Letter to the editor, Time Magazine:
“Letter to the ed-X217”
Editors, Time Magazine:
Your choice to put the right wing hysteric, Ann Coulter, on the cover of your magazine awards her a legitimacy that she surely doesn’t deserve. The tagline on the cover: “Is she serious, or just having fun?” attempts to cast her vile, insulting rhetoric as sane discourse- which it is not. Stating that veteran Max Cleland wasn’t deserving of his Purple Heart, (earned in a combat situation that nearly cost him his life), is the type of speech that deserves no further comment- certainly not the cover of a major magazine.
By covering newsstands with her image you imply a level of professionalism- and frankly- humanity, that Coulter doesn’t deserve. Her words incite our enemies by portraying America as a crusading bully (her famous quote post-9/11 stating we should convert Muslims to Christianity by force), she is factually inaccurate- Ann, Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam, by the way- not to mention divisive, immature and hateful. Even a cursory reading of her statements would lead one to doubt her sanity, which makes a person wonder why such a figure would warrant being honored on your cover.
Ann Coulter is not only the venomous cheerleader for a false image of America that the majority of Americans don’t endorse, she is a widely refuted “writer” that no one, except for the extreme right wing fundamentalist fringe that is currently in vogue takes seriously. At least until you put her on the cover of your magazine.
Ann Coulter is a female Jim Jones, and you are helping her dispense Kool Aid to the masses that are too dim, or worse, too afraid, to examine the reality of the world in which we live. You should be ashamed to trumpet such vile hate speech simply because it is wrapped in a pretty package. Hatemongering and fascism doesn’t have to wear a hood or a brown shirt. Sometimes it masks itself in dyed hair and cute shoes, thus making its hideous message a tad more palatable. Ann Coulter has long disgusted me, and now I can add Time Magazine to the list.
James Mann
Atlanta, GA