Rou

Time for a two for one rant special. It's a little long. Bear with me.

Recently, Dr. Laura made some press. Now, she's a batshit crazy fundie who thinks the entire world should revolve around her personal beliefs, so it's not surprising when she says or does something incredibly stupid. She's like a shock jock. She craves the attention. The only difference is that she's not funny and she may actually believe the shit she spews. I typically filter it out. But this was apparently so bad the rest of the press actually noticed.

Fine... what was it? She said nigger. Couple times. On the radio.

Which brings us to our rants.

First, let me begin with the word nigger. It's a word. Like many other words, it's hurtful and impolite. In this case, it carries a lot of racial hatred. For that reason, I would never use it to describe a person, or group of people, because I don't want to push that meaning on anyone based on such a flimsy excuse as skin color or heritage. I also tend to avoid the word in my everyday life, be it in music, movies or the vernacular of people I encounter. Not my style, so I avoid it. But, when discussing the word and it's usage, I don't see the difference between saying 'the n-word' and the word 'nigger'. Let's assume we're all adults and we know what n-word means, just as we know what the f-word is. We're all more intelligent than dogs or children who can be confused by spelling a word out. I think we can handle using the actual word we'd discussing. Nigger is what it is, and sugar coating it with a euphemism is just politically correct hypocrisy. Same goes for spic, wop, chink, faggot and hundreds of others; though most of them have less baggage attached.

With me so far? Good.

Now, let's move on to Laura. She's been shown the door after her little tirade. Was it just? Was it reasonable? Don't know, and I don't particularly care. I didn't read the transcript and don't intend to. As I said before, she's a hateful, wretched person. People complained, and the company that employed her decided it was in her best interest to make her go away. A similar thing happened to Imus after his nappy headed hoes comment. Again, the station decided.

So, I'm confused that Laura's recent reaction. She claim on Larry King that she wants to get back her first amendment rights. She wants to say what's on her mind without someone getting angry or some special interest group trying to silence her.

Poor poor Laura. Clearly not real clear on how that pesky freedom of speech works. Let me explain, and I'll use real small words so that you can try to figure it out. Also, some of your previous listeners should have a chance.

You don't have the right to say whatever you want and not expect people to get offended. You can choose to say it, but you can't enforce my reaction or anyone else. We may choose to be offended when you make offensive statements. Get me? Good. Becuase your speech ties into mine. I don't have to listen to you. I can walk away. I can turn the station. And I can write your employer, your sponsors and your friends and tell them what I think about your offensive behavior.

Those sponsors can choose to pass my objections to the station, and pressure the station to take you off the air, or risk losing a sponsor. The station then looks at the books and decides if it's in it's interest to continue employing you. If not, you get shown the door. That's what happened here. Congress didn't fire you. You got yourself fired.

You used your freedom of speech. The rest of the people spoke up. The sponors heard it, and they spoke up. The station heard it and they spoke up. And you got shown the door. Free speech for everyone! YAY! You can say pretty much anything you want in this country. The flip side of that is that we don't have to like it, and we're just as free to speak out against whatever you say.

Fuck you and your bullshit appeals to free speech.