There Are None Good

Late in her show on Thursday, September 12, 2019, Dr. Laura took a call from a wife who said her husband's nephew was "verbally abusive" to her, which Dr. Laura had her change to nasty or mean or whatever, dropping the "abuse" word. The nephew had indicated his marriage was based on his wife's family's wealth, the caller had spoken up against that, and the nephew responded, with rude words, to tell her he didn't care what she thought.

Because of this, the caller's husband agreed to cut short their visit and leave the next day.

Apparently that wasn't enough for Dr. Laura. The husband was supposed to do... something... to the nephew. She didn't say what, which is very telling. Probably a statement of some sort, even though Dr. Laura also tells callers not to waste their breath with pointless confrontations, and "you have no power" and all of that. I guess maybe the point would be to show his wife that he cares? But that hasn't been enough of a point in so many other situations.

Anyway, the caller said her husband is a great husband, and Dr. Laura insisted he wasn't! He's not a great husband because he didn't tell the nephew off?!? Or do whatever unexplained thing he was supposed to do? He could be a great husband in a million ways, but because of this, he's not a good husband?

As she explained, a husband's top priority is to protect his wife. OK, the nephew was rude to her. It's not like he stole from her, physically threatened her, or even questioned her honor.

So, the caller's husband isn't a great husband.

But if that's the standard, there are none that are good. No husbands, no friends, no parents, because everybody is imperfect. This has been a recurring thing on the show lately. Dr. Laura's opinion of a friend suffered because that friend put her in touch with a possible date Dr. Laura decided was dishonorable. She also recently sounded like she had lowered her opinion of someone else she knows because (and Dr. Laura was intentionally very vague about it) that person suggested Dr. Laura interact with someone in the media she apparently loathes. My guess is that it was a suggestion for helping to promote her upcoming book.

Callers need to take note. Be very careful what you say, or you might get sidetracked by a declaration that someone in your life is terrible and you're in serious error for calling them a friend, or staying in touch with your mother, or having married your husband. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Dr. Laura is absolutely right most of the time when the caller's focus is to describe an individual's ongoing or repeated actions in great detail. But in situations in which only one relatively minor issue can be described, no strangers should make a judgment that the person's overall performance as a parent or friend or spouse or coworker or boss or employee should be declared bad.

Dr. Laura typically does 15 hours of radio per week. In an average week, she hits the nail on the head 98 percent of the time. That's why the times I think she falls short stick out to me so much.