House of Eratosthenes

Now it’s rehab over Grey’s new “f-word”! – TVgasm
by Tabloid Baby

The Grey’s Anatomy offscreen soap opera has now entered the realm of the absurd, as star Isaiah Washington has gone into rehab in an effort to save his job.

Word came today that ABC executives have ordered him to undergo psychological assessment to find out why he called co-star T.R. Knight a “faggot” during a spat on the set back in the fall–or else!

Everything had quieted down until last week, when Grey’s won a Golden Globe and Washington, in the grand tradition of Hollywood lying and spin control, Washington denied having uttered the slur. But in denying it, he used the word again! He didn’t direct it toward anyone, only referring to the word he’s been accused of saying.

Washington has already apologized twice, met with gay leaders and offered to make public service announcements. But rehab? Granted, it beats a prime tiem spanking by Dr. Phil– but didn’t anyone at ABC listen to the words Roseanne Barr used to scream from her office all those years? Washington confirmed it in a statement today:

Sez Isaiah:

“With the support of my family and friends, I have begun counseling. I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again. I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally.”

Am I trying to excuse what Ann said this weekend? I’ll leave that up to the reader. Did she do something wrong? Absolutely. It was wrong in principle, and wrong in tactics. She made herself just as bad as Howard Dean when he went glaringly off-topic to insult white people and Christians, and when he yelled into the microphone. Good thing she never ran for Prez…

Do I think the Grey’s reference matters? Yeah, absolutely. I think if you’re going to start pontificating and speculating about what Coulter holds in her heart, you’ve made Mr. Washington’s episode part of the story. That seems obvious.

And yet…a Google search on “rehab faggot,” as of this writing, returns 208,000 results and, as far as I can tell, not a single mention of Isaiah Washington. Interesting the way we ponder these things.

Are conservatives going to do a better job of policing their own? You mean, in contrast to the job the liberals did when Dan Rather insisted his report about forged documents was “fake but accurate”? Or when Al Gore got caught being a hypocrite, in the most caughtingly-hypocritical way possible? Compared to those?

Yeah. They’ve started already.

Do I think Ann deserves the scourging she’s about to receive? Yeah, I do. Sure, she’s being taken out of context over and over again. And it doesn’t rise to the little-brother-playing-Monopoly standard of “fair.” But when you speak in public about politics, it’s your job to anticipate that people will try to hurt you, and by extension, those who support you. That is THE JOB.

And the fact of the matter is, she really doesn’t have any defense. I’ve got a good idea how her plan was supposed to work. She’d be nailed for using that word, and her defense would be something like “I didn’t use that word, I was quoting someone else” — or something similar to that. It isn’t working because her enemies get to decide whether we’ll be discussing the ABC/Washington flap or not; they get to decide that, and predictably they’ve decided it’s all about Ann. Why would they decide it any other way?

Of all the people who hate Ann Coulter today, practically no one has even heard of Isaiah Washington. Or, anyway, what his connection to this is. So Ann’s job was to see this coming, and she pulled a “gaffe” because she executed that job incompetently.

If I were gay, would I stop supporting conservatives over this? I dunno. Maybe.

So yeah, Ann. Thanks. Loads. Stick to writing.

Update 3/6/07: Some guy thinks Bill Maher’s comment is far worse than Ann Coulter’s. Must be part of that right-wing attack machine.

Ann’s comment was probably ill-advised, given the forum.

On the other hand, the hoopla over the comment, especially in light of the Grey’s Anatomy/ABC story acually proved her real point.

On the other hand, how many people in the room think that her comment was primarily directed at gays or even John Edwards? Show of hands?

The whole episode shows that the speech police machine is here already and in control. The totalitarianism that always accompanies utopian political systems is being well-incubated by the people who scream “free speech” first and loudest.

If you don’t like gay people or the whole idea of homosexuality, there must be something wrong with you. Go see a therapist or you’re fired.

If you question whether Anthropgenic Global Warming is detectable or whether or not it’s a real problem — there must be something wrong with you. You should have your acreditation pulled.

If you think “fly-over country” is full of a bunch of backward, ignorant “redneck” bumpkin Jesus freaks … wait, aparently that’s ok. Congratulations on your well-rounded education.

Ann is an intelligent, witty, well-informed individual with opinions, and she lives in a country where she is supposedly allowed to express them. Would people have gotten the reference if she had used the term “Silky Pony” instead of the “other” apparent F-bomb? It turns out that her audience focused on her mere utterance of the word that it never occured to them what she might be getting at.

I don’t think Coulter is any big fan of gays, and is definitely no fan of institutionalizing it as a national norm. And freedom of association and speech are protected rights. On the other hand, she did have this to say about it later:

“C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.”

If I were a gay and a conservative, I doubt think I’d stop supporting conservatives over something one conservative who isn’t running for anything might have said. Conservatives aren’t typically that shallow. If you’re a gay conservative, I assume you have probably done some thinking and understand that there are bigger issues at stake than whether or not your neighbor refers to you a as a “faggot”.

From the reaction I’ve seen, though, I don’t think her comment was taken as intended and it’ll just be taken as more misty, fuzzy evidence as right-wing “hate” speech. It backfired.
- philmon | 03/05/2007 @ 11:43

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