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Ann Coulter vs. One Billion Arabs
by: Scott C. Smith
In a recent column, Ann Coulter expressed indignation regarding an apparent Federal Aviation Administration policy not to perform searches on more than two Arabs at a time. I was not aware of this policy, but not surprisingly, Coulter would like all Arabs stopped and searched. You know, because they’re Arab. I think Coulter is applying some sort of twisted logic to this subject. Something along the lines of, “The terrorists that attacked the United States on 9-11 were Arabs. Therefore, all Arabs are terrorists.” In essence, Coulter is advocating racial profiling. Which is an odd position for an attorney with a background in constitutional law to take. Innocent until proven guilty? Not if you look like you are an Arab. It was John Lehman, a member of the 9-11 Commission, that had brought attention to the policy that prohibits airlines from searching more than two Arabs at a time. To this, Coulter writes, “In a sane world, Lehman’s statement would have made headlines across the country…that it is official government policy to prohibit searching more than two Arabs per flight.” African-Americans have dealt with this kind of injustice for years. And while Coulter thinks racial profiling is sound law enforcement policy, I have another word for it: racism. But that’s just me. And when you apply Coulter’s logic to other scenarios, the logic stops making sense. For instance, The FBI has profiled serial killers and what has emerged is that the majority of serial killers are white males. Does that mean the FBI should stop every white male in a particular city or region where a serial killer has struck? Of course not. That would be stupid. So, even though she supports a racist method of law enforcement, it would not be fair for me to say Coulter was a racist. I don’t know Ann Coulter, so I can’t say she’s a racist. That would be wrong. Maybe we can find some answers in her columns! Here’s a good one. September 25, 2002. Why We Hate Them. Coulter writes, Americans don't want to make Islamic fanatics love us. We want to make them die. There's nothing like horrendous physical pain to quell angry fanatics. So sorry they're angry – wait until they see American anger. Japanese kamikaze pilots hated us once too. A couple of well-aimed nuclear weapons, and now they are gentle little lambs. That got their attention. No love lost there, eh Ann? Maybe we should emulate the policies of the Hitler-era German government. They didn’t like Jews very much, so they rounded them up and killed millions of them. Conservatives do a lot of whining about how liberals are always quick to label conservatives as “racists” or “homophones” or “stupid.” These assessments, at least for me, are based on what I hear coming out of a conservative’s mouth, or what they write. Actually, conservative hate-speak is very easy to pick up on. Take Sean Hannity. He likes to begin sentences with statements like “You liberals…” or he’ll say “You and your liberal friends…” The key is to take the word liberal and replace it with a minority. Give it a try the next time you hear Hannity, or some other right-winger, on television or read it in print. If you can stomach hearing Hannity. Maybe you’ll need to find someone less annoying. Speaking of annoying, let’s get back to Coulter. In her Sept. 4, 2002 column, titled Murder for Fun and Prophet (get it? Prophet refers to the Prophet Muhammad. Hilarious!), at the end of the column, Coulter dismisses the Muslim faith as irrelevant. “Muhammad makes L. Ron Hubbard look like Jesus Christ. Most people think nothing of assuming every Scientologist is a crackpot. Why should Islam be subject to presumption of respect because it's a religion?” That’s right, Ann! Over one billion people around the world are crackpots because they are Muslims. Idiots! As a comparison, there are only a few million members of the Church of Scientology, according to the Religious Tolerance web site. And let’s not forget Ann’s most infamous column, from Sept. 12, 2001. At the end of that column, she says, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war.” Call me crazy, but I get the impression that Arabs and/or Muslims are not Ann’s favorite people. For instance, in an interview with the Guardian of London newspaper on May 17, 2003, Coulter said, “This is my idea…I think airlines ought to start advertising: 'We have the most civil rights lawsuits brought against us by Arabs.’” Oh, man, Ann, my sides are splitting! In fact, as a solution for Muslims to use air travel, Coulter offers helpfully, “They could use flying carpets!” Flying carpets! Brilliant! Ann, you know, if the whole racist pundit thing ever comes to an end, you’ll have a career in stand-up comedy. We know Ann hates liberals, and it’s pretty clear she hates Muslims. And, apparently, Scientologists. I don’t know what Ann likes. My guess will have to be, hearing her voice. Or Sean Hannity’s voice. About the author: Scott C. Smith is a freelance writer from Beaverton, Oregon. Scott’s column, What’s In Scott’s Head, appears at several progressive web sites, including the Democratic Underground, The Smirking Chimp, Op Ed News, and Counter Bias. Scott also writes for his web site, at http://www.scottcsmith.net About the Author Scott C. Smith is a freelance writer from Beaverton, Oregon. Scott’s column, "What’s In Scott’s Head," appears at several progressive web sites, including the Democratic Underground, The Smirking Chimp, Op Ed News, and Counter Bias. Scott also writes for his web site, at http://www.scottcsmith.net

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