If you spend much time reading special-needs blogs or following special-needs Twitter-ers, you've probably heard about the uproar over a tweet by Ann Coulter that used the R-word to insult the president during the most recent debate. This is one of those instances where the person using that word is not someone we would have hoped better from, or someone who perhaps hasn't thought out all the implications of using the R-word as an all-purpose slur, but a professional offense-giver who one might imagine being delighted at having caused such a fuss. I'm not sure how teachable the moment is in those cases, but I'm going to list some folks from my regular blog-reading rounds who are trying:
- "An Open Letter to Ann Coulter" from The World of Special Olympics
- "This is exactly why the word 'retard' hurts: All together now!" from Love That Max
- "Just a Word: Election Edition" from Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords
- "Gormless, Dunderheaded Doofuses and Other People Like Ann Coulter" from Adventures in Juggling
- "The 'R' Word Rears Its Ugly Head -- Again" from Mom-Blog
- "Dear @AnnCoulter: This is who you insult with your words" from Yeah. Good Times (includes a Blog Hop with links to many more bloggers)
If you've seen a good post on this subject, provide a link in the comments. And if Coulter does decide to make some amends, I've got a quick apology template all ready for her, as well as a whole bunch of alternatives to the R-word to consider next time she's tweeting.
Image by Terri Mauro