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Well, Stone Does Fade... Sort Of
01/08/2004
I tend only to read Ann Coulter when somebody else links to her, and I've begun receiving negative reactions when I link to her. But a column of hers to which John Hawkins linked has a line that nearly caused my monitor to become coffee-streaked. It's about the Episcopalian Church, but it is more appropriately (and more fairly) applied to religious liberals of all sorts whose theology incorporates the Old Testament in some way:
They acknowledge the Ten Commandments — or "Moses' talking points" — but hasten to add that they're not exactly "carved in stone."
Posted by Justin Katz @ 01:34 PM EST
8 comments
Gee. I have readers who *send* me Ann Coulter stories. :-)
ELC @ 01/08/2004 02:26 PM EST
Justin,
I read the column referred to here and I need to know ... do you agree with it ?
I'm not referring just to the one line - but the column in general which is about Democrats (not just Howard Dean) and religion.
Just wondering.
Mark
Mark Miller @ 01/08/2004 04:37 PM EST
"He said his least favorite was the Book of Numbers and then explained how he planned to balance the budget."
It would take one grouchy bastard not to get a kick out of that...
George Lee @ 01/08/2004 05:38 PM EST
Mark,
Well, I think Coulter makes a variety of apt comments about... somebody. Of course, just about any comment is apt about somebody.
By and large, the column deals too heavily in "general specifics." By this, I mean that if each remark were tied to a specific individual, then each might be to the point; obviously, with specific accusations against specific people, one could make that judgment. If the majority of remarks were tied to a more general label, such as "liberals" or "people who think this way," most of it would have been defensible or overlookable.
However, to get to what I think you're asking me, I think Coulter's broad brush splattered where she referred to specific groups such as Democrats and Episcopalians. I know members of each group to whom her column is profoundly unfair.
I'm starting to get a feel (I think) for Coulter's writing method, so maybe I'll explore the topic when I've got my new design up and running.
Justin Katz @ 01/08/2004 05:39 PM EST
"The Church of the Proper Fork"...
"The Episcopalians don't demand much in the way of actual religious belief. They have girl priests, gay priests, gay bishops, gay marriages – it's much like the New York Times editorial board."
Even her worst enemy must break into Heavenly chuckles, reading stuff like that.
George Lee @ 01/08/2004 05:45 PM EST
Pick a group numbering in the millions about which anybody could say anything at all without being profoundly unfair to at least a few of them. To avoid that, everybody would have to stop talking, or adorn every statement with so many exceptions and qualifications as to make writing unintelligible. And, by the way, why are you assuming that she is not assuming that her readers understand that her broad-brush approach does not apply to absolutely every member of any group she makes a remark about?
ELC @ 01/09/2004 08:08 AM EST
Fair enough - but the same logic can also be applied to the commentary of Maureen O'Dowd, Paul Krugman, Michael Moore, James Carville and others who use the same 'broad-brush' approach to attack Republicans, conservatives, and yes - religion.
So you wouldn't assume that they are not assuming that their readers understand that their broad-brush approach does not apply to absolutely every member of any group they make a remark about?
I am a registered Republican but I see Coulter as no better than Michael Moore. Same rhetoric, different agenda.
Mark Miller @ 01/09/2004 09:49 AM EST
Uh-oh! Trying to walk the line...
Lane,
Well, this is certainly an area in which the specifics of the group and of the statement are of central importance. Obviously, it depends the degree to which a jibe applies to the entire crowd. (Which is why "liberal" would have been fine, in my opinion, beyond the fact that it's a vague term anyway.)
Consider the Episcopalians. There wouldn't be such a huge rift in that Church if Coulter's comments applied to a great majority of them. With the Democrats, this is a little less a problem, but it still isn't true that all Democrats are equatable with the coastal elites.
As conservative Catholics, you and I ought to be particularly aware of the need for distinctions of this sort. And considering the biting (although very funny) nature of the comments, and the sensitive nature of the topics, I don't think it's too much to ask an adept writer like Coulter to convey them. It wouldn't require "who think this way" to be tacked on to every instance of a label's usage. ("Church of the Proper Fork" could have been left untouched, for example.)
Justin Katz @ 01/09/2004 12:06 PM EST