Media Matters Misses the Point on Racism and Black Culture

[liveonearth]

http://mediamatters.org/action/drlaura/
(you can listen to what she said here, it's 7 minutes long)

Media Matters wants to chastise Dr Laura Schleissinger who spoke about racism on the radio, calling her comments racist and "breathtaking". She is a bit feisty and sometimes rude, but I don't think she is a racist. Apparently she has said some things that "attack" lesbians as well, but I haven't heard them to know what I think of her position there. I have never listened to Dr Laura before, FYI, so the clip above is all I know about her. I essentially agree with her point with regard to racism and black activist culture, but it is such an unpopular position as to cause trouble. Most people can't wrap their heads around it. The truth that she sees is that the black PC position on racism has become "hypersensitive" to isolated words/references, and is too easily triggered by comments which are not actually racist. Some blacks become unable to see that not every remark that mentions blacks or contains the word nigger is inherently racist. For example, I'm not racist, but by agreeing with Dr Laura (or putting "nigger" in print) I could be labeled such. Even Media Matters didn't get it. Media Matters is a useful media watchdog that busts A-holes (Beck, Limbaugh) in the news constantly, demanding apologies and inciting public outcries against public figures. Media Matters calls Dr Laura insensitive and over the top. But I think they need to look in the mirror, and think a little bit harder. I would call her cranky and tired of reverse racism. PCness limits our ability to communicate frankly about important issues by making some words taboo. I want the media to listen and hear and report on what they understand, not to enforce PCness.

Comments

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

She's definitely bitchy, I got that point. Oh, am I an anti-feminist because I think she's bitchy? These subjects make everybody ultra sensitive.

[machmed.livejournal.com]

Well, this subject doesn't make me ultra sensitive. I don't care about empty words like "nigger." What I do care about is people like Dr. Laura who go out of their way to encourage legislation that negatively affects gay people and same-sex couples. She has, for example, explicitly expressed support for legal bans on same-sex marriage and adoption. Offensive words don't matter much to me; offensive actions most certainly do. And Dr. Laura is undoubtedly a bitch. I would even venture to say she's an outright cunt.

[machmed.livejournal.com]

Dr Laura is undoubtedly bitchy*, I mean.

sticks and stones

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It is the actions that matter, words are just words.

from the linked article..

[bodylove.livejournal.com]

"We see below that in such cases the charge is often reversed: the person who accuses the other as racist is in turn accused of inverted racism against whites, as oversensitive and exaggerating, as intolerant and generally as `seeing racism where there is none', as Right-wing British newspapers like to put it (van Dijk, 1991). Accusations of racism, then, soon tend to be
seen as more serious social infractions than racist attitudes or actions themselves, e.g. because they disrupt ingroup solidarity and smooth ingroup encounters: they are felt to ruin the 'good atmosphere' of interactions and situations. Moreover, such accusations are seen to impose taboos, prevent free speech and a 'true' or 'honest' assessment of the ethnic situation. In other words, denials of racism often turn into counteraccusations
of intolerant and intolerable anti-racism."