It’s time once again for The Future American’s FAIL OF THE WEEK! Every Saturday, I name a person or group who has spent the past seven days behaving in a particularly idiotic way. Since it’s my belief that idiocy knows no politics, nobody is safe.
This week’s fail was brought to you by everyone who decided this letter was a cause for kudos. Reviewing old posts, I realize that I have written about Ann Coulter, even in the form of minor sarcastic swipes, many, many more times than I care to admit. To that end, this will be the very last time her name appears in this blog for any reason. This I vow. But anyway: Why is this letter not a cause for kudos? Because letters like it have been written to Coulter since the 90s, and they never have any real effect except to garner her more press attention – the red sun to her Superman, essentially.
The reason it was written because of her repeated use of the word “retard” in reference to President Obama on Twitter. If you remember her use of the word “faggot” in reference to then-Sen. John Edwards (R-NC) at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2007, you have probably already figured out that this is the exact same thing, with a different slur. The mentally disabled and LGBTs are/were merely collateral damage in attacks on politicians with whom she is unable or refuses to engage intellectually.
And therein lies the reason for her use of those slurs. She knows the ensuing visceral negativity will get her all sorts of headlines and, with them, paid media appearances. (Ever wonder why she doesn’t hold the title “Fox News contributor” despite contributing there constantly? It’s because that would require a contract with Fox, and she doesn’t want to put all her eggs in their basket. Wise decision, actually.) And with her influence within conservative circles waning due to the onslaught of the Tea Party brunettes, she can’t have too many of those.
I wholeheartedly agree with everything the letter writer, John Franklin Stephens, had to say in his letter. But it has the same message as every other “open letter to Ann Coulter” letter ever written, ever: Stop being such a heinous bitch. She won’t. No matter how many attempts one may make to change her heart, she won’t. Because being a heinous bitch has been very profitable for her, and I have no doubt it comes naturally as well.
So don’t call Stephens’s letter powerful or inspiring or any synonym thereof, because it’s been done to no avail already. And you’re just walking into her trap the more you condemn her. The best thing to do is shrug it off. The more people do that, the less headlines she’ll make, the shriller she’ll become, the more turned off her audience will be, and the less lucrative her shtick will be. (And we really should stop worrying about every idiot with a slur, anyway.)
