Love Her or Hate Her, but You've Gotta Respect Dr. Laura!

I agree with Dr. Laura's views on most subjects; there are a few on which I equally-strongly disagree; neither is relevant. Dr. Laura holds a PhD, a certification in marriage, family, and child counseling, and has taught at three of California's most well-known universities; impressive, but not necessarily relevant either. What is relevant is that in the seemingly-endless "new wave" of pop-psych excuse-making, Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a breath of fresh air with her common sense, grown-up approach to life: Mean what you say and say what you mean; Keep your word; If you do wrong, have the guts to call it what it is; and Quit making excuses. This no-nonsense approach is what leads most to either "love or hate" Dr. Laura-- many people do not like being told they are wrong, many people do not like hearing that they should hold themselves accountable for their own actions.

In this day and age of the pop-psych trends of excuse-making, finger-pointing, rationalizing and justifying, many people do not like to hear 'Stand on your feet, Look yourself in the mirror, and Do what needs to be done;' the idea that one should be responsible for oneself and accountable for one's actions toward others goes totally against the grain of what the American public has been conditioned with during the last couple of decades. Dr. Laura "suggests" that perhaps it is time to return to the oldfashioned method of personal accountability.

The topics in one of her books, "How Could You Do That?!" speak volumes in themselves: Character, Conscience, Courage, Self-respect, Morals, Integrity, Principles. When middle-aged people lack these virtues because their parents neglected to teach them, the result is frequently both excuse-making and finger-pointing: "My parents did the best they could!" No, they didn't-- in failing to instill these values in childhood, they neglected one of the most basic responsibilities of parenting. Unfortunately, one of the consequences of this line of thought is that when the middle-aged make excuses for their parents' neglect and at the same time deem it as the reason why they turned out the way they did, they are rationalizing and justifying their own lack of responsibility and accountability at the same time-- "I am this way- because my mother was Controlling... I am this way- because my father did not keep his promises." Oh puleeze!! Stop making excuses for what your parents did or did not do; stop blaming them for "the way" you are; stand on your own two feet.

Character. Conscience. Courage. Self-respect. Morals. Integrity. Principles. The reason why the American public has so much trouble with such basic concepts is that the pop-psych trend is virtually brainwashing people into believing that they are not only irrelevant but essentially impossible, that the focus is on "do wrong- and blame someone else for it"-- it ranges from "my parents did not teach me any better" to the persistent nonsense espoused in such babble as "giving people power in your life that they do not deserve," "there's no such thing as Right-or-Wrong," "it's all about Choice- and if your 'choices' cause serious harm to others, it's 'on them'." Dr. Laura often speaks of choices, also-- that an individual is accountable for the consequences of his choices, both to himself and to others; you can do whatever wrong you may 'choose'-- but have the guts to call it what it is.

These days especially, Dr. Laura's refusal to buy into the pop-psych culture by giving people convenient, watered-down excuses, is quite refreshing. In an era in which too many are, as the old folks would have said, spineless and wishy-washy, it is great to see there is at least one modern icon who upholds values, standards, and common sense.