Ann Coulter has a new book out, which means she’s going to get invited onto all the political talk shows so she can be an asshole and piss everyone off, which means it’s time for another round of liberal blogosphere hand-wringing over how to fix this massive cancer on the political discourse. Paul the Spud sums up the meta-discussion:
Of course, we’ll have the usual outrage when she inevitably says something incredibly offensive, lefty bloggers will protest (and their commenters will tell them to “just ignore her”), righty bloggers will cheer (and their commenters will take Coulter’s statements to higher extremes), and then the book will be remaindered. And then we’ll all have a few months of peace until the next “book.”
As anyone who has been bullied knows, the advice to merely ignore the bully doesn’t work. But fighting back against the bully doesn’t work, either. The point of being a bully is the cheap and childish thrill of being able to frustrate other people just for the sheer hell of it. That’s why bullies are attracted to the defenseless as targets; because the powerful can in fact shut your ass down. This is why the natural political leaning of bullies is to the right—-you get the pleasure of picking on people and feeling powerful and daring while simultaneously sucking up to the rich and powerful that could actually hurt you if you crossed them. It’s cowardly, of course, but it’s the worst kind of cowardly, because it’s about getting off on conflict, but never actually taking on any real risks. This is why comparing caustic liberals like Ted Rall or even myself to Coulter is fucking stupid—-enemies like the Catholic hierarchy, the patriotism bullies, and other powerful constituencies can actually fuck you up and do. There’s a real risk to criticizing power. Ann Coulter is the Cartman of politics.