Ann Coulter Referenced Isaiah Washington and All I Got Was This Horrible Premonition About Thought Crime
**UP DATED WARNING **
**WARNING **
This entry [and ensuing comments] makes use of
You have been warned.
** END OF WARNING **
** BEWARE **
** USE OF NAUGHTY WORDS COMMENCES ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BELOW **
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** NO; THE NAUGHTY WORDS ARE NOT "ANN COULTER" **
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Ann Coulter is a commentator, gadflyess and general pain-in-the-ass along the lines of Bill Maher, who in turn is like James Carville, but without Carville's wit, charm and likeability.
Ms. Coulter stepped right out of the frying pan and into the fire with this remark at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference:
"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word "faggot."** Crickets, crickets **
Set aside the wild irresponsibility of saying something like that in a speech given in such a setting; nevermind the carelessness with which Ms. Coulter tarred all those in attendance (in the eyes of the reactionary) by connecting her remarks to a large representative portion of conservatives.
All that is too easily commented upon, but since we are all likely in agreement, there'd be little point, I guess.
However, I was intrigued by her grammatical construction. "It turns out you have to go into rehab?" To what was she referring? Kicking that question around on the internet, I ran into this tid-bit of Enter-Info-Tainment newsiness:
Another breathless source had this to add:Jan. 25, 2007 — "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has announced that he will check into a treatment center for psychological evaluation, following the controversy over his anti-gay slur against co-star T.R. Knight.
"I have begun counseling," Washington said. "I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again."
“ABC has told him he must enter a program to examine why he would say such hateful words,” the insider says.(Now, I suspect that anytime an alleged "news" report credits "an inside source," they are likely just making things up, but this fits the pattern.)
Isaiah, who plays Dr. Preston Burke on the show, became embroiled in controversy for making a homophobic remark about Grey’s castmate T.R. Knight during an on-set argument last fall. (T.R., 33, publicly announced that he is gay after the incident.) The controversy reignited after the Jan. 15 Golden Globe Awards, at which Isaiah denied ever making the comment — but used the anti-gay slur in his denial.We will record here, for the record, that, in a heated discussion or argument, Mr. Washington apparently referred to Mr. Knight — in the third person — as a "faggot," as in "I'm not your little faggot, like —" and so on. It is hard to dig up exactly what was said, owing to the sensitive nature of the discussion.
It is a rare and distressing event, indeed, when one man refers to another as a "faggot." And this, irrespective of whether or not the other guy is, in fact, a homosexual.
The hard-hitting Life&Style Magazine seems to recoil from the word, but cannot use "the 'f' word" as a euphemism, because "f" has previously been taken.
And so, our world has come to this: you can be sent to rehab, allegedly, for saying the wrong things, or in this case, for using the wrong words to express your thoughts.
Think about that for a moment, before moving on. Dude says a "bad word" while in a heated argument, and ends up getting sent (this time, only by public and corporate pressure) to re-education camp.
How long before pro basketball player Tim Hardaway is sent away to have his opinions re-constructed for saying "I hate gay people?"
How long before the laws start hitting the books? How long before certain previously-discussed California law-makers get their panties in a bunch and draft bills mandating thought re-education for any one of a variety of "bad thoughts" people might be harboring?
I totally support taking Hardaway aside and explaining to him that blanket statements regarding entire groups of people are best not said for public consumption. But Washington's remark was said during a private argument.Hey! I don't think that what you're thinking is correct! Fortunately for you, I've written a little Bill...
In either case, although I don't share their sentiments, I don't think they need to be "taught" how to think correctly. These statements should be protected (if we are going to decide that the clause protects all acts and speech and not just political speech) by the Free Speech clause long before we get to protecting controversial "art" or "music." I'd feel the same way if someone else — possibly even a homosexual! — referred to Misters Washington and Hardaway as "uppity niggers."
Are we choosing to follow a path which ends up not at "you can't say that in public," but at "you aren't allowed to think that way?" Am I missing the fact that we've held to the "you can't think that way" standard for years or generations, and I just haven't noticed? Or is this something new?
I truly hope there is no follow-up to this dark entry.
Posted by WryMouth at 4 Mar 2007, 7:00 PM 
Categories: Astonishing Tales, twilight zone, Re-edjication
Categories: Astonishing Tales, twilight zone, Re-edjication
Were I a smutty-mouthed stand-up comedian (are you listening, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher or Jimmy Kimmel?) I would have put this in my monologue the following day:
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"I was going to say something here about Ann Coulter but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word [perjorative for female genitalia beginning with the letter 'c'].
You know, the only difference between what I said just now and what Coulter said about John Edwards is that Edwards is not actually gay."
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Yes, for Ann it's another Mission Accomplished: after languishing in near obscurity since her attack on surviving spouses of 9-11 (those losers), she got her name back in the media the only way she knows how - via manufactured outrage. It's a paycheck, I guess, but, talk about having no ideas...
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[perjorative for female genitalia beginning with the letter 'c'].
uh-oh, I almost had to add a third word to the "NAUGHTY WORD" warning on this post. I think I will update it to two-and-a-fourth.
C'mon, Cogit, just say the magic phrase... you know... "the c-word." That's the way we gr'ups talk in the 21st Century.
As for the sutty-comic-logic-loop, we merely add: "lather, rinse, repeat."
As afore-mentioned, we here at Wry Mouth prefer the likes of Rush Limbaugh* and James Carville (he of the "drag a hunnert dollah bill through a trailah pahk" line) to Maher and Coulter, probably because -- in our estimation -- Limbaugh and Carville and their ilk represent a wavelength of the political spectrum that is more -- aware, I suppose -- of the way their comments play out in a political arena.
Just having removed my baseball manager cap for the evening, I'd say it's the difference between a gung-ho rookie infielder who is hard-charging but error-prone, as opposed to a more seasoned player who relies on the infield fly rule and positioning, versus raw speed; a player who takes their time and sets before making the throw.
This is not to suggest that Coulter (or Maher, cheering for the death of Dick Cheney) didn't know what she was up to. But she knew she couldn't skewer the idea of Thought Rehab without going to the "faggot" word, and she couldn't use any other word but "faggot" to get to the barb. And the Thought Rehab barb would be the perfect follow-up to the blast on Edwards. A double-edged blade, attractive to persons in that part of our political spectrum, but one side much too overly keen, a blade out-of-balance, and used injudiciously on Edwards -- rather an odd target, unless there is a widespread perception of him being too fey. I am not aware of any such perception here in the Coachella Valley.
Better to hack at him for being a shyster, or a blood-sucking religious hypocrite, says I. If you want to take that tack.
BUT AGAIN -- we agree that Coulter was out of line. That's not the thrust of the blog editorial. The thrust, for me, was the event that lay behind her jibe -- the sending of Washington to "rehab" for saying/thinking "incorrect" thoughts IN A PRIVATE CONVERSATION/ARGUMENT. I'm having a hard time visualizing you, Cogit, thinking that sending folks to Double-Plus Good Thought Camp is right along the lines of our good ol' AmURican ideals.
Interestingly, even most of the homosexuals I hang around with are neither gay nor faggots nor queens, nor even queers. Some are -- maybe one or two. But most are not.
Then again -- in the West Coachella Valley, what would one expect?
Oop. better update again. And check my rehab schedule, just in case.
Or stick to "hate speech" targeting the Micks, Jews and Scots.
* when he's not drug-addled
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