Posted on 06/20/2006 7:01:29 PM PDT by pissant
"Writing," observed the French playwright Moliere, "is like prostitution. First you do it for love, then for a few close friends, and then for money."
This aphorism is brought forcefully to mind by the cover of Ann Coulter's latest book, leering at customers from the windows of America's biggest bookstores. As always, the cover features a portrait of the artist as a young tart, blond locks flowing, her size zero little black dress catering to a combination of ideological and erotic perversion that's disturbing to contemplate.
In The New York Times, David Carr doesn't hesitate to label Coulter a literary crack whore, although naturally the editors of that august publication won't allow such an indelicate phrase to appear in its pages. Coulter, Carr suggests, "knows precisely what she is saying" when she says of certain 9/11 widows that she's "never seen people enjoying their husband's death so much."
For Carr, Coulter's habit of making outrageous statements is part of a simple and cynical swindle: say vile things, get lots of publicity for doing so, then sell hundreds of thousands of books as one's reward for performing unnatural intellectual acts on TV.
Prostitution, however, is a tricky business. I can attest that when she was an unknown law student, Coulter said outrageous things all the time, in class, in conversation, and in print. Was she merely laying the groundwork for selling her honor dear? It seems doubtful.
For what it's worth, Coulter's views have always seemed to me to be sincerely held, to the extent that narcissistic borderline personalities can be sincere. Not all writers are prostitutes, but all writers are narcissists, and Coulter appears to represent an especially acute case of someone who writes in order to be at the center of attention (hence the glossy locks and little black dress).
Nevertheless prostitution is everywhere in our society, and indeed the willingness to sell what shouldn't be sold often helps explain what's happening when one tries to interpret otherwise puzzling events.
Consider the drive to get the American Medical Association to redefine "obesity" in a way that will cause 40 percent of America's children to suddenly contract a dreaded disease. The campaign will likely succeed, which means that in September, when the new guidelines are announced, the media will uncritically parrot this ridiculously unscientific claim, leading to yet more hysterical demands that we "think of the children," and do something about this deadly epidemic, immediately if not sooner.
How does this happen? Here's how: The International Obesity Task Force, a drug company lobbying group disguised as an organization of disinterested scientists, has spent the past decade co-opting governmental policy by influencing groups such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control.
Recently, a prominent government scientist spent several hours detailing for me how the IOTF is at the forefront of a concerted campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to, as this researcher put it, "soften up" governmental regulatory agencies, in order to get various new weight loss drugs approved.
Ray Moynihan, an Australian academic, makes a similar point in a new article in the British Medical Journal. (Moynihan is the author of the book "Selling Sickness: How Drug Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients.")
Does this mean every researcher who claims to be concerned about childhood obesity is an intellectual prostitute? Of course not. Even the members of organizations like the IOTF join these groups for complex reasons.
What should not fool us is the eminently respectable facade such groups manage to maintain. We should remember that, whether in science, literature, or life, the great social distance separating streetwalkers from trophy wives doesn't alter the fact that they're all in the same line of work.
BTTT!
LOL! Not a problem. GMTA!
Oh, he's just jealous that left-wing women aren't hot.
And please, nobody post the 'Theirs' and 'Ours' graphic. Seeing Ann, Michelle, and the rest of the lovelies is *not* adequate compensation for having the images of Helen Thomas, Theresa Heinz Kerry, et al inflicted on us.
LOL!
Hey Paul, jealous much?
LOL, bottom line; Paul has a thing for slinky black dresses and hookers..
Of course not; I was just referring to the juxtaposition of "prostitution" and "trick."
To be sure Coulter steps over the line often. However, as in this article by Campos, you never read about the Jersey Girls anti-Bush advocacy. How many articles have been written by libs castigating the JGs for siding with Kerry and viciously accusing their president of being negligent about 9/11? None, of course.
The gist of Coulter's argument is left unanswered by her critics. They assume that people like the JGs are beyond criticism. The fact is once they enter the public arena, groups like JGs are open for ridicule and attack. Libs just can't stand Coulter and the idea that she might be right about the JGs motives.
My point exactly. In his anti-Coulter screed, Campos does not even attempt to rebut any of her assertions about the JGs. Like all libs, he assumes that the JGs are beyond attack. Even as they, the JGs, maliciously attack Bush. Sorry, but libs can't have it both ways. They want their everyone on their side to be exempt from criticism. Tough toenails.
I've read quite a few of O'Rourke's books, and though I'd have to give him the nod on literary quality, Coulter is a very funny writer. Almost as hysterical as O'Rourke. She zings with the best of them. And I'm not a member of the Coulter claque. She goes over the line too much, and she is wrong at times. But she is very funny. And her arguments are usually very sound.
Prostitution, however, is a tricky business. I can attest that when she was an unknown law student, Coulter said outrageous things all the time, in class, in conversation, and in print. Was she merely laying the groundwork for selling her honor dear? It seems doubtful."
The point the above makes is Ann has always made certain comments, it is Ann and has nothing to do with selling books. I believe that's true. That is the point to which I agreed and responded.
Good point. Well done.
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