Monday, April 7, 2008

Politics and Ann Coulter

Politics is something I didn't think I'd have all these useless opinions on but it's the big thing in this moment - even bigger than Roger Federer's decline (or more accurately, the rest of the field narrowing the gap).

The great thing about the political opinions being spewed nowadays from the hardcore liberals and conservatives is this: none of it - not the tens of thousands of hours of on-air radio, tv, internet and everything else - is in any way constructive. That is close to being completely accurate. And if there's one thing I love it's being unconstructive.

I think Bill Clinton was recently playing up the angle of the benefits of a healthy debate and how that's how society progresses. That's really true, you know, if the other side is listening and there's insight being shared back and forth. So I'm in no way accusing him of lying. However, that's really not the reality of the situation and the "debates" going on, in this case, the Hillary and Obama supporters are not really going to advance towards reconcialition. The only thing that settles the argument is when the winner is left standing. And the same applies to the general election as the liberals try to win for the first time in what feels like a century.

So real debate and dialogue betweens extremely ideological people is as dead as God (at least from what I can gather from Ingmar Bergman movies). No need to shed tears because it can still be great for filling time in the dull lives of the citizens and employ many people in the news media and make a small segment of those people really wealthy.

That's why people should stop bashing people so obviously trolling for media attention and to gather a devoted following for the frequent occasions when they need to shill a book for that new kitchen or swimming pool. And I don't think Ann Coulter is really part of the news media; I think of her more as a failed comic. Well, according to wikipedia (thus we can treat it as if it had been brought down from Mt. Sinai (sic?) by Moses) she has a law degree, but couldn't cut it as a real lawyer, so a failed comic serves probably as a complement compared to the truth. It's kind of frowned upon to treat opinion as fact in litigation so I think, honestly (and not to blog) that she chose the right field. On the other hand, taking statements out of context comes in real handy, so who knows? I think the nail in the coffin is that lawyers have to actually do research and not just create certain ideas of "truth". The man who spawned her was a decent enough lawyer, supposedly taking on unions with some fervor (Full Disclosure(?): I believe corruption in unions was probably commonplace, and at the same time I believe that bargaining position with regard to manual labourers with their employers is an empty term without unions), who knows what kind of influence it had on little Ann. It doesn't matter though because she didn't make it to a position of power except so far as to preach to the choir of people who already believe that liberals are just whiners who underachieved and couldn't deal with the real world.

Crap, that was a like Marc Antony coming to bury Caesar but really there to praise him. Oh, well. What I really wanted to get across was that Ann Coulter is quite smart to playing the outspoken conservative because think about it, how else would she get attention and from that money? Is she going to marry rich? I'm going to assume that ship has sailed. The ship of "Marrying for Love" is still available but then I remembered it's Ann Coulter I'm talking about. Can't help myself. What I meant is that the devil's advocate, playing contrarian and ruffling people's feathers is an easy way to get a devoted following. See Rush, O'Reilly, Olbermann, Franken (maybe?). You don't win fans by sitting on the fence or being centrist unless you're actually talented. Talented as in some combination of journalistic, comedic, and prosaic.

I've read Coulter and it's really just your average blog; I don't think there's a Nabokov underneath the controversial opinions. Oh, I'm not qualified to judge it's at once the most ridiculous opinion in this day and age, dealing with all the people who opine in the media, that anyone whould think that any qualification to bash a person of however great a standing. I think the world as a whole has rejected that notion. So logically, most of her readers then are there for the content. Is it funny? Depends on your sense of humour. Are there reasoned arguments and opinions derived from facts? Certainly, I mean not all, but some for sure, in my opinion. Sorry, I meant so far as I know. It's basically the "shock and awe" of op-ed so it's not as likely to cause deaths. But there are people who believe some of the things she writes and that's America.

Do I even think Ann Coulter believes all of the things she commits on paper? Probably not. But how do you get ahead as a writer when you have nothing to contribute to the argument. Well, yes, you could work hard, slave away at the small papers while honing your writing skills and working at the next big lead that'll make the headlines. Or better yet, the great American novel so you can tell the editor to do something with a flagpole. Thing is though life is too short. Getting ahead is not about earning your place as much as taking short cuts; and being contrarian and controversial is the journalistic equivalent of flashing your nipples on the red carpet. In this regard, you have to hand it to her. Money and fame. And scorn and wrath. And more money. Yay. That's the ultimate reward in life, no? If the mainstream media went conservative the next day she would gloat and then find herself a lot less marketable, at which point she would go liberal. It's not about beliefs and ideologies; it's about the dollars (btw, worth a lot less than what they were a few years back, but I'm sure they still love President Bush).

So everyone should just leave Coulter alone like Britney. Then people will actually get what they want: the end of Ann Coulter (from the media, not like death). I think she's made enough but I'm sure that's not in the conservative dictionary. Enough? That's not Christian. That reminds me, why is she proud of being a WASP? I mean Protestant? Please, there's only one way to heaven and that's on the Roman Catholic bus. I mean obviously the Anglo-Saxon (read: whitebread) heritage kind of means you start as a Protestant but that in no way means you can't improve and purify yourself with the ascension to Roman Catholicism. Everything else is just heresy, so good luck in purgatory. I mean that.

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