Attempts by journalists and pundits to grab headlines by being outrageous (and thus grab cash via syndication or appearance fees) normally fall flat on their face. Most of us quickly recognize such people for what they are and tune them out. A friend’s sister used to run a website dedicated to exposing such people aptly called ‘MediaWhoresOnline.com’. It is thus an interesting phenomena that Coulter appears to survive and thrive by using the ugliest of rhetoric in a transparent effort to sell herself and drive up her appearance prices.
The last time my attention turned to Ms. Ann Coulter, a fawning fan-journalist of hers by the name of Marc Sheppard rushed to her defense saying that my characterizations of her were ‘vile’ and tended to ‘acquit’ her.
I haven’t heard much from Mr. Sheppard lately.The latest spew from Coulter’s pie hole, the offhanded characterization of former Senator and current Presidential candidate John Edwards as a ‘f*ggot’ has finally started to earn Coulter the type of attention she deserves, condemnation from all corners and the dropping of her column from several newspapers. In my opinion, any periodical that continues to carry her column isn’t worth the paper on which it is printed.
Of course, this latest installment of super-sensationalized hate and bigotry is only the latest in a long line from Coulter. Her tirades against Arabs and people of the Muslim faith have gone on for so long and are so well known that even most Arab and Muslim Anti-Discrimination groups stopped bothering to document them over two years ago.
Coulter only takes a break from attacking Muslims when she is attacking gays and the gay community or Liberals and Democrats. Gays are invariably referred to as sodomites and Democrats and Liberals are always referred to as traitors. Those are the standard lines on which Coulter has built her whole career. If you didn’t know who Coulter was and you read this article to this point, you would now know everything there is to know about her.
That Coulter can be so easily and quickly summed up is a testament to how little journalistic value she has which leads to the obvious questions:
What possible reason could any newspaper or periodical have had to carry her column the last few years?
What possible reason could any newspaper or periodical have to continue carrying her column?
What is wrong with the people who enjoy reading her columns such that they have to have the ugliest and least publication-worthy hate rhetoric spoon-fed to them at regular intervals?
What is wrong with Republican and Conservative groups such that they have embraced or at least refused to take Coulter to task for all of her ugly hate-speak?
If one was hoping that the most Conservative of Americans were finally turning their backs on Coulter, they would be disappointed. Even though the mainstream Republican party has started to distance themselves from her, groups like the ultra-conservative Freepers at Freerepublic.com have expressed their support despite her latest comments. A post on Free Republic of the article “Shame on Conservatives (for not supporting Coulter)” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798178/posts reprinted from RightBias News’ Nancy Morgan, garnered nearly 70 responses praising Coulter. Some of the responses even referred to Coulter as a ‘hero’.
If there is a silver lining in Coulter’s latest rant, it is that it has helped expose some of the garbage newspapers out there for the rags that they are. People should refuse to buy, read, or purchase advertising in any print or online periodical that carries Coulter’s column.
