I agree with Dr Laura.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A. Many blacks are offended by the word, and they don't want anyone black or white to use it. So you can side with them.

B. It is common for groups that face discrimination to co-opt derogatory terms in order to neutralize them. This is why some gays use the term "Queer" and yet you should definitely not. It says "You can't make me feel bad about who I am by using a slur, and I am proving it by using the word as a point of pride". The problem for you is, you can't use it in this way. You are of the other persuasion, so you can only use it in its original meaning.


Neither A. nor B. is above your level of intelligence. Either you are being argumentative just to have fun, or you really don't understand.

If you really don't understand, you need to take a hard look at yourself. Seriously. You have a blind spot when it comes to discrimination.[/quote

Yet you can use the word queer without being stoned out of town. We cant even type the word on this very thread discussing it.

I think that's largely because gay bashing is still not taboo. We laugh at TV shows that make fun of gays, no one corrects an adult who makes a gay joke in public the way they would correct someone who made a black comment.

As for Laura Schlesinger's actual statements, I think the issue is not that she was doing a thought provoking discussion about the N word. She was doing a rant about how it was a double standard that black people can say it and white people can't. Then when she gets into a tiff with a black caller, she unloads with this zinger: "If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry outside of your race" (caller's husband is white).

I think with Schlesinger, the issue is her true feelings toward minorities, which came out under the pressure of debate. And I find it hard to believe a woman with a PhD cannot understand the rationale behind the social conventions that govern certain derogatory words. So I have to believe that her comments were intended to provoke a reaction. Unfortunately, they revealed more about her than the topic.

[Anonymous]

Why would any white person ever "want" to use that word?

[aprilmayjune]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as an African American, I must say that I am not surprised by you comments. I have always known that there is so much that others would love to say about me or to me.
But keep in mind, there are many things that I hold back on too. These are things that aren't even insults, but observations that I think many others would find offensive. Things having to do with white family structure, and so on (won't elaborate).
Importantly, even though on the outside, I appear to be the model black woman, you really wouldn't guess what I go through. I am thin, pretty, make 300K a year, well educated, parents well educated, and even married to a white man! I speak foreign languages, traveled and so on. That should do the trick, shouldn't it? But I hope that you understand that I often ask myself things like why the white women I work with get more relaxed schedules when they have babies, and why they make 50K more than I do. (BTW, before you get into that bell curve nonsense, my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them, so were my 4 sisters'). In the end, the stress is unbearable at times.
For the record, I would never let Dr. Laura into my home because she is crass, and that was before these comments. Also, my husband does not hang out with low classed people like the ones that caller identified as her husband's "friends".

I really don't understand the point of this response.. All you've really managed to do, is tell me that you see problems with white people/families, and than proceed to build yourself up.. IMO, some of the biggest "racism" problems that we face today, are people looking for ways that they're being discriminated against so that they can call racism. And that's not just African Americans either.. (how many times have you heard things like "well if we had a White Entertainment Television, it'd be discrimination and racist" and comments like that...)

[Anonymous]

"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

Up until the 80's all you did was show up with your #2 lead pencils then wait for the scores to come in the mail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

Up until the 80's all you did was show up with your #2 lead pencils then wait for the scores to come in the mail.

If this is somehow meant as an insult, don't you mean "up through the 80s" rather than "until?"

[aprilmayjune]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

Up until the 80's all you did was show up with your #2 lead pencils then wait for the scores to come in the mail.

Someone who took their SAT's before 1980 is not going to put their SAT's on their resume.. I took mine eight years ago and my scores aren't on mine.. so that was really just another pointless part of that response.

[Anonymous]

aprilmayjune wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

Up until the 80's all you did was show up with your #2 lead pencils then wait for the scores to come in the mail.

Someone who took their SAT's before 1980 is not going to put their SAT's on their resume.. I took mine eight years ago and my scores aren't on mine.. so that was really just another pointless part of that response.

Her response made complete sense. She was discussing how she apparently makes $50k less on average than white women at her office. She referenced a very controversial book from the 90s, "The Bell Curve," that said blacks were on average, less intelligent than whites. I assume she gave her SAT score as evidence to refute that assertion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I don't know what the point of this is, but I didn't study for mine and I think my combined was 1540 on the old 2 part system. I think that we did the PSAT's and flipped through a book to familiarize ourselves with the types of questions, but it's really more about reasoning ability than specific knowledge. This was back in the 80's. I know that there were test prep courses, but unless you were a bad test taker I think they only could give you a modest edge.

[aprilmayjune]

It's sad that in this day and age we are having to have discussions such as this...

[Anonymous]

All you high SAT scorers surely understand the difference between using the word as an epithet and using it in quotes to talk about the word itself. Dr Laura did the latter.

I disagree with Dr Laura about the substance of her complaint that blacks can use as an epithet without people thinking it's racist but whites can't. To me that seems natural, and is true of most such terms. But I see nothing wrong with her using the word in the discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"my SAT scores were over 1400 in the days that no one "studied" for them"

OT but when was this? People who were serious about their education always have.

I'm not that person, but nobody studied for the SATs when I was in high school -- 84 and 85 are the years I took them. And everyone was dead serious about their education.

Up until the 80's all you did was show up with your #2 lead pencils then wait for the scores to come in the mail.

I took my SATs in 1979 and 1980 and took a prep course. In fact, I took it in Friendship Heights. It was quite well attended.

[Anonymous]

aprilmayjune wrote:It's sad that in this day and age we are having to have discussions such as this...

If you are not in high school anymore and still discussing you SAT scores, that is the saddest of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many black people feel that the word is offensive and inappropriate regardless of the race of the person who uses it. We do not want to hear it from anyone in any context.

I should have clarified that I think the word is fine in an academic conversation and in works of literature. I would never suggest banning Huck Finn or Ulysses because 'nigger' and other offensive terms can be found in them any more than I would get rid of books with terms like dago, wop, spic, chink, redskin, etc. In conversation I do not find it acceptable to refer to myself or other people as niggers. But I can kind of see Dr. Laura's point -- in this society in which freedom of expression is far more important than preserving collective or individual dignity, each person should have the right to demean himself and others.