Grandma's House

I haven't said anything about the Ann Coulter kerfuffle because I thought it was ridiculous, but it has gone on for far too long. Ever since she wrote in her book,

These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing Bush was part of the closure process....

These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparazzies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.

Coulter has been castigated in the media and online. Legislators in New Jersey have proposed banning her books in the entire state. And now a columnist has suggested she kill herself and do us all a favor. This is absolutely outrageous!

Thank God there are some people who haven't fallen off the cliff of idiocy. Reading Doc Rampage tells me that I'm not the only person who knows there is more than one definition for the word "enjoy".

First of all note that "she is enjoying her husband's death" is not the same as "she is glad her husband died". I can enjoy eating a sandwich that fell on the floor without being glad that it fell on the floor, and someone can enjoy the perks of having their husband dead without being glad that he is dead.

Second, people often do enjoy the perks of grief. Some people enjoy it a great deal. Women have deliberately harmed and even killed their own children because they enjoy the perks and attention of grieving. In fact, this practice is common enough to have a name: Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy.

Third, it isn't that outrageous to look at a woman's behavior after her husband's death and conclude that she is enjoying herself. Imagine a woman who starts out poor and marries a rich older man for his money but the man turns out to be a miser and never lets her spend money. When her husband dies, she starts spending money wildly on shoes, clothes, and exotic vacations. She takes a young good-looking lover and is seen with him all over town gushing over him. Wouldn't it be fair to say that this woman is enjoying her husbands death? It might not be polite to say it, but it would be a reasonable conclusion to draw from the evidence, would it not?

At any rate, the only explanation acceptable should come from Ann Coulter. And I'm sure it will. She is scheduled to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday night, along with George Carlin. That should be an interesting chat. I'd be willing to bet the ratings will be through the roof.