Dr. Laura is a Sadistic Witch

I remain convinced that the media is inclined to view anything controversial as good business to the exclusion of even good taste. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not going to argue in favor of censorship, not by any means, but I do find certain content to be beneath contempt. Following on the heels of her radio show, "Dr." Laura Schlessinger pushes bravely to the near front of this type of entertainment with her television show Airing on NBC. There can be only on reason to grant such an intellectually inferior woman her own venue. Simply put, divisive entertainment stirs people up, and as the saying goes, "No press is bad press." People with any sense of compassion are often moved to write to television stations in protest, or Newspapers when they publish the ravings of Susan Bowles, or even the Radio when Rush makes another ignorant unproven raving. That's just what the media likes to see. Proof positive that their content is being viewed by the masses. Proof for their advertisers (The rich guys who buy air time). I'd like to share just a few comments on the content expressed by these howling rightward sadists.

Laura Schlessenger(From here on I will refrain from referring to her as a doctor of anything. The lie tastes too bitter on my tongue.)has a style that somewhat resembles motherly traits, but it is more a parody of motherhood than a truly flattering imitation. Her supposed common sense answers to the truly tough questions in life are much to divisive and abusive to be taken in any manner resembling wisdom. I remember stumbling onto her radio show on 1370 WSPD in Toledo one morning on my way to work. The very first time I listened to her, I thought that I'd found something different on the politically rightward radio station here in Toledo, Ohio. What I found was a revealingly realistic view of the conservative mindset expressed in a crude manner by a woman who makes claims at a psychological degree of some kind. The very first caller to her program that I was witness to struck a chord in my heart. The caller, a middle aged mother of a wayward 17 year old son, was upset that she'd found evidence of her son's sexual activity. She mistakenly called Ms. Schlessinger's show for a sensitive word of advice on how to correct her son's behavior. The afore named talk radio host offered, in her infinite wisdom, the following advice. "You tell your son that if he wants to act like an adult, then he can just go out and be an adult. Then make him move out of your house. Tell him that adults get jobs, and work to pay their bills, and that he cannot play at being an adult and continue to live under your roof."(1) Sage words of advice from a woman intent on causing pain, but what else can we expect from the group of people that came up with the idea of "tough love."
I remember thinking that I couldn't believe that a person who made claims at being a psychologist, of any kind, would council a parent to send their child out into the world without the education that child would need to become a success. We aren't talking about a child that committed murder, or Arson, or had a penchant for breaking the law. We were talking about someone who'd made the choice to become sexually active. Refresh my memory, but isn't sex legal in most states? Even more to the point, most states set the age of legal consent around 16 years of age. That means that what she intended to do was sew the seeds of division in the family system through punishment for legal activities. The very system that she claims to champion. I believe that a more effective tactic would have been for the mother to enter into a productive discussion with her child. Perhaps sexual education is a shortcoming in their family. You'd be surprised how effective a simple thing like cool reason and effectively loving communication can be.

Now it seems that in their infinite wisdom, the programming gurus at NBC are giving Ms. Schlessinger the green light to take her profane message to the television airwaves. It'll probably make them a boat load of money if she can ever get the ratings that NBC seems to believe she'll generate. I'm certain her show is every bit as offensive as Ricki Lake's, Jerry Springer's, or Sallie Raphael's, but it's cloaked in this kind of conservative normalcy. Her message is disturbingly direct, and overtly political. The only episode that I've watched so far was an overt attempt to defame the public school system by ridiculing the values taught in shcool(2). This ridicule was very obviously cloaked in a discussion about home schooling children. Now, I'm not here to defend the public school system, or to defame the idea of home schooling. Education needs to be done in the best most effective manner possible, regardless of the method of delivery. If parents can effectively home school their children and gain for them advantages, great. That is not Ms. Schlessinger's goal.

Should parents make the choice to educate their children at home, I believe that they should have access to the best techniques available to them. The only useful information that I got from the television show in question was that home shcoolers are creating a community that works together to give children the benefits of the combined talents of the entire community. Sharing math tutors and english tutors seems a very important goal. The rest of the show was about how "devistating" sex education is to children in public schools, and how people should keep their children away from any interaction that they find offensive. Call me loopy, but I think that adversity has it's place in an academic setting. People learn from being exposed to things that challenge their own ideals. By preventing our children from even taking part in those exposures, aren't we actually short changing our children in the long run? Don't we run the risk of not sensitizing our children to the actual diversity of our culture?
Ms. Schlessinger intends to further the cause of the political right wingers out there who are distressed at the secular education their children receive in the public school system. Ever since Ronald Reagan failed in his bid to introduce structured lead public shcool prayer, the conservatives have been in an uproar. They've changed their tactics, however, at the failure of legislation against the "Separation of Church and State." Instead of continuing to flail about uselessly in Congress to transform America into an exclusively Christian society, they've begun a grass roots effort to close the public school system through attrition. Republicans feel that if they can undercut public schools enough through low enrollment, they will be able to further the cause of the Christian Right. That's the true push of the school voucher movement. Most schools that are privately funded are religious schools. When enough children are raised with a Christian education, they can get rid of that "Separation of Church and State" idea. More importantly, should public schools fail by this idea, only the children of wealth will be able to afford a secular education, effectively keeping the lower classes in a state of constant ignorance. It keeps the money where the conservatives believe it should be... in their own pockets.
Ms. Schlessenger takes pride in inflicting cruelty on the people she thinks are beneath her. I sincerely hope, however that she actually stays on the air, because like Rush Limbaugh, she provides a simply cloaked view of the Conservative mindset. It's so much better to know the plans of your adversary before you make your own political moves, so I plan to keep listening as long as they keep talking. Perhaps we as a culture can manage a liberal coup to rival the rise of Labor Unions in its effect on our culture. With this kind of information at our fingertips, how could we resist. I just hope that anyone foolish enough to consider her advice reads this page before they impliment those suggestions. Do yourself a favor and avoid the pain and anguish her advice would make an inevitibility.

-Glenn E. Petersen
September 20, 2000