I have to admit that I’m surprised that she would sink this low. I can’t believe that she isn’t smart enough to know the difference between real science and psuedo-science like ID. But then, she has claimed that virtually all Democratic politicians have commited treason, and she has to know that’s bunk, too.
The sad part is, most people aren’t smart enough to refute the ID folks. Evolution by natural selection is poorly understood by the general populace, and a majority of Americans think humans are an act of special creation. I have a lot of pretty well educated friends, but I’m hard pressed to think of any who could win a debate against one of the ID proponents.
I dunno. I think those people will have already lost interest in her since she has promoted so many falsehoods in the past.
I don’t listen to Rush, but I was under the impression that he was as popular as ever. Is he not?
I think it’s more a matter of knowledge than intelligence. The concepts aren’t especially difficult to grasp, and a bit of textbook reading about the mechanics should help any reasonably intelligent person up to speed. The schools don’t focus on evolution at more than a superficial level, at least before college level, and the volume of competing propaganda is stunning.
Personally, I think courses on critical thinking might help even more than courses on evolution, when it comes to refuting ID fans.
Clutching Roe v. Wade? What an utterly shitty legal decision that was. Had almost no basis in law and even Lawrence Tribe had to swallow first before trying to defend it (the factual issues aside, it was a terrible fucking legal decision).
Anyhoo…why would Coulter go near this? Does she even have an inkling of a scientific background? Is her entire market now looney Christians?
I think it’s fair to say that there is a correlation between conservatism and certain brands of Christianity. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that there’s a correlation between atheism (or even simple impiety) and liberalism.
While some radical leftist movements are associated with atheism (Marxism being the most apparent), other liberal movements have a church providing logistical and philosophical backing (the Catholic Worker movement and the civil rights movement being the most apparent).
And then there’s a question of what makes a liberal. If I’m stridently pro-life and against gay marriage, yet anti-death penalty, anti-war, and support an economic policy to the left of Sweden’s, what does that make me? I suspect that could describe quite a few very devout Catholics.
I agree with John Mace and others above. There’s a lot of evolution-accepting conservatives who are going to be put off by this. Then again, I suspect most of Coulter’s fans read her because they know she pisses off liberals, not because they agree with her per se.
Sadly, I don’t think that’s true. The reason Rush has lost his luster is that even bigger and louder jackasses have out brayed him. Coulter, Savage, etc. There are a lot of people who eat Ann’s shit up. If they are not the majority, they’re at least a big minority. There are plenty of people who think the question “if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes?” is intelligent.
Yeah, there are. Folks like my sister-in-law. SIL is a very nice, hardworking person who cannot see past her own little world. Not dumb, by any means, just… near-sighted when it comes to world views.
e.g. This year, I am a grad student (taking the year off from teaching to finish my degree. When I drove out to help SIL and brother and 6 m/o nephew move in to their new gi-friggin-normous house in Joisy, I was commenting on how hard it is for me to find a shirt that fits. (If they fit my trunk, the arms are too short and the neck too small; if they fit my arms and neck, they’re a tent.) Her response: “Just get them tailored.” She coulda bin Marie Antoinette.
(Luckily, I just had to look at my brother and he responded, “heh, she doesn’t quite live on your budget.”)
If you’re really interested, you can get some pretty inexpensive, but still good quality fitted shirts at places that will take your measuremnts and then have a tailor in Southeast Asia or somewhere make shirts for you. I have a similar problem as you and that’s what I do.
Hey, there are still folks who believe Saddam had massive stockpiles of WMDs and the invasion of Iraq was all perfectly justified, so obviously some people will believe anything.
(And I’d argue that Ann Coulter is Exhibit #1 against Intelligent Design, as I can’t imagine anything vaguely intelligent designing anyone like her…)
You think this is going to be explosive? Coulter’s just getting started. Her next book’s going to expose that filthy little lying left-wing atheist Copernicus’ insidious plot to convince people that the sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth. (Yeah, he was an atheist. The lie that he was a priest is just more liberal propaganda.) After that, she’ll tackle that long-standing left-wing conspiracy about the Earth being round.
(BTW, are you sure this isn’t a hoax of some sort? Because this is way out there even for Coulter.)
When she gave a speech here at Indiana University, she got into an argument with some student during the question and answer thing and called him “gay boy.”
I was not at the speech but it was in the newspaper the day afterwards and everyone was talking about it. Gay boy. I swear to God.
That was an interesting event, but a totally unenlightening speech. I was hoping it’d be more like Horowitz’s speech and involve information and reason, but it was just insults designed to preach to the choir. The situation you’re referring to was after the guy she insulted asked her if she would be in favor of just banning all parties other than the republican party though. Some other gay guy got up and started shouting at her after she called him that, he was pissed.
I went to a speech by David Horowitz at the University of Illinois in Chicago. You may not agree with the man but he handled himself with class and dignity. Quite a good speaker as well.
Not that I was ever inclined, but after reading this I will never go to hear Ann Coulter speak.