What To Do About Dog?

First, the latest newsletter is available now, titled Expectations.

I’ve been asked my opinion on the situation concerning Dog the Bounty Hunter last week. As most know, he was recorded, by his own family member, dropping the N-bomb consistently while castigating his son’s girlfriend, who happened to be black. Since that time, he’s appeared on Larry King, his show was put on suspension by his network, and Dr. Phil did a show on him and the topic.

Here’s my take on the matter. I heard the entire tape, and though it’s not pretty, it’s not as bad as it seemed to be. Basically, if he hadn’t been white, it would have sounded exactly like many other conversations I’ve heard black people have with themselves. The more surprising thing was that he didn’t drop the B-word, the derogatory one used to refer to women, which is as common in the black community as the use of the N-word.

Not to make excuses, but what Dog did was highlight something I’ve thought about for a very long time. I listen to rap myself from time to time, but not all that much of the new stuff because I just don’t like the language, plus none of these people seem to have any real reason to be happy, and they’re not, except for the money. Anyway, in my neighborhood, it’s not as many black people playing this music in their cars as white kids, and, being kids, they play it loud. I’ve often wondered what these kids are thinking when they pull up next to me at a gas station and see me there. Are they thinking that I’m down with them enough so that they can use that word with me, or are they even slightly embarrassed because they know I’m a little older, or do they even get why the word might be considered offensive at all.

It’s no wonder that there’s so much confusion over this word and what’s right and what’s wrong. Dog is really no different. He only went to school through 7th grade, grew up in the south, and spent a lot of time in prison with black people, where the word was used liberally. In the circles he associates himself in, he’s used to using the word often enough. In his interview on Larry King, he said that, whenever new people were introduced into his household, he took a moment to tell them that it was a word he used a lot in his regular conversation, but that he meant no disrespect to any peoples, it was just his way. Yet, at the same time, he did have some sense, some inkling that the word was bad. His pastor said he’d never heard him use the word, and his pastor happened to be black. He never used the word on his TV show, or in the presence of those filming it for him. And, in the recording, you hear him telling his son that people would misconstrue how he was using the word if they ever heard a tape of him using it; so, there goes the innocence part.

So, my opinion is that Dog’s use of the word, though he knew it was wrong, wasn’t meant as a negative in general, based on his life and patterns of use. He doesn’t deal with the best people in his line of work, and doesn’t come from a background of education, but he’s made something of himself anyway; let him have his show and let him go back to work catching those criminals who need to be put back in jail. But, don’t let this discussion end, because the word has got to go. After all, I can’t remember anyone complaining about Quentin Tarrantino’s use of it in the movie Pulp Fiction over and over, and he’s educated, helped write the script, and produced the movie; he’s someone who probably should have known better even more than Dog.

Let’s not be hypocritical about this. The word is out there. But until there’s a universal application of its dis-use, it’s just not going to go away. And it should.