The "N-Word", Retards and Rights

I think I've used the fabled "N-word" maybe three times in my seven and a half years of blogging, and always while quoting someone else in a way that the use of the word couldn't be avoided. I could be wrong about that, but I seriously doubt it.

It's just not a word a cotton to because I know what the word means and what it was designed to do, which is to dehumanize black folks. I also know that if I was black and heard a bunch of white people throwing that word around, I'd give serious thought to beheading a few of them.

The fact that blacks use the word in conversation among themselves and in popular entertainment is beside the point. The history of the word and white people's usage of it suggests that no good can come of us saying it. And remember, I'm a guy who uses words like "cocksucker" and "motherfucker" as often as I can, if only because I find them to be comforting.

Having used that word only very sparingly in my life, I was actually kind of impressed that Dr. Laura Schlessinger managed to use it eleven times in five minutes on her dopey radio show last week. I didn't think that it was grammatically possible to use it so many times and still form coherent sentences.

After the wholly predictable outrage from everyone who isn't actually a moron, Dr. Schlessinger - whose degree really only qualifies her to be a gym teacher - arose from her fainting couch and declared to Larry King that she was quitting her show.

"The reason is I want to regain my first amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, and attack sponsors.

I consider myself something of a student of the U.S Constitution, and I can honestly tell you that I've never seen an enumerated right entitling one to a nationally syndicated radio show. That's because there isn't one. Radio, as you may know, is broadcast over public airwaves, with licenses to use them granted by the federal government.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled - most famously in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) - that the government can regulate content without violating the First Amendment. And that's something that people like Dr. Laura regularly applaud when Bono says "fuck" at the Golden Globes.

The First Amendment begins with the words "Congress shall make no law." Since Congress hasn't passed any legislation regarding Dr. Laura's unfortunate tirade, the First Amendment is inapplicable, as any halfway honest high school senior would admit. I should think that very few of you could go to work, use the "n-word" nearly a dozen times in five minutes, and still expect to be employed at the end of the day.

Everything in the preceding three paragraphs should sound familiar to Republican and conservative bloggers and commentators, since they are precisely the arguments that they deploy whenever Janet Jackson's titty pops out during the Super Bowl. I was honestly unaware of the "One of Us" exception to that argument until this week. I had no idea that alleged conservatives could say whatever they wanted without employment or social consequences. It turns out that I didn't understand that "coarsening the culture" is something that only liberals do.

Here's a thought that I'm sure hasn't occurred to many Republicans, if you believe that a word coarsens the culture, and you use it eleven times in five minutes, you're coarsening the culture, too.

Which is where Sarah Palin comes in, determined to prove that she's even more ignorant or dishonest than I had previously thought. First, she took to her Twitter account and declared that;

Dr.Laura=even more powerful & effective w/out the shackles, so watch out Constitutional obstructionists. And b thankful 4 her voice,America!

Palin had also implored Schlessinger, "Don't retreat, reload"; which I assume to mean that the former governor knows that there are any number of racial slurs out there yet to be broadcast.

That left most observers understandably confused. Should America really "b thankful 4" a voice that uses the "N-word" 11 times in five minutes? Also, when did Palin start spelling like Prince?

Fortunately, clarification was on the way, via Sarah's government-in-exile Facebook page. Unfortunately, what she wrote there was some of the most logically incomprehensible jibberish in the History of the English Speaking Peoples.

Does anyone seriously believe that Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a racist? Anyone, I mean, who isn’t already accusing all conservatives, Republicans, Tea Party Americans, etc., etc., etc. of being racists?

Adversaries who have been trying to silence Dr. Laura for years seized on her recent use of the n-word on her show as she subsequently suggested that rap “artists” and other creative types like those producing HBO shows who regularly use the n-word could be questioned for doing so. Her intention in discussing the issue with a caller seeking advice was not to be hateful or bigoted. Though she did not mean to insult the caller, she did, and she apologized for it. Still, those who oppose her seized upon her mistake in using the word (though she didn’t call anyone the derogatory term) to paint her as something that she’s not. I can understand how she could feel “shackled” by those who would parse a single word out of decades of on-air commentary. I understand what she meant when she declared that she was “taking back my First Amendment rights” by turning to a new venue that will not allow others the ability to silence her by going after her stations, sponsors, and supporters.

I'm not at all sure that whether Dr. Laura or not is a racist is even relevant. If you're going to be one of those politicians or commentators that bemoans "the coarsening of the culture," it behoves you to admit that using a word like Schlessinger used doesn't help your cause. It would also be helpful to admit that this decided lack of outrage wouldn't exist if it were, say, Keith Olbermann who used Dr. Laura's exact words.

I also love the line of defense employed by both Palin and the mouth-breathing Republican blogosphere. Since Schlessinger didn't call anyone specific the "n-word", it's okay. Is that the new standard in the so-called "culture wars?" I really want to be clear on this. If Ice T starts a show called "The Bitches and Hos Hour"- but leaves the bitches and hos in question nameless - will we be spared the fake outrage of Laura Schlessinger, Sarah Palin and every Republican blogger on the goddamned planet?

All I'm asking for is just a little intellectual consistency, which seems to be in short supply wherever Governor Palin comes from. After all, this is the same woman who demanded White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's firing for using the word retard in a private conversation.

Dr. Laura did not call anyone or any group of people the n-word. Curiously, the same criers over this issue didn’t utter a word when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel called a group protesting the Obama Administration’s actions, “f***ing retards.” When this presidential spokesman uttered this term I commented that the President would be better off not including Emmanuel in his circle of advisers, and my opinion was based not just on the crude and disrespectful term Emmanuel used to label people, but because he too often gives the President very poor advice. I was called intolerant and narrow-minded by many on the Left for commenting on that issue. Many of these same Leftists are now spinning the Dr. Laura issue into something it is not. As usual, their hypocrisy and double standard applications are glaring.

"Hypocrisy and double standard applications" are important to Palin, particularly since she employs them so often herself. Remember, the Emanuel quote printed by the Washington Post was from a private conversation and the source was unattributed. Less than a week later, Rush Limbaugh used the word "retard" prominently on his nationally broadcast radio show, and that was excused by Palin as "satire."

Hey, it's the "One of Us exception" again! Am I the only one that's starting to see a pattern here?