Aside from gender and hair color, is there any real difference between Howard Stern and Ann Coulter?
I don't really think so. In my opinion Ann Coulter is no more a serious political commentator than Howard Stern is a serious defender of free speech.
Peel back the public persona of each of them and you will find two people
Who say outrages things for money. And have an all consuming desire to be noticed. Both play to an audience that believes that the more vile and stupid things you say, the closer you are to the TRUTH.
Case in point: Would Coulter have been invited to all the radio and TV talk shows if she hadn't trashed the 911 widows so viciously? Probably not. And if Howard Stern hadn't used as many nasty words as necessary to alert the FCC. Who would ever have heard of him. Please note how well he is doing on satellite radio
The sad part of it is that many people think that Coulter stands for God and country and the real American way when all she stands for is making money.
The same goes for Howard. How long do you think either one of them would last if they had a real job and had to peddle this sort of thing on weekends for free.
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Comments: 4
As an avid Howard Stern fan, I have to say you couldn't be more wrong. If you listened to him, you would know that he is a passionate advocate for free speech, and not just his. His commentary about his particular troubles get right to the heart of the problem in this country -- that the FCC (among other government organizations) is being held hostage by a very small, very organized group of religious fundamentalists. That due process is completely lacking when dealing with the FCC -- you simply have to cave or face the consequences, which are, generally, that you are prevented from getting and renewing radio licenses. Large corporations have no problems curtailing free speech if it gets in the way of them making money. They have yet to define what actually constitutes "obscenity": Howard was threatened with fines for saying less than Oprah says on her show but, by the admission of the FCC rep, Oprah is "beloved" and, therefore, untouchable.
Howard has also been a passionate advocate for gay rights. That may sound bizarre, and yet as someone who listens to him regularly (and who has a gay son and, therefore, has a horse in this race), I can say that.
He is doing phenomenally well on satellite radio, surpassing all expectations. He is right in guessing that satellite is going to do for radio what cable did for TV -- the freedom will open up whole new avenues of experimentation and creativity. A lot of it will be crap, but a lot of it will be damn good. Having bought Sirius because of Howard, I can now safely say that I would NEVER go back to listening to "terrestrial" radio. I end up listening to Howard for part of the day, but for the rest of the day, there's lots of good stuff to listen to, like OutQ (gay radio -- imagine that!), the Spectrum (great music), Jay Thomas (funny guy). He's a pioneer.
Furthermore, Howard's coverage of 9/11 was the best, bar none. I was at work when it happened. We turned on a tv there but went back to listening to the radio, because Howard's ability to switch seamlessly between television feeds and personal accounts coming in from all around the city was compelling and humane and masterful.
Ann Coulter is a hack who makes a living by being pretty and talking ugly. Although it's a catchy little rhetorical device, comparing the two, it just doesn't fit.