The Doctor Laura Schlessinger Show

I'll admit to listening to this show when it had a drive-time slot on our local radio powerhouse, WJR - AM, here in the Detroit area. I used to think "Hey, she's got a good head on her shoulders. She gets how people should treat each other." But then she started getting a little more direct, to the point of being rude, even brutal, to her callers. There was no discussion involved in how she dealt with callers.

Then of course, in 2003 or so, she decided to tell everyone that she's been converted to Orthodox Judaism, and the religion helps guide her in responses to callers, writers, etc. I believe she and her son converted. Odd to me, but whatever.

SO the show starts spouting off about "...as a Jew", or "my faith helps me to answer you thus...". It became a lot of rationalized b.s. to me, and so, off she went. I switched to other material that made sense - sports radio. Noticeably, her ratings fell around the same time in this area, and she was shuffled off to the 1am slot next to Laura Ingraham.

Bringing us to ... last week. She spouted off about the use of the word naga (paraphrased here), and the concerns of a caller from a mixed-race marriage. In general, LS was correct. We're all too paranoid about the use of the word. Words only have the power we give them. Words like fag, sissy, gay, neo-con, and nazi, all have power based on historic context or definitions that were implanted in our social memory at some point in the past.

LS told her caller that if she is so sensitive about the name slinging, she should not have married outside of her race. That's where I think the good Doctor (PhD pending) crossed the line. The girl who called in has a different context of the word than the rappers and comedians who throw it around like confetti. The girl who called has an in-law family that appears to have problems with persons of color (this is an observation and a guess). Because of this, LS could have been more sympathetic. Should have been, in my opinion.

On the other hand, LS is right about the simple fact that the rapper/comedian community are doing their level best to desensitize all persons from the word "NIGGER". (God, I said it - don't hate me). And the sooner the better. I hate the idea that we as a species are confined in our ability to communicate with each other. The sooner we're desensitized to it, the sooner we'll stop using it. (Just like the word 'faggot' is hardly ever used anymore in discourse.)

Science of Faith

I lost a friend recently to multiple sclerosis. Well, we'd been out of touch for some time. Anyway, she was God-fearing, God-following, good Catholic, and so on. The instant I heard about her passing, I thought "Ok, she was a believer, but what sort of Almighty takes someone like that at a young age leaving 2 young kids and a husband?".

Then of course, I got into the debate (just me behind my own table, thanks) about did *G* listen to the prayer? Probably. I think in terms of Morgan Freeman: "I answer every prayer, but the answer is sometimes 'No'. " Did *G* (easy substitute here for the altruistic view of Almight powerful being who moved us from one spider web to another) invent MS? Did G create us in his image with nerve sheaths that can be destroyed?

Did G create the means for us to discover these nerve sheaths and figure out "Oh that MS is very clever!" ?

Here we go, right? What's science. What's faith. We defined God to sort out our limits right? Then we defined Faith to define how we define an 'Almighty' and what's good or bad right? Did we define Science to reach to that next plateau beyond faith and an almighty?

This is where faith, G, and science all fail me, and I just fall back on 'hope'. I'll get back to this later.

MJ, Al Sharpton, and James Brown

I have a sense that I will feel somehow dirty or at least unclean the next time I hear Eminem and don't break the radio or at least shut it off.

Rev. Al really speaks to EVERYONE when he decries the violence in music toward the African American culture. And violence is what it is: emotional and verbal violence, inspiring physical acts. Al said James Brown's last complaint to him was there is no music today that you can sit down on the porch with and listen to it with your Grandma.

"No music" might be too general. There's a good deal of it out there. But there is a sub-culture that has embraced the violent aspect, and I don't see it changing course any time soon.

Ok, fine. Caught me.

I rooted for the underdog... the unlikely challenger... given a better mainstream media, she might have been The Story of the Day.

She's not plastic and she's not Barbie. And she's got a serious case of "Girl Next Door".

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miss-Boiling-Springs-Caroline-Byrd/101773159672

Keep on rocking Miss Byrd!

USNews.com: Opinion: John Mashek: A Capital View: Yes, Blame Imus, but Spare Me Sharpton

USNews.com: Opinion: John Mashek: A Capital View: Yes, Blame Imus, but Spare Me Sharpton

Mr. Mashek makes the valid point here. Imus' comments were sexually degrading - he has a history of such comments as does his producer on his radio show. The radio is better off today than yesterday.

But why Imus? There are no other targets of opportunity?

Welcome

We are here for a rational discussion on media and social behavior. One does not necessarily equate with the other. Both need examination these days.

Making racially insensitive remarks doesn't make one a racist. Making sexually insensitive remarks does not make one misogynistic. The patterns of behavior, however, can lead one to believe such things of another. The media, on the other hand, can lend a tender ear to the outrage of a group or prominent individual, and declare you one or the other without trial or treatment.

We call that "letting the market decide".