Ann Coulter's book "Godless" - what will be its impact?

lazarus98,

Right. Ross Perot never talked like that.

:-))  Welcome to P&R

I guess I'll have to read the book to give an educated answer, but my guess is that this book will have little impact. Maybe if it gets into the hands of teenagers or young adults it could have some impact, but how many teenagers even read books anymore? I think most adults are too politically set in their ways to be convinced by proof or truth or compelling evidence that their political ideology is a sham. Too many liberals are just anti-conservatives anyway, they could care less what the liberal leadership says or does.

Perl_Diver,

"I guess I'll have to read the book to give an educated answer..."

One of the links above is for the entire first chapter.  That will give the flavor of the book.

I'm about a third way through - skipping over some parts.  A couple days ago I was directed by my teenaged daughter to go to the bookstore and buy her Elie Wiesel's new edition of "Night." I was pleased that the store had it, but shocked that I would be seen as buying a book with the Oprah's Book Club sticker on it.  My eyes then spotted the Coulter book, and my reputation was saved.  I knew it would be over-top, but I was in for a fun read that wouldn't rub me the wrong way.  I'm not sure about her facts, but there are a ton of footnotes that can be checked, and a lot of good laughs - if you're not a liberal.

>> but shocked that I would be seen as buying a book with the Oprah's Book Club sticker on it

LOL... them is some of the worst books I ever tried to read! Oprah might be a shrewd business lady, but her choice in reading material is just horrible!

I just started "American  Prometheus".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375412026/102-2773476-7169724?v=glance&n=283155

I have a weakness for biographies about historical/important/famous Americans, especially 20th century Americans.  

oh, I'll check that link out too, the first chapter of the book, thanks.

Perl_Diver,


Based on what you said, you might want to investigate "The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite"
Amazon review at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067003489

I read it when it came out about two months ago.  Interesting for historical value with lots of personality information about America's leading scientists from the persons who worked with them.

Thanks for the heads up WaterStreet.

Raised points from 125 to 250

<<<Ann Coulter's book "Godless" - what will be its impact?>>>

Ann Coulter only preaches to the choir.  Like Rush Limbaugh, her "lines of reasoning" can't survive reasonable discussion.  

Something went very wrong in her childhood.  Maybe she was abused.  Maybe she was toilet trained at two weeks.

BigRat, A question, why do you think that her writing is rhetoric? Unfortunetaly, the term has become missued by almost everyone, since the deifnition is actually:

the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion.

However I do think that she does write as a well informed author, especially when she effectivley backs up her points with many footnotes that are correct and verifiable. Now I do not hold sway to her Ultra-Conservative line of thought but I do agree with much of what she says. As of late though, the Republican Party as well as the Democratic seem to have gone completely off into a direction that no longer resembles middle america. Leaving us all to wonder what the hell can we do about it.

So many topics are coming to a biol and no one seems to have the courage to even talk openly and honestly about them let alone actually take a stand about them. I'm still waiting for something new to come along. Any thoughts?

>> Here in France (Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany) we are very catholic, go to church every Sunday <<

Huh?  According to all studies, "church" attendance (shouldn't that be "mass" attendance?) in Europe is *very low* compared to the U.S. (or even Africa, for that matter).  Europe is increasingly extremely secular, having no religious inclination at all.

>>Huh?  

You're probably right, and I was speaking more from personal experience. But in spite of the facts I don't know a fellow catholic who'd get upset about the film, even less to go about wanting to ban it. Most people I know, including myself, just ignore it.

re: http://www.striporama.com/blog/blog/coulter/coulter5.html
   "We need to execute people like John Walker Lindh in order to physically intimidate liberals"
can be found several places. Can anyone verify the continuation:
   "by making them realize that they can be killed too"
it seems to imply an equality between liberals and John Walker Lindh, yet from what I can find he was caught in afghanistan fighting for the Taliban http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_Lindh

>> it seems to imply an equality between liberals and John Walker Lindh, yet from what I can find he was caught in afghanistan fighting for the Taliban <<

Yes, technically leftists here are fighting for the jihadists from America and not from Afghanistan.  But should location really make that much difference?  A fifth columnist is, after all, in many ways, more dangerous than a foreign enemy.

>>In 2002, George H.W. Bush referred to Lindh as "some misguided Marin County hot-tubber."[

Which is probably correct.

>>including conspiring to support terrorist organizations and conspiring to murder Americans. The charges carried three life terms and 90 additional years in prison.

Which just goes to show that Bonnie and Clyde actions are more profitable and less hazardous.

