"Faggot" vs. "Idiot"

It's been educational watching the public reaction to Ann Coulter calling former senator John Edwards a "faggot." First, my reaction. Faggot is not a good word to use in the way she used it. She didn't have to do it, it makes a lot of people cringe, and she shouldn't have. Should we make a big fuss about it and protest and boycott? No. We should all understand that Ann is an over-the-top lightning rod who is little more, at this point, than a far right comedienne.

With that said, it is totally appropriate for companies to stop advertising on her Web site and for newspapers to drop her column, if they wish. They are businesses whose sole purpose is to make money, and associating themselves with Coulter at this time could certainly raise public ire against them and reduce their bottom line. It's a business decision for most of them, nothing more; just as I'm sure Ann's choice of "faggot" was a business decision.

However, let's be clear. Coulter's use of "faggot" is no worse than all of the liberals who call conservatives "idiots" and "morons." Those are pretty hateful words, said pretty hatefully, as well. I don't hear many people get upset when Bill Maher, the left's equivalent of Ann Coulter, calls the president an idiot. So, their screaming about Ann's "faggot" comment seems more political than progressive.

Actually, I think calling someone an "idiot" is worse than calling a straight person (and Ann has said she wouldn't use the word to describe a gay person) a "faggot." A straight person isn't a faggot the way gay activists want us to think of the word; John Edwards is married with children, and there's no reason to believe he's gay. But calling someone an "idiot" is a personal attack that has no place.

HRC's top divisive, Joe Solmonese, wrote an op-ed piece for liberal The Huffington Post slamming Ann Coulter for her thoughts, and slamming her press syndicate for not saying how horrible Ann is (God forbid someone lets the public exchange take its course without jumping into the fray). But my favorites are the first two lines of his hateful op-ed:

Ann Coulter is clueless and callous. She has built a career out of demonizing other people and dividing our country.

Solmonese attacks Coulter for calling names . . . by calling her names. He then accuses her of demonizing other people . . . by demonizing her. Socialist divisives like Solmonese are so focused on "ridding the world of intolerance" that they can't even see how intolerant they themselves are of political thought that's contrary to their own.

I will definitely give Solmonese credit for this, though: using the word "faggot" in his op-ed, Instead of the intellectually offensive f***** that we have to suffer through so much. His use of it is totally innocuous and it makes it very clear what he's talking about. So kudos to him for that.

Comments

[RJP3]

Hey IDIOT ...

You just said using the FAGGOT was prob a business decision ... that is a perfect example of being clueless to the potential negative reprocussions that choice will have AND callous ... I dont think I have to even say anything more on that ... using hate speech to gain attention and profit ... nothing could be more callous.

I guess you may have missed that lesson at Stanford.

[Dan Williams]

Idiot, while originally factually-based, is now used in a purely opinion-based manner. Faggot is and remains factually-based - someone identifies themselves as gay or they don't.

When you call Joe an idiot, I think everyone would agree that you are stating an opinion. When you call Joe a faggot, most people would agree that you were stating two things: Joe is gay, and that's bad.

The two terms have, in popular use, far different force.

In my opinion, anyhow.

[Tim]

I really don't think you can compare calling someone a "faggot" to calling them an "idiot". "Faggot" is almost always used to demasculanize someone and, whether the person saying it means to or not, it's a slam against a marginalized minority group. If I'm not mistaken, it's orgin lies in the way gays (or those thought to be gay) were burned to death.

"Idiot" on the other hand, reflects on the choices and actions someone takes. It's a relative term and in today's language, I don't think it's dissmisive of any group of people.

If Coulter had called Edwards and idiot, I might not agree with her, but I wouldn't care, as she has every right to think he's made some idiotic choices. It's a subjective view. But calling him a faggot doesn't bother me because of it's inaccuracy, but because of what it says about an entire group of people.

It's the same thing about what is so deeply troubling about the prevalence of "that's so gay".