Dr. Laura Schlessinger: GOOD-BYE and GOOD RIDDANCE

Filed under: News, Profiles, Politics, Race and Civil Rights

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.

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