Dr. Laura: I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger, my number: 1-800-DR-LAURA. Welcome to the program.
Joe: I guess my quandary is, the problem is, I'm one of four good high school friends. We still go out together every now and then, and some of us are married. Some of us have girlfriends or fiancées. I have a girlfriend, and one of my friends who seems to be happily married has a habit of either tongue-in-cheek, or I don't know what-hitting on young ladies, and I can't quite figure out how to confront it. You know, we think about just getting together at a coffee shop and talking to him, but- Dr. Laura: Sure, that's fine. Joe: That wouldn't be ganging up on him or anything like that? Dr. Laura: Ganging up on him?
Joe: Well, it would be me and three other guys, you know, I mean- Dr. Laura: Ganging up on him? Joe: Well, you know, it wouldn't be like- Dr. Laura: What does "ganging up" on somebody mean? Joe: Well, what that means is we don't sound like we're, "Hey, you better stop"- Dr. Laura: Okay, Joe, I asked you-you know, men in this country have been too feminized. You seem to be an example of that, and the other three of your buddies seem to be equal examples. I'm hard-pressed, honestly, to see men having a problem getting in the face of another guy and saying, "Lay off our women." I don't see why this has to be agonized over and we have to meet for tea and coffee. Joe: Only because he's been a friend for so long. Dr. Laura: No, he's not. He's hitting on your women, and you sound like a girl, Joe. I'm dismayed, because it's very important to American civilization that men stay masculine. And when I hear things like this, and fear of parenting, and so many other things, I worry for our country. Do you realize that your call makes me worry for my country? Because that's four young men, in their twenties, afraid of getting in each other's face and saying, "Cut that behavior out." It scares me that you have to call me to ask me about this. "Gee, am I being bad?" That scares me, because we need men to be able to stand up against wrongdoing.
Joe: But, I guess as opposed to- Dr. Laura: Gee, I would have liked if Bush had gone to the UN and said, "Maybe we shouldn't have these meetings, because I don't want Saddam to think we're ganging up on him." Please, Joe, get in his face. Tell him to cut it out or he's history. Act like a man. We need men to act like men. It's not a frivolous thing I'm saying. It's very, very important to society.
