“You know how hard it is for me to shake the disease that takes hold of my tongue in situations like these.”
The language we use when framing a debate, or our response to one, is important. If you don’t believe me, ask Dr. Laura. She recently resigned in disgrace because she said the N word several times on her radio program.
For years, I have listened to that woman make statements that would be well-received inside a redneck pool hall, if anyone there could understand her. Flowery language and impressive diction can be used to communicate the most racist, bigoted and intolerant ideas, and Dr. Laura was a master at it. Rarely did her statements garner media attention, and she was never in danger of losing her job.
Then she freaked everyone out with the N word and, as a result, she’ll soon be gone.
I hear so many people asking the rest of us to look beyond the racial slurs and instead focus on what she was trying to say. Then those very same people do exactly what they criticize the PC-crowd of doing, only instead of ethnic vulgarities, they get worked up about other kinds of profanity.
I know because they do it to me.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.