How to Get Ratings Without Even Trying

Posted on August 13th, 2010 by ecthompson md

The folks on the right are very good at capturing the media’s attention. Whether it is Rush Limbaugh making some outrageous statement or Glenn Beck’s lastest Nazi reference, for some reason the mainstream media will focus on these antics for 24 or 48 hours and help these guys boost their ratings. The latest example was Doctor Laura Schlessinger. Some time after the outrageous statement you get the apology and the boost in the ratings.

From HuffPo:

In conversation Tuesday with a black female caller who was complaining about her white husband’s racist friends and their use of the word, Schlessinger said:

Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n****, n*****, n*****. I don’t get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it’s a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it’s affectionate. It’s very confusing.

After a break, the caller said she was appalled by Schlessinger’s use of the word.

“Oh, then I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comedians,” she said. “My dear, the point I am trying to make…we’ve got a black man as president and we’ve got more complaining about racism than ever. I think that’s hilarious.”

Schlessinger and the caller then got into an exchange about the use of the word:

CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
DR. LAURA: It depends how it’s said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it’s ok.
CALLER: But you’re not black, they’re not black, my husband is white.
DR. LAURA: Oh, I see, so a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can’t do much about that.
CALLER: I can’t believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the n***** word, and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: I didn’t spew out the n***** word!
CALLER: You said “n*****, n*****, n*****” and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: Yes they did, and I’ll say it again: n*****, n*****, n***** is what you hear on HBO.
[Crosstalk]
DR. LAURA: Why don’t you let me finish a sentence? Don’t take things out of context. Don’t NAACP me, leave them in context.
“If you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry outside of your race,” Schlessinger said after hanging up with the caller.

I’m going to try to stick to the old boring issues that plaque this country. We need jobs. I’m sorry I really don’t care what Dr. Laura has to say about almost anything.

Tags: Economy, Media, Race // 12 Comments »

  • Joe White

    I would love to hear you address her point.

    Why does the black community accept it and laugh if a black person uses an offensive term when referring to blacks? Why is that behavior rewarded by the black community with a large audience and the corresponding large income?

  • Agnes Cheek

    AAAAHHH the Communists are going to Socialize your Nazism!!
    Oh and the sky is falling. and now everybody is racist. im so tired of hearing “racism” (or any other fill in the blank name for anyone who isnt preaching to the choir.) when it is only used as a defense mechanism by people who aren't smart enough to discuss issues rather than defaulting to name calling. zzzzzzzz

  • Brad

    This is what I like to call “a tempest in a toilet bowl.”

    @Joe: “The black community” doesn't have a referent (at least not that I know of; Eri, there isn't some meeting I don't know about, is there? : – ). I know many blacks who are offended by racial epithets, no matter whose mouth they come out of. Just like “the white community” (whatever that might mean), some individuals care, some don't.

    I take the attitude that someone can't insult me if I don't care what they think. Anyone slinging racial epithets around probably fits in that category.

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD

    Joe –

    I don't speak for the Black community any more than you speak for the White community. In 1982, Richard Pryor said that the word was dead.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEVmAbxC14g

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD

    well said, very well said indeed.

  • Joe White

    Dr Thompson wrote:

    “I don't speak for the Black community”

    This is laughable, since you have often talked about 'why blacks support (or should support) Candidate X or Policy Proposal A'.

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD

    Where did I say that? Show me.

  • Joe White
  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD

    One of my first articles written for the urban news. It also found that article here on my blog. I don't think, anywhere in that article I said, I speak for the black community. Instead, I looked at programs that have been proven to help blacks, as well as whites and the underprivileged. The best example would be the program that I mentioned, Head Start. Underprivileged kids who are able to get in the head start do better in first and second grade. Those kids that do better early in school will tend to do better late in school. Therefore, kids who do well in head start for better chance of going to college.

    As you know, I talked about broad topics like affirmative action, civil rights, education.I don't think that you have to be a black man to build understand the blacks would have a hard time supporting a party that supported apartheid.

    If you interpreted those remarks as, “I speak for the black community,” I wrote the article poorly. I'll have to do better.

    As usual, thanks for your comments.

  • Joe White

    Dr Thompson wrote:

    “If you interpreted those remarks as, “I speak for the black community,” I wrote the article poorly. I'll have to do better.”

    It's not 'just my interpretation'.

    The entire theme of the article is summed up in the the first paragraph (where a theme sentence should be):

    “I think we can look over the past 40 years and honestly begin to evaluate which party truly benefited Blacks and continues to benefit minorities and the underprivileged.”

    The focus of the article is you telling us how the Democrats benefited blacks. Not that the Democrats benefited just you. You are telling us about the black community and it's experience under the Democrats.

    How could anyone fail to see that you are purporting to tell the experience of the entire black community, not just your own experience?

  • Cher6877

    I'm not getting the big outrage factor on this one. Dr. Laura was making a point that's true. How can the truth be so outrageoous to anyone? Maybe she could have left out a few of the N…..words but many black people use the word in there own communities. So what's the big deal with her stating the facts.
    That's the whole problem with race in this country. No one can say the obvious or the race card comes out.
    Blacks and Hispanics are their own worse enemies. They need to take a stand about how they want their communites to be seen. We see the shootings and stabbings every morning on the TV, that occured in the cities, “neighborhoods”. So cities are dangerous places to live, visit, shop or work. Does that make me a racial profiler or does that make me a person who draws a reasonable conclusion based on the repeated violence I see in these communities in the cities? The avoidance of the truth based on the fact that it will offend someone is avoidance of the problem altogether and allows it to continue.
    The only way out is to allow it to be openly discussed without people having to tip toe around the subjects because they may offend someone. Anyone with any intelligence knows that problems are not solved by closing your eyes and pretending they don't exist.

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/about/ EC Thompson, MD

    Aren't we all our own worth enemies? Whether it is poor blacks or poor whites, the picture is the same isn't?

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