evil woman has gotten away with much to much over the years. Finally people are seeing her for what she is.
I do have to wonder about all those women calling her for advice. Shaking my head on that one. Can they be that lonely. Their missing a brain cell or two themselves.
Really at its root is this deep seated fear and resentment that the age of white privilege is over.
ReplyDeleteSoBe, I agree. I think that you've smacked the nail on the head!
Sheria I'm so glad you are at the Swash Zone and willing to discuss race issues. We haven't heard much out of ABCinE but hopefully she will find time to weigh in. Because I think you two can give use a very personal perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe arrogance of white privilege has long been the biggest obstruction to America having any meaningful dialog about ethnic prejudices.
I don't like the word "race"; makes it sound like we come from different planets or something. As Italians don't resemble Irish, Africans don't resemble Germans, etc.
Seems like the first thing we all must acknowledge is we are, essentially, the same.
I really hate that some black men will use the n word when speaking to each other. I believe it sends the wrong message but I think maybe they use it to take away its power to demean, its sting of prejudice.
And I have never felt compelled to use the word myself just because "they" use it.
The idea that some black folk may have voted for Obama because his father was Kenyan is not at all surprising; I'm sure some folk voted for Kennedy just because he was Irish. He was still the legitimate POTUS and so is Obama - I'm so tired of this idiot argument.
We are at a crossroads in this country; we can move forward in enlightment and mutual respect and acceptance or we can devolve into ignorant, suspicious neanderthals.
To move on, we must LISTEN to each others' perceptions and beliefs, acknowledge their validity and then work together to change, to become the outstanding people we COULD be if only...
"political correctness" is, to my way of thinking, simply the same kind of content-free denunciation as "liberal" has become. It's especially galling as it so often comes from people who politicize everything they touch. It's used most often by people who resent, as you say, the end of the white empire. Some people resent the fact that such casual imperialism has lost its support system and that they can't just assume that groups of people can be insulted with impunity and laughed at for their lack of humor in not enduring it.
ReplyDeleteWhether the term in question is as pejorative now as it was 300 years ago, I don't know, but the stench it has today is unmistakable even to the most obtuse.
This is one of those cases where the word is owned, not by the people who use it, not by professional linguists, politically motivated professors or anyone but the people who have paid a high price for it and are still making payments. That copyright isn't going to expire any time soon.
Yes, I do wish it weren't part of so many comedians' bag of tricks, but perhaps it's a way of reminding us that they own it and, although I don't need to be reminded, I don't own it and never did.
The claim that people only voted for Obama because he's black, half black, Kenyan, half white or whatever is indicative of bigots who are too ignorant and stupid to know better. Like So Beale, I find it enormously offensive.
ReplyDeleteLS is NOT a mental health professional of any kind. Her masters and PhD were in physiology and her dissertation was on the effects of diabetes in rats. She is a snake oil salesman.
I firmly believe that one of the main reasons the right wing is acting out their anger with such off-the-wall behavior and statements is that they are desparately trying to hang onto the last vestiges of white supremecy. They know they're a dying breed. I hope so.
I'm not a licensed therapist so I'm free to say that the sooner this dying breed breaths their last breath the better for all mankind. I've been listening to their crap all my life and I've lost all patience or desire to meet halfway. Die baby die (not the people but the ignorance).
PS - excellent post as always, Sheria.
ReplyDeleteSheria, thank you, thank you, thank you! Another controversial subject handled magnificently well, as you always do!
ReplyDeleteAs tnlib has pointed out, Dr. LS is no mental health professional of any kind, and her treatment of the caller was downright ABUSIVE. I am not merely referring to her repetition of the ‘N’ word but to the way she refused to validate the concerns of the caller. Trained psychologists do not respond that way. If a caller or client is experiencing real distress, it is abusive to deny a deeply felt emotion and challenge the reality of that person. First and foremost, psychotherapy is SUPPORT therapy. One acknowledges conflicts and concerns and suggests coping strategies. LS belongs to the same club of under-educated, under-trained, over-opinionated charlatans as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other college dropouts.
About the use of the ‘N’ word by comedians and rappers, if the purpose were merely to defuse and neutralize it, I would have nothing to say. However, verbal abuse does not stop with the use of the ‘N’ word. Rappers also use the ‘B’ word and the ‘C’ word which are decidedly offensive and insulting to sisters, who have spoken loudly against the use of these pejoratives. All these words, in my opinion, are examples of a schlock and shock culture run amuck for only one purpose: Pushing standards of taste and decorum further into the wilderness gets attention ... which translates into money!
So LS is a former physiologist who studied diabetes in rats. Let me guess. If she discovered a cure for diabetes for rats, then the next logical step is to turn human beings rats, of which LS is a true pioneer.
Thanks all, it's so nice to have a home in which I feel so welcomed!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I didn't mention in my post is my personal aversion to the female bashing, gender based insults that are common to some rap music. For me, the use of the n-word is far less problematic than the words used to address and define women. However, I am surprised that Dr. Laura has spent a great deal of time listening to that genre of rap music. It doesn't play on the stations that I listen to regularly. There wouldn't be much point as every other word would have to be bleeped out!
I also don't know where she finds all these n-word spewing comics on HBO. Chris Rock does have a very funny routine in which he explains why he is not a n-word. Richard Pryor used to use the word a lot in his comedy but he had a revelation many years ago and very publicly renounced the use of the word. Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy and Wanda Sykes have been known to use it on occasion for comic effect, but none of the black comics that I've ever heard simply chanted the n-word over and over again as did Dr. Laura. I can't recall the last time that I've hear a black person use the n-word. We don't greet each other that way as a rule. That's just another baseless stereotype. In fact, the last major public use of the n-word was by a white comic, Michael Richards. So-o-o not a good move on his part.
I've got to watch more HBO so that I can find these comics of which Dr. Laura speaks.
I believe LS got in trouble with either the psychiatric or the psychological association back in the 80's for misrepresenting herslef. A psychologist friend of mine told me that but I can't find any mention of it.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are so anxious for some Guru or miracle worker to solve their problems, they'll follow anyone it seems. Laura is hardly the only fraud out there making money that way.
ReplyDeleteI've often said that you can tell a lot about someone by what they present as "typical." She heard something once or twice and decided to base her opinion of 40 million people on this "typical" perception.
And yes, I'm disgusted with commercial music that enables people like her to make it "typical." It's a really sad perception seeing the immense effect African American ( and African) artists have had on Western Music and Art.
Of course we have a population who doesn't know who Duke Ellington was, or Beethoven for that matter, but that's a whole other rant.
"If white people want to call each other by the n-word, I really don't care and I've never heard any other black person lamenting that white people are calling each other by the n-word."
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I agree with this -- a common insult, especially among white racists who claim not to be racists, is to call bad white people "white n-words". These same racists-in-denial will then tell you in the next breath, "there are black people, and there are n-words," as if this is a way to easily label the "good" and "bad" people of color.
The word carries its negative connotations whenever it comes from a white person, in my opinion. It's just not ok, not even a bunch of drunk frat boys listening to rap music and calling each other "my n-word" as if that's just the coolest, cleverest thing ever.
I don't understand why any white person would yearn to use that word freely in conversation. Why would they want to invoke the whole horrifying image of the kidnapping and enslavement and rape and torture their own race inflicted on another? I don't get it.
godlizard, I see your point. Thanks for the perspective. I am also bewildered as to why the use of this word has become something to be desired. Makes no sense to me.
ReplyDelete