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Authors, sign in!Dr. Laura Schlesinger quit her radio show this week to regain her First Amendment rights. After repeatedly using an extremely offensive, racist word on the air, Dr. Laura wants to be able to say what she wants, where she wants, how she wants, why she wants and more.
To paraphrase another (former) public figure, we won’t be able to kick Dr. Laura around anymore. She is taking her ball, and going home. Instead of telling her mommy to tell our mommy; however, Dr. Laura told Larry King.
Like Dr. Laura, I am known for saying something, thinking it was OK, but then realizing that no, it was wrong and nasty and unacceptable. Heck, I did it at 8:02 am today. My transgression did not involve an extremely offensive, racist word, but then again, what I said was not cool. I said it innocently, but you know what? It didn’t sound so innocent to whom I said it, and that’s what matters.
I am no better than Dr. Laura. I say stupid stuff. I am known for my direct, usually blunt approach, particularly before 9am. The difference is I try to say I am sorry the best way I know when it needs to be said, make amends and even unlearn or modify certain behaviors.
Dr. Laura, you might want to consider that as you regain your First Amendment rights.
Published August 20, 2010 by Jennifer Schwaller |
Permalink
| Tags:
Civil Rights
Constitution
Media
Racism
Comments (2)
I need to count to ten way more often than I do, like so many people. I also find that a sincere apology goes a long way, although it can never take back what got out before I was thinking it through.
The problem with Dr. Laura's whining is that she completely misses the whole point of the 1st Amendment, which is intended to allow citizens to speak their mind without being put in jail by the government. She is not in jail. She is simply paying the social and professional price for being an obnoxious gasbag. Nothing in the Constitution promises her that she can say anything without social consequence. And the particular word she used -- eleven times! -- is one that anybody will pay a social price for uttering. I have no idea why she thinks she is being singled out. I don't know a single human being, in this country especially, who can use that word without having others recoil. Sorry, Dr. Laura. You are still protected from the government by the 1st Amendment, but the rest of us don't have to like you.
Posted by Darrell Hamlin
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August 21, 2010 12:21 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 12:21
May we offer a two-liner from Emily Dickinson:
"Some say a word is dead when it is said. I say it just begins to live that day."
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/07/just_what_do_you_mean_by_that.html
Posted by Bob Hooper
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August 21, 2010 6:16 PM
Posted on August 21, 2010 18:16