Re: Dear Dr. Laura...

[George Cunningham <gkc@LOUISVILLE.EDU>]

Leo,

In Tom Wolfe's brilliant essay in the June issue of Harper's Magazine he
quotes a French diplomat  as saying, "An intellectual is a person
knowledgeable in one field who speaks out only in others."

Leo you are a true intellectual.  Anyone who would go to such trouble to
ridicule Laura Schlesinger, who does not even know she is Jewish (converted
and conservative) obviously is speaking on a topic about which he knows
nothing.  Anyone who has listened to ten minutes of her show would know she
is Jewish, because that is the  primary  topic of many of  her discussions.
Obviously you have never listened her show, but yet you proclaim yourself an
expert and are quite willing to pronounce all sorts of judgments about her.
Amazing.

George K. Cunningham
University of Louisville

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assessment Reform Network Mailing List
> [mailto:ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU]On Behalf Of Dr. Leo Casey
> Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 4:01 PM
> To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Dear Dr. Laura...
>
>
> It would be interesting to know the basis of the belief that "Dr.
> Laura" is
> Jewish -- has she made this clear herself, or is this simply conjecture?
> Certainly, a literal reading of the commandments of the first
> five books of
> the Bible -- what Jews know as the Torah and what Christians call
> the first
> five books of the Old Testament -- is not limited to a section of
> the Jewish
> community: it is every much a feature of Christian fundamentalism
> as it as of
> Jewish fundamentalism. For all that I know, there may even be
> some connection
> with fundamentalist Islam. Now fundamentalist Christians being in
> far greater
> numbers than fundamentalist Jews, and Schlesinger being a family
> name which
> could be either Jewish or Christian, the greater likelihood is
> that she is a
> Christian, and not a Jewish, fundamentalist. Indeed, that was always the
> supposition on which I had worked. I was a bit surprised, to say
> the least,
> to discover that a text directed at someone I had thought a fundamentalist
> Christian could have "anti-Semitic overtones."
>
> But let us assume, for purposes of this discussion, that Dr.
> Laura is indeed
> a fundamentalist Jew. For someone who was raised as a Catholic,
> and has been
> a confirmed agnostic for most of my adult life, I have a fair knowledge of
> the Jewish tradition, and would be happy to discuss what are, for me, the
> obvious merits of the approach of Maimonides' "Guide for the Perplexed" in
> understanding and interpreting the commandments of the Torah.
> Indeed, I think
> that the letter to Dr. Laura -- not my creation alone, I must
> again remind --
> did a quite wonderful job of writing from within the tradition of a
> Maimonides, of those of us who could not be anything but perplexed by the
> fundamentalist's capacity to ignore the obvious contradictions
> which result
> from a literal, ahistorical reading of these texts. Does the
> "Guide for the
> Perplexed" have "anti-Semitic overtones?"
>
> No doubt, for a fundamentalist of whatever faith, any suggestion that the
> word, and thus the law, as they understand it, is not God's word and God's
> law, is an affront to their faith, and thus, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian,
> anti-Islamic or whatever. But that is because within their literal and
> reductionist logic, you either accept the plain truth or you oppose it. I
> would hope that we could find some other option, where criticism is not
> equated with blasphemy and prejudice.
>
> Michelle wrote:
> Shulamit,
>
> I agree that Dr. Laura has chosen particular passages of the
> Bible to follow
> and particular passages to ignore. She is a hypocrite.  Dr. Casey
> points out
> that hypocrisy in a sarcastic and ironic tone.  However, I have
> problems with
> both Dr. Laura and Dr. Casey's letter to her.
>
> Karen Armstrong writes, in her book _A History of God_ that
> "every religious
> tradition tries to make God in their own image."  I think that
> Dr. Laura does
> her best to make God into her own image, which, of course, is a
> blasphemous
> act in any sense of the word.
>
> For anyone to say that they can understand the complexity of God is a
> blasphemy, correct? That is why the Jewish tradition has a Rabbi
> (a teacher
> of God's books), not a minister (an emissary of God).
>
> This is why I suggest that the Talmud would be a good tool for
> both Dr. Laura
> and Dr. Casey to access.
>
> The Talmud provides an understanding of the complexity of the
> questions Dr.
> Casey has presented, and illustrates the tradition of questioning and
> considering the implication of every action rather than simply following
> words blindly, believing that you have, by doing so, possessed
> the secret of
> God.
>
> The Talmud's attention to questions and discussions rather than absolutes
> would provide both Dr. Laura and Dr. Casey food for thought.
> While the Bible
> seems specific and clear in its words, the Talmud shows the
> difficulty of the
> interpretation of each word.
>
> This difficulty of interpretation, I believe, exists and
> continues throughout
> time, place, and circumstance.
>
> Dr. Casey is asking static questions in fluid time and circumstance. Dr.
> Laura provides static answers in fluid time and circumstance.  Both are
> flawed, but at least Dr. Casey knows he delivers those questions within a
> tradition of pointing out the complexity beyond every absolute.
>
> I worried deeply about Dr. Casey's now widely circulated "Dr. Laura" piece
> because it appears to suggest that Jews live in some Biblically
> prehistoric
> and barbarous time which allows slavery, etc.  When I showed it to a
> Christian friend of mine, she laughed--then said, "That is why Dr. Laura
> should be a Christian--she doesn't have the New Testament to guide her."
>
> I didn't forward Dr. Casey's piece to anyone outside this listserve when I
> read it because I was aware of its possible anti-Semitic
> uses--even though I
> honestly do not believe that Dr. Casey would intentionally create
> the piece
> for that reason, or intend any possible anti-Semitic use of the piece.
> Nonetheless, the anti-Jewish overtones of the Dr. Laura piece is
> one reason
> why it has been circulated by others so widely, and the very
> reason I felt I
> needed a traditional Jewish way to answer his questions when I
> read it.  The
> Talmud, and it's spirit of questioning and understanding of
> complexity, was
> the best way I knew to answer him.
>
> Clearly, Dr. Laura would not only be put in her place by a good Talmud
> reading, she would also be silenced for quite a long time--it is
> a very big
> book.
>
> I am perplexed why you would think I was defending Dr. Laura by asking Dr.
> Casey to read the Talmud.
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
> Leo Casey
> United Federation of Teachers
> 260 Park Avenue South
> New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
>
> Power concedes nothing without a demand.
> It never has, and it never will.
> If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
> Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation
> are men who
> want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
> lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
> -- Frederick Douglass --
>
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