Here’s conservative personality Ann Coulter showing off her skills at insulting her opposition, in this case Democratic President Barack Obama.
Obama: "Stage 3 Romneysia" – because cancer references are HILARIOUS. If he's "the smartest guy in the room" it must be one retarded room.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
Not content to make one insulting reference to “retards,” Coulter sent out this tweet later on October 23:
I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
In response to Coulter’s series of tweets, John Franklin Stephens, a Global Messenger for the Special Olympics, wrote this open letter to Coulter.
Dear Ann Coulter,
Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia
John Franklin Stephens is clearly a very special man, and he’s certainly a far better person than Ann Coulter.
Well Zach,
Your writer grade may not be up to the Dante level, but I have to agree with your sentiments about Ann Coulter. She certainly represents the culmination of the spoiled American “Mean Girl” who uses status and privilege to demean others.
Thanks for sharing.
I think it’s particularly pathetic that former DNC chair Steele doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with what Coulter said. Ms. Coulter often strikes me as being immature for an 8th-grader, much less an adult that anyone will take seriously. But as long as it keeps getting her attention, I assume it will continue.
I’d bet money Hell won’t let her in.
While Ann’s defense may be technically correct (that the word used has an understood separate meaning than referring to someone with Down’s Syndrome), I think the larger main point is that is it completely disrespectful to the POTUS.
Steve’s comparison of her to an 8th grader is spot on. Add her to the likes of Bill Maher and Joy Behar who do little more than name-call and add nothing remarkable to a civil debate of ideas. But then Ann’s bread and butter has always been to create controversy to get herself in the headlines and sell some books.
I did find it interesting to note that Mr. Stephens used the word “dumb” twice in his letter. I wonder if he will receive an angry letter for misusing the technical definition of that word.
But then a President who insults his opponent by calling him a “bulls****er” just to look cool to the kids in a rag publication is hardly respectful or becoming of the office.
FMSN:
Ann Coulter’s defense isn’t technically correct. She’s simply denying that the word retard has any historically pejorative use. It certainly does. She then subverts the very hurtful, very painful reality experienced by generations of people with intellectual differences to conform to the alternate Conservative reality that she’s been pivotal in establishing (i.e. liberals are whiny victims). It’s a pretty hideous position to take, especially given the persecution complex she and the Right Wing are never in want of bemoaning. Calling her out for her insensitivity and wickedness is entirely appropriate. Had she a shred of decency she would at the very least be able to admit that not everyone views the world in the way she does and her tweets are offensive to a great many people with intellectual differences. But she’s incapable of apology because apology requires some level of conscience and respect for humanity. Coulter has neither. Her interview with Piers Morgan was especially telling and typical for Coulter when she’s faced with being flat out wrong. She simply denies and talks over her host. She knows what she does is inciting and agitating. But what really makes the stomach turn is her sense of entitlement – to be above criticism. She’s mired in the reprehensible petulance which has swept the Conservative culture. She wants to say whatever she likes without being subject to commentary from the rest of the world. She displays the typical Conservative imposition complex – free speech means everyone else shuts up.
The bottom line is she is deliberately corrosive. And yes, there is a special place in Hell for Ann Coulter.
I repeat. I seriously doubt that Hell will let her in.