The Witless Witch of the Radio Airwaves Dr. Laura Schlessinger will soon be going silent, but it won't be because her listeners finally realized how much time they were wasting listening to her drivel.
Dr. Laura imploded her radio empire (Schlessinger claimed an audience of 9 million listeners) by blurting out the N-word 11 times during a six-minute meltdown last week. Her sudden fall from grace is almost too bizarre to be believed.
Schlessinger, who has been dispensing her bland blend of pop psychology and weak self-help tips for more than 20 years, is already blaming "special interest groups" about taking away her First Amendment rights.
But don't be fooled by her excuses. She was the chief architect of her radio demise. She has no one to blame but herself for getting in to the N-word controversy.
Though I think the controversy over the N-word is a bit overblown, I guess there is a legitimate point of discussion over why some black folks feel free to say it to each other yet white people can't. (Why some white people like Dr. Laura feel an overriding need to use the word at all puzzles me, but that's another topic.)
One thing is certain, though: if you want to wade in to the murky waters of race and use of the N-word, you have to be a lot more thoughtful and intelligent than shouting the word over a caller's objections, as Dr. Laura did.
If you want to see a smart execution of the N-word, check out the clip of how the award-winning television comedy "The Office" took on the subject.
During a workplace racial sensitivity training, bumbling boss "Michael Scott" does an unintentionally hilarious send-up of a racially charged Chris Rock routine.
By the end of the scene, you are not only laughing out loud but pondering the issue of who can and can't use the word nigger in polite company.
If Dr. Laura had one ounce of creativity in her veins, she might have crafted a similarly artful way to inject herself in to the N-word subject. Instead, she went at it in the same crude, classless manner a second grade schoolboy might.
In the end, it cost her a high-priced national radio gig. The damage to her bank account might be severe, but luckily for radio listeners, taking Dr. Laura's simplistic, artless radio blather off the air is a good thing.
13-Aug-10 - Well-known conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger said the N-word 11 times to a caller who reached out to her for help regarding her interracial marriage.
13-Aug-10 - Well-known conservative talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger said the N-word 11 times to a caller who reached out to her for help regarding her interracial marriage.
13-Aug-10 - Former Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans resigned. Evans, though, is striking back by revealing text messages between Lt. Monique Patterson and interim police chief Ralph Goodbee.
10-Aug-10 - The niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Alveda King says that same-sex marriage will lead to "extinction" and "genocide."
09-Aug-10 - It appears that Glenn Beck enjoys the idea of comparing black people to monkeys. Beck's latest rant featured him comparing President Barack Obama's America to "the damn 'Planet of the Apes.'"
03-Aug-10 - South Africa's Dudu Tshabalala, a once-high flying executive, now says that she is being ostracized for speaking up against racial injustices at L'Oreal.
05-Aug-10 - Dr. Cornel West apparently has a bone to pick with President Barack Obama. Over time, the good Dr. West has become increasingly vocal in his critique of Obama, and even went as far as to say that Obama treated him "like a cub scout."
05-Aug-10 - Actress Maia Campbell, who was just recently videotaped performing a host of alleged drug-induced antics on a California street, has been arrested, according to Young, Black and Fabulous.
04-Aug-10 - Omar Thornton's family added some details to early reports that he was the victim of workplace racism that was ignored by higher-ups at the company.
