The Jersey Girls rely on their status as victims to ward off legitimate criticism.
Ann Coulter certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest when she accused the so-called Jersey Girls of wallowing in their widowhood. Tim Rutten, the resident media critic for the L.A. Times, accused Coulter of being cruel and tasteless. He was so outraged by what she had written and said about the quartet that, in a frenzy of self-righteousness, he then went on to describe her as a gaunt 45-year-old, an “ingénue with fangs,” and summed up her appeal as pornographic, likening it to “black leather and Nazi paraphernalia” which “have a kind of iconic status in the sadomasochistic subcultures inclined toward fetishism.” Talk about cruel and tasteless! And, frankly, it sounds to me like Mr. Rutten has dipped more than his toe into this nether world about which he writes so knowingly.
For the record, I completely agree with Coulter. It’s deliberate and it’s cynical the way that liberals keep dragging out these people to espouse their leftist agenda, counting on their status as victims to not only add gravitas to their partisan drivel, but to ward off legitimate criticism.
The Jersey Girls, who might easily be mistaken for the Dixie Chicks if they could carry a tune, are only the most recent examples. We have also had Cindy Sheehan, the woman who dumped husband and young son in order to pursue her passion for nutball politics. When her soldier son, who had re-upped to do a second tour of duty in Iraq, was killed, she decided to cash in on her status as a gold star mother. Alive, she’d had no time for him, but, once dead, she wore him like a Congressional Medal of Honor.
We shouldn’t forget Michael Berg, much as we might like to. Just when you figured he’d fallen off the radar, the father of Nick Berg was dragged back into the spotlight as soon as Zarqawi was killed. While normal people were celebrating the occasion, Mr. Berg got to repeat his mantra that it’s actually George Bush who’s the butcher of Baghdad, even though it was Zarqawi who hacked off his son’s head. When asked how he felt about Zarqawi’s execution, the sanctimonious Mr. Berg, the Green Party’s candidate for Delaware’s lone congressional seat, said, “I have learned to forgive a long time ago.” He means he’s forgiven the man who murdered his son, but not the president of the United States. Hard to imagine that even the Greenies couldn’t do better than this guy. If I were running a dating service, I’d make every effort to introduce him to Ms. Sheehan. They’d make a lovely couple.
The Jersey Girls first got our attention when they announced that the government’s $1.6 million payoff in the wake of 9/11 wasn’t nearly enough to assuage their grief. Personally, I never understood why the survivors of that tragic event had anything beyond the amount of their loved one’s life insurance policy coming to them. Since when did being in the wrong place at the wrong time entitle one’s spouse to win the lottery? There were heroes on 9/11, and I would have the federal piggy bank cracked open to help their survivors, but they weren’t wearing suits and ties, and working in the Twin Towers; they were easily recognized, though, because they were wearing badges and guns or steel helmets with FDNY printed on them.
In America, we have a way of confusing victims with heroes. Part of it can be blamed on all the tabloid journalism that infests the popular media. Go on TV and spill your guts about your addiction to drugs, booze or sex, and you can count on the studio audience, and one assumes the folks at home, reacting as if you’d come up with a cure for cancer.
Or consider Coretta Scott King. For all I know, she may have been a nice woman. But the fact is, as Reverend King’s wife, she got to stay home with the kids while her husband ran off and, apparently with a regularity Bill Clinton couldn’t help but admire, cheated on her with other women. But no sooner was he killed than the widow got to assume the mantle of martyrdom, not to mention complete moral authority. She became not only the keeper of the flame, but the executor of his literary estate. And as such, the lady made people pay through the nose any time they wanted to quote a line from one of his speeches. Even, as I recall, once when the line was meant to appear on a memorial in his honor.
I hate to be cynical, but in her case, as with the Jersey Girls, widowhood proved to be a good career move.
Excellent article! Ms. Coulter & Mr. Prelutsky have had the guts to
put into print those thoughts so many of us have had for years but
have felt it would not be polite to utter. All of a sudden I don’t feel so timid anymore. Thanks!
Superb!
right on target! actually, anointing and using “victims” is an old soviet
tactic from post ww2 german politics, when the sovs were trying to force the
allies out of berlin, germany, and western europe. this tactic, along with using repetitive, hysterical accusations and lies almost suceeded in forcing us out of germany.
i guess that all of todays libs – dean, kerry, the clintons, etc. must have learned
these tactics when they were getting their college education – - – - – - – i mean
vegucation!
Well said, Burt. All bullseyes. And you even dared to look behind the curtain of the King mythology. Very brave.
I wish you hollywood types would stay out of politics. I understand you also write humor. Your essay above speaks to your accomplished style as a humorist. Yet, you elitist, insulated, hollywood types are out of touch. You don’t get it.
I wonder how you’d feel if you lost a son or daughter in a war. Wouldn’t it be fun to see people who don’t know; never met you opine about you motives regarding your childs death?
I’d expect better from an accmplished writer like you. With shows such as “Aunt Mary”, “A Winner Never Quits”, three episodes of “Space Precinct” and an episode of the “Harvey Korman Show”, you seem to be reaching in your essay.
Leftist hollywood is out of touch. Rightist hollywood is off the scale.
Greg in NY
Greg, when people attempt to use personal tragedy as a chance to win millions, it’s a little disgusting to watch. Maybe I just don’t get it, but if my dad got killed by a terrorist, I don’t think I’d go parading around the country trying to make a fat stack of cash because of it. At least I hope not.
You fascist like to publicly berate women. That how youlike to treat other humans?
Fascist would be the women who berate their own, i.e. feminists, by publicly acting as though they’re representing all women, when in fact only a tiny percentage of all women actually condone their self-defeating actions/cause. But back to the article…nice assimilation of the Jersey Girls to the others who have worked their widowhood for their own good.
Nice article, Burt. The comment from John in Chicago is a typical cop-out of a defeated liberal.
I would NOT believe anything Ann Coulter said..She is the hate queen of America,and a divider of all Americans……What ever happened to “A nation divided can not stand”,shouldn’t that apply to now,as well in Lincoln’s time…I find her most disgusting,as with all hate mongers..
Being a widow myself, I find the actions of those women–especially the Jersey Girls–to be conniving and despicable. You don’t have to be a conservative to see that their use of emotional extortion is immoral.
Ann Coulter for President!
Wow ~ that is a lot of power for one woman: “the divider of all Americans.”
Ann is clever, funny, and right-on-the-money. Her book is a great read ~ and well-documented. I just finished her Godless, the book that began this brew-ha-ha. My only regret is that I can’t afford to buy 1,000 copies to show my support for Ms. Coulter. And as far as “mean-spiritedness” is concerned, I read nothing in her book which could hold a candle to the venom and bile spewed out by the liberals in response to her statements. Moreover, the outrage over her comments does nothing but prove her point ~ an irony that seems to be lost by those who continue to scream, “foul.”
A couple months ago, Sheehan was on Real Time w/Bill Mahr. As Mahr was praising
Sheehan for her newfound fame, she replied, “Yeah, I’m gansta!”. Does this sound like a
grieving mother?
Thank you for an excellent article. I laughed all the way through it…right up to the part where “John” went off, then I laughed all the harder. And the site’s constant use of “?” at the end of each comment section is simply precious. Ann Coulter for Prez? Yes indeed!