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Ann Coulter: Nuke
Them!
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
10/26/007 "ICH"
-- -- Although her arrival had been anticipated with mixed
emotions on campus, I was surprised that more people did not
turn up to protest that USC, a research university, should give
platform to Ann Coulter as guest speaker during the
‘Islamo-facism’ awareness week.
Guest of the college Republicans, she walked on stage dressed in
a short, black cocktail dress that revealed her mid-rift. Either
she had the occasion wrong or the dress; perhaps she had plans
after the event. Regardless, on center stage, talking about
Islam and fascism among a bunch of university kids in jeans, she
looked out of place. Given that she was introduced as being one
of the top 100 intellectuals of the country and a few other
accompanying remarks, I was surprised to hear her insistence at
wanting to divide the country, albeit that the invitation was
extended to her on behalf of the Republicans.
I had never heard so much liberal/Democrat bashing. In her eyes,
they were on the same footing as the terrorists. Coulter did not
believe that the Democrats wanted to defeat the ‘savages’. As
with the Bush Administration, she continued to link Iraq to
9/11, glorified the successes, and claimed that the Democrats
deliberately wanted to lose to the ‘camel-riding Nomads’ by
“rooting against their own country”
She colorfully compared Guantanamo Bay to ‘freshman dorms’ where
one eats well and gains 20 pounds, not foregoing the damning
reports from the neutral Swiss-based Red Cross, and as her
hatred of Muslims spewed out, she exclaimed: “ “they are savage,
and I want to kill them.”
It is this hatred, this desire for ‘going for the kill’ that
made her give the advice which shocked me. During Q & A, a
‘college Republican’ asked her opinion about what should be done
to the ‘Moslems who go around take out their swords and want to
kill and convert every one’ (seriously, in the 21st century, do
they even make swords any more?) After delivering a few words
here and there about pain, Coulter remarked; “We dropped a
couple of bombs on Japan and they are as tame as sheep, a few
well placed bombs should do it”. My friends gasped. She was
inciting genocide on a large scale. The young Republican seemed
pleased. I took a mental pause to save my sanity.
Ann Coulter is known for her controversial remarks. She makes
her living by being hateful. My apprehension comes from the fact
that so many follow her blindly and are in total agreement with
her. They buy her books, seek her autograph, and cling to every
word, considering her to be an absolute authority. The effect
that she has on so many minds is a sad reflection of our society
today. Ann Coulter not only influences young minds, but older
people are intrigued by her and one man who was recording me
hoping to catch me saying something ‘unpatriotic’ as we were
discussing Coulter said: “I would like the 14th Amendment
repealed”. His wife was standing next to him.
Ann Coulter is their heroin; she is not a heroine by any stretch
of the imagination. She is a fix that makes them high so they
can feel good about who they are, about themselves and how they
really feel, but it is all a temporary illusion, induced. When
they come down, they need a stronger fix, and the time will come
when such hateful discourse, the fix, will have to turn into
action in order for it to be effective. Herein lies the danger,
and this is why she is dangerous.
I have always been able to separate the ordinary Americans from
the government. This was the first time that the two became
inseparable. For the first time in 21 years I witnessed hate in
America – and what an ugly spectacle it was. Thankfully, I was
rescued by a more familiar America, the one I cherish. As I was
leaving, I saw more protestors. I joined them and we started
chanting. Rabbis, priests, and practicing Moslems were among
many who held signs reading: “Thanks Ann, you have united
Moslems, Jews, and Christians”. She had.
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich has lived and studied in Iran, the
UK, France, Australia and the US. She obtained her Bachelors
Degree in International Relations from the University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, and she is currently pursuing
a Masters Degree in Middle East Studies concentrating in
Political Science. She has done extensive research on US foreign
policy towards Iran and Iran’s nuclear program.
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