Actually, I got the quote I posted from stopdrlaura.com. They thought it was bad enough to post it as evidence that she’s evil. I posted it is response to Kilraven’s assertion that she said that Matthew Shephard was responsible for his own death. She didn’t say that, but what she did say wasn’t really all that nice anyway.
I do not like Dr. Laura. I don’t like her because she’s mean and overly moralistic. I have listened to her radio show, and can’t understand why anyone calls her to have her scream at them for being such “idiots.” I kind of compare it to going on Jerry Springer - you think something good is gonna happen when you talk to Dr. Laura? I think she’s a hypocrite for telling women to give up their careers and be good moms, when she’s got a career and a young son herself. I think she’s cruel and unrealistic to tell single moms that they are “selfish” for getting a divorce and depriving their children from having two parents (like growing up with two parents who hate each other is somehow better than a loving mom or dad). My point was that these are enough reasons to dislike her - we don’t need to make stuff up.
Granted, I am working on old information, since I haven’t listend to her recently. But that’s not what she said at all, when I listened.
She has always had a career, but she integrated her job into her family life. When her kid was a baby, he went with her to the office. When she was at home with him, she worked at home. When he was in school, she worked during his school hours. She worked her career around her time with the kid. This is what I remember, I may be sketchy on the details. But she emphasized on her show that she worked her job around her kid.
I never heard her tell anyone not to have a career. And she was all for the dad staying at home instead of the mom, if that’s what worked better for the family. She just told them that SOMEONE should be home to raise the kids. She thought that was better than putting them in day care, and hardly seeing them. Unless it is unaviodable. “Unavoidable” to her was if there is only one parent, and they HAVE to make a living, or the family is so poor that basic necessities cannot be provided for if only one parent works. (“Basic necessities” would depend on who you talked to, but working so you can afford a second or third SUV would not be part of them.) And if both parents had to work, then she would recommend the kids stay with a family member, instead of day care.
This is what I remember. I don’t have kids, so this is all academic to me. But I do remember my mom staying at home to take care of my sisters and me, and I am glad she did - she was fun! I HATED when someone outside of the family babysat me. So, I don’t think Dr. Laura’s advice (as I have described it) is SO evil, or hypocritcal. However, my sister had her kids in day care, and they’re fine. So there you go.
Oh, I understand all this. My point is, though, that you’re clearly someone who actually investigates allegations rather than takes the allegers at their word. And for that, I offer a salute in admiration.
I’m curious, do you suspect that the transcripts found at glaad.org to be fraudulent since GLAAD is one of her harshest critics?
If someone attributes a quote to Dr. Laura, that’s where I go to see the comment in its context. (I have tried finding transcripts at Dr. Laura’s site, but she doesn’t have any.)
No, I don’t suspect it, for one simple reason: if they genuinely falsify a Doctor Laura quote, they can probably be sued for libel. It’s quite another thing to take an accurate quote, but twist its meaning by leaving it out of context. You probably can’t get sued for that, but people sympathetic to your cause (those who are not as dedicated to accuracy as Kyla) will buy that it means what you say it means.
Yeah…her site has a one-week audio archive, but not much else as far as past shows go. I’ll bet her production company does have full transcripts, but I don’t know how one would get access to it.