Hey, Ann Coulter: Really? Again?
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Madora Kibbe Guest Blogger
| New York
Words are all we have, to paraphrase the Bee Gees. Words express ideas. Words change lives, for better or for worse. Words like "I Have a Dream鈥� or 鈥�Tear down this wall鈥� or more recently Malala Yousufzai's "I have the right of education" are revolutionary. 听Words that are slurs are marginalizing, hurtful, destructive.听Choosing our words wisely isn't about being politically correct. It's about being better human beings. 听
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If the late Sen. Joseph Welch were here today I think he鈥檇 say, not to Joe McCarthy, but to Ann Coulter, 鈥渉ave you no sense of decency?鈥�
For any of you who haven't heard, Ms. Coulter has referred to our president not once but twice, on Twitter as a "retard.鈥� 听President Obama has been called names before, so I鈥檓 not worried about him. 听He can take it. He鈥檚 a forgiving man. That being said, it's reprehensible to treat a US president with anything but respect even if you disagree with him.
Especially if you disagree with him. 听
So maybe Coulter was paying him a compliment? Anyone who has ever watched the Special Olympics, or known someone with Down syndrome would agree that to be called retarded is the same as being called brave, courageous, inspiring. 听
Our children learn their words from us, the grown-ups in the room. They call each other 鈥済ay鈥� or 鈥渞etarded鈥� and mean it (truly mean it) as a put-down because that鈥檚 what they've heard adults say. 听
The same goes for the 鈥渘鈥� word and all the derogatory terms for women that punctuate some rap songs. 听
Face it folks, sticks and stones won't break your bones, but words can really hurt you. What do most of us have a hard time getting over? The hurtful things others have said about us. So let's clean up our verbal act. Meanness is contagious, but so is kindness. Let's take a time-out from the vitriol.
Are you listening Ann? Can you kick it up a notch? Can you be a caring, compassionate role model for young women and men everywhere?
As Stephen Sondheim wrote in his 听wonderful musical 'Into the Woods:'听
Careful the things you say
Children will listen
Careful the things you do
Children will see and learn
Children may not obey, but children will listen
Children will look to you for which way to turn
To learn what to be
Careful before you say "Listen to me"
听My thoughtful wise and wonderful daughter says the way to defeat Coulter is to ignore her. But I can't. So I guess I'm just going to have to love the hell out of her.
