No. Dr. Laura's 1st Amendment rights as a talk radio personality are not being taken away. If anything, her sponsors have decided that she crossed over the line of on-air ediquette and diplomacy and yanked some of their sponsorship from her show. As such, Dr. Laura feels that she's being unduly limited in her ability to say what she wants. Well, I got news for her. She did this to herself. Nobody made her say the words that came out of her mouth. Nobody closed her ears so that she didn't listen to the issue the black female caller was attempting to address and seak her advise over. Instead, Dr. Laura went off in a completely different direction and got caught up in her own angry rant. Now, granted, since the issue was about racial insensativity, the caller was the one who used the "N-word" as an example of the racial insensativity issue she was addressing since as we all know the caller was black, her husband is white and it was her husband's white friends who were causing the caller the problem. Had Dr. Laura listened and addressed the caller's problem instead of going off in a completely different direction, maybe she wouldn't feel as though her 1st Amendment right to free speech - to say whatever she wants to say on the air - are being tread upon.
Oh, and BTW, as the good Dr. is so fond of saying, "How you 'feel' about a particular situation doen't matter." :shock: She stepped into her own mess. Seems as though she's taking out her own trash.
On the surface of it, I don't disagree with you. However, as I explain in this thread (specifically in posts #53 and #71) context means everything, as well as, familiarity of the person and/or culture who uttered the word. Taken in totality, as a black man I can say that word and get away with it (in most cases), but a white man...not so much. And while not speaking as an authority on the matter, I think I articulate the reasons why very well. To put it mildly (as also mentioned in the linked thread), a man can't call a woman a "bitch" and think he can get away with it for the same reason a woman can call another woman a "bitch" and, depending on how or under what circumstance it is said, she can!