Pushing My Buttons

Writing about politics is stupid. Either you’ll agree with me, or you won’t. Either we’ll see eye to eye, or we won’t. That said, Ann Coulter called John Edward a “faggot.” This occurred during a speech before the biggest annual gathering of conservatives in America.

It is impossible for anyone to believe that this happened by accident, because to believe that is to ignore the recent history of the Republican party concerning homosexuality. That Coulter was cheered immediately after making her comment says even more.

Specifically, Coulter said, “I’d say something about John Edwards, but if you use the word ‘faggot’, you have to go to rehab.”

One of the reasons that she was cheered is that there are some Americans, some of whom apparently sitting in that room, that believe that the politically correct have prevented them from honestly expressing opinions. In Coulter’s defiance of this, they see a hero, a woman willing to triumph over those demanding tolerance.

I’m no fan of political correctness. Requiring anybody to believe anything is problematic. But this isn’t about political correctness. This is about being a decent human being, and decent human beings don’t go around calling one another faggots. Coulter wasn’t kidding around when she suggested that Edwards might be gay; Coulter was dead set on undercutting her opposition in a crass way that she knew would fire up her rabid base. It isn’t bad enough that Edwards is a liberal, she’d say, but he’s gay too. And not just gay, but a “faggot.”

Decent people don’t do this sort of thing. Decent people argue with one another, disagree, and fight, but they don’t resort to throwing epithets around. They don’t resort to this sort of penny-ante bullshit.

One of the reasons that debate in this country is so toxic is Ann Coulter. She has equals on the other side, of course. The fact that we can no longer disagree without calling or being called faggots is absurd, and the reason that I stopped writing posts like this. There are more interesting things out there, more places that need to be explored, more places that need to be seen. Coulter only reminds me of that.