Oh, I see, the old: "Liberals are traitors who want America to lose" logic.
Really, by this time it is getting *very* old :-))

It is indeed.  I truly wish leftists would stop doing it.  But until they do, the point must be made.

Paraphasing Ms Parker:
    This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

ScottPletcher >>
>>  It is indeed.  I truly wish leftists would stop doing it.  But until they do, the point must be made.

May I point out that the quote "Liberals are traitors who want America to lose" is not descriptive of an activity, Is is an assignment of motivation (which I personally do not agree with)

<<<It is indeed.  I truly wish leftists would stop doing it.  But until they do, the point must be made.>>>

Sweet.  Coulter's target audience is here enlightening us (to the degree that we can comprehend) the 'thinking' of a Coulter book buyer.

On a related note, one of the big problems in America

OOOPS:

<<<It is indeed.  I truly wish leftists would stop doing it.  But until they do, the point must be made.>>>

Sweet.  Coulter's target audience is here enlightening us (to the degree that we can comprehend) the 'thinking' of a Coulter book buyer.


On a related note, one of the big problems in America is that our brain is pre-wired to do language.  The Intelligence/Task curve looks something like this:

UNINTELLIGENT                                                                                                                                  INTELLIGENT
                   10                   20                   30                   40                   50                   60                   70
------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------|-------------------------|--------------------------------
                            Can dress self         Can Read     Can Post at EE               Can Reason


This is a huge problem for pubic discourse.  The Coulter target audience is a 45 on this arbitrary curve.  
 


If the curve looked like this...

UNINTELLIGENT                                                                                                                                  INTELLIGENT
                   10                   20                   30                   40                   50                   60                   70
------------------------|--------------------------------|-----------------|-------------------------|--------------------------------
                            Can dress self               Can Reason        Can Read              Can Post at EE

...then Coulter books would have no audience nor could they post their mis-think.  

Maybe when humans evolve more, the language pre-wiring will be de-selected.  We can only hope.

>> (to the degree that we can comprehend) <<

Very true, and well admitted.  You do have extremely limited powers of comprehension, unable to understand, for example, just how truly evil and vile communism -- and jihadism -- are at their cores.

It appears that sales of this book is not what ms Coulter expected or desired: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50653

>> Liberalism is a godless religion. Hello! Anyone there? I've leapt beyond calling you traitors and am now calling you GODLESS.
>> Apparently, everybody's cool with that.

she is miffled that so few people these days take her seriously enough to bother refuting her. Not getting the debate and attention she needs to sell lotsa books.
Thats cool with me  :-))
and posted on worldnetdaily ??? even better, havent found that article in any of her more respectable haunts.

Not selling?  It's currently #2 at Amazon.com (after being #1 for awhile) and will almost certainly be on the NYT best-seller list when that list is updated to reflect the time period for her book.

Let's compare that to, say, Al Gore's book sales (or movie attendance even -- it being much easier for leftists to attend a movie rather than having to actually read something, even if it was written as simplistically as something by Gore would of necessity be).

Looks like Goore is having an effect though :-))     http://nitti.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23459

Nothing

Ouch. I got 6 wrong.

>> Looks like G[o]re is having an effect though :-)) <<

What, mass suicides in art theaters?  
Patrons in permanent comas? (Then again, if they're stupid enough to go to Gore's "movie", how can you tell they're in a coma??)
Massive reduction in sleeping pill use?

I take it you did not read the link scott

Can anyone justify why this question is under Philosophy and Religion rather than Miscellaneous or Lounge?

>> I take it you did not read the link scott <<

Of course not.  I've read reviews of it that I trusted; no need to read one from a fraud.  NO "true conservative" would agree with a radical agenda like Gore's.

Conservatives have never been about bringing everyone *down* to the same level.  Leftists' -- and thus Gore's -- big complaint is that Americans are "too wealthy" and "use too many resources".  A conservative supports free trade and democracy, and the resulting wealth it generates, *for everyone*.  We don't want to "poor everyone down", we want to "rich everyone up".  So, the problem is not that America is using too few resources, it's that the world is using too few.

Leftists do the same thing with schools.  If too many children start failing a standardized test -- essentially the same one given for many years -- the problem, according to leftists, is the *test itself*.  Yes, the problem is not that students are "learning" self-esteem and "diversity acceptance" rather than science, math and English, NO, the problem is that students are given tests that expect them to know things instead of tests to "properly gauge their feeling" and "show their potential".

Last call for any new comments.  I'll be closing this one soon

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