'The age of the Empty Stare: Why ignoring Ann Coulter won't help'

by Pamela Troy
http://www.thoughtcrimes.org/s9/index.php?%2Farchives%2F782-The-Age-of-the-Empty-Stare.html



“And, of course, there were the inevitable wishful calls to "Just Ignore Her and She'll Go Away." I recall hearing the same thing from liberals about Falwell back in the '70s and Rush Limbaugh back in the '80s.

Anyone who assumes that this is about nothing more than publicity for her book, or that the mainstream right has now hit its own moral nadir and will now drive her away with righteous outrage, or that if all of us liberals just pay no attention, everyone else will get embarrassed and stop listening to and reading Ann Coulter, is failing to grasp an important point. It's not just about publicity. It's not just about making liberals angry. And as far as mainstream conservatism is concerned, it's certainly not in any way shape or form about Coulter's affront to basic humanity.

It's about multiplying those empty stares. It s about taking American discourse into an even lower level, one in which both common sense, common decency and even the basic verities of how language works are deliberately discarded, allowing the likes of Mary Matalin and Lou Dobbs, and Sean Hannity and, a few weeks down the road, Tucker Carlson (trust me, he'll get over it), to defend the indefensible.

Over the past twenty years it has become sadly obvious that many people are not used to connecting belief with logic or morality with human consequences. When they hear a statement they don't examine it to see whether or not it is actually true, just, and humane. They measure, instead, how often they have encountered it on TV, in print, or on the radio."

She originally posted it here a few days ago.

There have been so many "just ignore her" posts,

I thought people might see why that won't work

.. resist mentioning her; that way, all the free publicity you give her might have the effect of more closely identifying Republicans with their hateful icons

I don't know why anybody would take her seriously, when (for example) we have real issues like Iraq, Katrina, government spying, election fraud, and so on that need public attention -- especially since every time WE take her seriously we send a message to the public that SHE deserves to be taken seriously, which results in more media coverage of HER, instead of coverage of the important issues.

But if you cannot help taking her seriously, then try to think strategically about how you mention her: ask, for example, why David Brooks -- who has gone on and on about how "hateful" the Democrats are -- doesn't denounce that woman's hate speech? Such an approach has the advantage of putting Republicans on the defensive.

for the Ambien Nation

NT

He told her she was a good writer.

I was yelling at the tv....she's a damn plagerist...you fool

Would you be happier if Coulter was on our side?

I say ignore her. She is a Fred Phelps of politics. She's mean, not funny, not serious, and there is no truth to what she says. After 5 minutes, she runs out of material. I doubt anybody has become a conservative because of Ann's 'reasoned' arguments.

Wingnuts like Limbaugh, doctor Laura and Pat Robertson are another matter. They make serious, but flawed, arguments for conservatism. They use phony statistics, circular reasoning, strawman arguments and NEVER debate anybody without their finger on the 'kill' button.

I'd say forget about Coulter. Limbaugh, Robertson, Hannity etc. are the one who need to be confronted and exposed.

They all lie, misrepresent, distort. Ignore them all.

tonight, Larry King. Even the 9/11 widows and widower who were not part of the Jersey Girls saw her that way.

David Horowitz, in trying to defend her, appeared bumbling.

What can you say about a classless confused mercenary?
She is darn good about milking the uninformed right wing neocons.
Got to give her credit for that.

It's natural and appropriate to react with shock to this hateful republican. People should be talking about those horrible, vile, things she says. We, as a society should decry her, until it becomes embarrassingly clear to Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, etc, that most Americans think she is a nasty bitch.

Coulter or Hannity or Rush, Matalin or let any of the rest of them get away with it. I think we should put them down and disparage them every bit as much as they do us. "Expose them and confront them" as someone said above. That doesn't have to be done angrily--just consistently.