Kaus Again

Poor Mickey is all upset that I used the term "wuss" recently and yet once published an email about his use of the word that detected some homophobic subtext. He claims self-contradiction. I claim context. Like many slurs, it really does matter who says it, about whom, and how. Mickey is a proud homophobe, and used the word to demean a man already called a "faggot" by Mickey's close friend, Ann Coulter. In Mickey's mindset, Edwards is a faggot because he is

"being flighty, dancing around like a little elf and being wussy on foreign policy."

I used the term about gun-owners in a context that had no conceivable reference to homosexuality (and, in fact, was part of a mild tease about machismo). I do think it matters if someone has a racist past when they use a term loaded with racial baggage. Ditto with gays and homophobes. For a reminder of Kaus's long record of homophobia, here's a piece of his defending a bar that had a "No Fagots" [sic] sign proudly displayed. Mickey loved that bar.