I don’t think so. Franken’s serious arguments against Limbaugh stand on their own, and you can read them and believe or criticise them even if you disregard his name calling (which, IIRC, was only done as a parody of similar name calling from Limbaugh). Coulter, from what I’ve seen, has no serious arguments against liberals, all she has is name calling.
I’ll grant that Coulter is the Queen of ad hominem attacks and is without peer at her art. However, Franken and Moore are surely Princes in the same spirit if not to the same degree.
[QUOTE=Scylla]
If you see Coulter as a symptom of Republicanism, or you think Coulter’s actions reflect on a quality inherent to Republicans, or you see it as unique to Republicans…
Then you too, are prejudiced, just like Coulter. Only you don’t make millions of dollars being prejudiced the way she does.
[/quote
Bullstuff. The fact that a sizable chunk of registered Republicans actually lap up her stuff can be legitimately interpreted as evidence that a good portion of Republican voters are batshit insane.
You’re right that one cannot look at Ann alone and extrapolate generalities about the entire Republican party, but you can certainly look at her alone and use that to extrapolate generalities about her fanbase – which is predominantly Republican.
Please provid some examples of their evil ad hominems, particularly ones addressed at every single person who disagrees with them (as opposed to a single individual).
On the Right you have those like Coulter and Savage who call most Progressives traitors on a routine basis. On the Left you have Moore suggesting that there is something inherently violent in American culture as compared to Canada. In addition, those like Allen Johnson in Race Power, and Privilege suggest that the American economic system is intrinsically unfair, and repressive. An analogy often used is “Tired of Playing Monopoly”. You also have those like Bill Maher state matter of factly that “religion is a mental disease.” Also in Bowling, Moore portrays those who believe in gun ownership as simpletons using staged gun give aways in a manner that differs dramatically from the way it actually occurs. Conservatives, who believe that their methods are the best route to achieving opportunity for everyone are routinely portrayed as selfish, and simple minded by the Left. Progressives, who are equally committed to achieving the same objectives but by different methods are termed unpatriotic and somehow not truly American by the likes of Libaugh and Hannity.
LHOD, have a cup of coffee, relax, reconsider. You’re better than this. Hint: You’re not the thread referee. If I was misled by a false quote, the fault for believing it is mine. If someone is blasting someone else’s intelligence, one ought to be able to demonstrate a superior level. Now kindly fuck off.
Faith, let’s go over your “points”, shall we?
- Moore claiming there’s a culture of violence in the US - is he singling out any particular group for bigoted venom, or just all of us?
- How much airtime or column space does Allen Johnson get - for that matter, who is he? And, as above, is he singling out any particular group for bigoted venom either?
- Who are “those like Bill Maher”?
- Moore again - the “simpleton” statement is yours, not his.
- “Conservatives are routinely portrayed” yadayada. Whining.
Put up or shut up.
errr…Indochina?
(Click on “view the Mckeown/Coulter exchange”)
As others have pointed out, it’s not bigotry if what you’re pointing out is true. If I say that black people are more inclined to Sickle Cell Anemia than white people, if I say that the best breastfeeders are all women, if I say that nobody respects the Pope like a Catholic, I’m not a bigot. Certain groups DO share certain traits.
I’m in no way saying that all Republicans are fans of negative advertisers like Ann. I am saying that there seems to be a larger market for conservative negative ads of that particular nature than there is a market for liberal negative ads of the same nature.
Then again, Michael Moore has made his living in recent times by stretching and exaggerating the sins of specific people, by making Bush look even worse than Bush is. And the market for his documentaries dwarfs the market for any conservative documentary. So you could make a case that the hatin’ conservatives hate a class of people, and the hatin’ liberals hate specific individuals, if you wanna be balanced about the whole thing.
Daniel