Ann Coulter, John Edwards, faggot, Dr. Thomas Szasz, Billy Sol Estes; Free Isaiah Washington!

Ann Coulter commented yesterday at the CPAC convention to the effect that she could not discuss John Edwards because those who use the word "faggot" are sentenced to "rehab." The Dems have rushed in to defend their favorite constituency. Michelle Malkin has more.












But no one has questioned the underlying reference. No one has raised concerns over a major television star that has been required to undergo rehab because he used the word "faggot":

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has entered a residential treatment facility in an effort to quell the controversy surrounding his anti-gay remarks — and save his job, Life & Style has learned exclusively.

According to an insider, Isaiah, who issued an apology for his statements on Jan. 18, agreed to undergo a psychological assessment after talks with ABC executives.

See also USA Today.

No one seems concerned that we are treating opinions as a mental illness in a fashion reminiscent of the Soviet Union. This is not an isolated incident. In February 2000, Joe Sobran wrote the following:

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has ruled
that Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker must undergo
psychological testing for his recent disparaging remarks about
New York City. Among other things, Rocker said: "Imagine
having to take the 7 train to the ballpark, looking like
you're [in] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to
some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." Rude, yes. And Rocker
apologized. It should have ended there, but the Diversity
Gestapo is demanding his head for his thought-crimes, and
Selig, taking a leaf from Soviet psychiatry, is treating them
as symptoms of mental illness. Rocker wouldn't be in trouble
if only he'd spewed a few normal jock obscenities. As things
now stand, he may be on his way to Siberia. Under baseball's
Schott-Turner rule, only Christians may be insulted with
impunity.

* * *

Meanwhile, Al Gore has announced that if elected
president, he will make favoring homosexuals in the military a "litmus test" for his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nobody is demanding that Gore be subjected to psychological examination.

* * *

A Maryland judge, Durke Thompson, has given a 24-year-old
man a sentence of 18 months for the statutory rape of an 11-year-old girl whose mother found him hiding in the girl's
closet at 2:30 AM with his trousers around his ankles.
Thompson explained the light sentence with the adage that "it takes two to tango." Yes, some of these pre-teens are just begging for it. However, nobody is demanding that Thompson be required to undergo psychological examination. Liberalism is not yet recognized as a form of mental illness.

It is not secret, except among those who learned history from the MSM/DNC, that the Soviet Union used the "mental illness" card as a weapon against enemies of the state. The mental illness label often served as a prelude to brainwashing.

As long as those who hold unpopular opinions are at risk for compulsory psychological treatment, the rest of us should stand in solidarity with them, even to the point of using their terms. We cannot fear words, or else the establishment will criminalize more words. The point of the PC enforcement is not really to protect the actual "faggots", but to create more thought crimes so that ordinary citizens can be kept in line. The inevitable result is that even members of the MSM/DNC are not immune to thought crime enforcement:

The latest forced grovel has been extorted from NBC's Tom Brokaw, who, after stepping over "homeless" people on the way to an interview on the Today show, quipped on the air: "You feel great sympathy for them. But you also envy the extra hour of sleep that they're getting."

How insensitive! The joke police swung into action. Tom apologized, profusely. He had momentarily forgotten the first article of the liberal creed: Women and minorities never have a nice day. That goes for all the other expanding categories of victims, which include the "homeless," as we're instructed to call them.

When natural reactions are unnaturally suppressed, they often insist on sneaking back into view, frequently in the form of humor. Freud called this "the return of the repressed."
. . . . .

One of the traits of the good old days was that you could call a guy who slept in the street a "bum" without getting flayed. In fact, "bum" was the word even liberals used, shamelessly, for guys who slept in the street, which may have had something to do with the fact that hardly anyone slept in the street in the good old days.

Joe Sobran - March 31, 1999

I believe that Washington was not actually placed into rehab by the government, but he had no choice if he was to keep his job. The old alleged military-industrial complex has been replaced by the government/media/entertainment complex, with the entertainment/media wing exercising broad powers to enforce the PC taboos. You can work in Hollywood or otherwise become a public figure, but if you violate the PC code, you will either give up the good life or receive psychological treatment.

The "mental illness" card is not new in the West, as it was used against those who blew the whistle on the Billy Sol Estes grain elevator scandal in the 1960's and has been used in other contexts. J. Evetts Haley wrote about those who were placed in mental institutions when they refused to be silent about the grain scandal -



1964






The same matter was also discussed by Senator Williams (R. Del.) on the Senate floor as he demanded the release of those who had disappeared.

Dr. Thomas Szazs has written about the misuse of psychiatry and mental illness against innocent people:



[I have not read most of Szazs' book, so I cannot give it an unqualified endorsement.]

The bottom line is that I believe we all have a duty to use the taboo words until the PC police agree to leave us alone and abandon the psychiatry card. Much like Ann Coulter's use of "raghead" last year, our freedom may depend on our ability to say "faggot".
















-----------------------------------------------------------
update - 3-4-07 Michelle Malkin comments further and misses the larger point.

Passionate American is keeping score.

Pam at Atlas Shrugs weighs in - Pam is the only one I have seen to point out Kerry's outing of Dick Cheney's daughter during the 1994 2004 debates. I can recall Edwards doing the same thing during the Vice-Presidential debate.