Addition or subtraction?: Ann Coulter and the conservative crossroads

Townhall.com ^ | March 7, 2007 | Michael Medved

[LWalk18]

The democrats acted like blood thirsty wolves, and the Republicans acted like sheep. Guess who won the 2006 elections.

I don't recall them acting nice in 2000, 2002, or 2004, and who won those elections?

[PajamaTruthMafia]

So if someone you don't like calls you a 'faggot', you aren't offended?

I can't tell you how many times I've been called a fag (I'm 6' 230) usually by my friends when they are taunting me into doing something risky (and usually stupid). It's a very old, long used schoolyard taunt at least here in the North East. It's used every day and rarely, if ever, refers to sexual orientation. But let's not even spend a second trying to understand what Ann's points were. That actually requires some critical thinking. Instead let's throw her to the wolves and embrace the Left's Totalitarianistic culture.

[RobRoy]

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- opening lines of 101 Things To Do 'Til The Revolution by Claire Wolfe

[SoothingDave]

Let's see, so far you inferred that I'm vulgar, a cretin and a rube and I stereotype?

I described certain behavior and words as such. If they apply to you, I am sorry. It is vulgar to use vulgar words, it is cretinous to insult people for no good reason and it is a rube who thinks that such behavior is a good and acceptable way to draw people to your political ideas.

[RobRoy]

What are the 101 Things To Do'Til The Revolution? Here's the table of contents

1. Don't write to your congresscritter
2. Govern yourself
3. Love the ones you're with
4. Don't vote; it only encourages them
5. Do write letters to newspapers and magazines.
6. Write poetry
7. Question authority
8. Kill your TV
9. Get rid of your dependencies
10. Be ready to profit from others' dependencies
11. Just say NO
12. Know the difference between mala in se and mala prohibita.
13. Use pre-paid phone cards for privacy
14. Join a gun-rights group
15. Be a Simon Jester
16. Don't be a terrorist
17. Oppose property seizure with all your might
18. Celebrate the Fourth of July
19. Celebrate April 19
20. Cultivate some Mormon friends
21. Don't give your social security number
22. Visualize Vermont Carry
23. Don't talk to strangers
24. Don't talk to people you know, either
25. DO write to your congresscritter
26. Visualize no government
27. Fly the Gadsden flag
28. Dare to keep DARE out of your local schools
29. Identify the informant in your midst
30. Remember Mother Batherick
31. Take your kids out of government school
32. Keep your sense of humor
33. Assume all telephones are tapped
34. Don't debate
35. Cover your assets
36. Expect to l ose everything, anyway
37. Respect individuals, not groups
38. Fun and Freedom on the Internet
39. Don't say anything you don't want the world to remember
40. Throw key words into your e-mail
41. Use PGP intelligently
42. Challenge all assumptions
43. Move to a small town
44. Read: fiction
45. Read: history
46. Read: founding fathers & philosophers of freedom
47. Read: monkey wrenching & getting around the system
48. Read: self reliance
49. Read: strategic thinking and fighting
50. Read: political periodicals
51. You can't kill the beast while sucking at its teat
52. On the other hand...
53. Bust anti-freedom organizations by driving them broke
54. Another charming use for 1-800 numbers
55. Respect the individual, not the office
56. Don't blame anybody else for your troubles
57. Stand up for people who stand up for their rights
58. Don't cooperate with the friendly census taker
59. Know where your line in the sand is drawn
60. Buy and carry the Citizens' Rule Book
61. Join FIJA
62. Keep a record of your dreams
63. Consider Sovereign Citizenship
64. Get your records to safety
65. Watch your local government
66. Don't let your possessions imprison you
67. Cultivate cheap tastes
68. Close your bank accounts
69. Create a fake plot or organization
70. Create a real organization
71. Join the tax protesters on April 15
72. Learn dumpster diving
73. Get healthy!
74. Learn to disappear in a crowd
75. Find a balance point in dealing with people
76. Follow your bliss
77. Your three-day grab & go kit
78. Building your emergency water supply
79. Building your emergency food supply
80. Building your medical kit
81. Your survival weapons supply
82. Start thinking about tools & equipment
83. Some places to find all of the above
84. Building your skills
85. Prepare your children, pets and aging relatives
86. Avoid "bear bait" cars and other attention-getting vehicles.
87. Find a non-government occupation
88. Never beg for your rights
89. Make "them" fill out your paperwork
90. If you must vote (part I)....
91. Get to know your neighbors
92. Network-but wisely and discreetly
93. Intimidate back
94. Know when-and whether-you could kill
95. If you must vote (part II)...
96. Learn your privacy rights and protect them
97. Bury gold, guns and goodies
98. Maybe you're already a "terrorist"
99. Put a warning sign on your property
100. If you can risk it, don't pay your income taxes
101. Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes

[SoothingDave]

The democrats acted like blood thirsty wolves, and the Republicans acted like sheep. Guess who won the 2006 elections.

I'm sure if we all teach our children to use the dictionary to look up swear words and encourage them to use them in everyday discourse, our electoral prospects will improve.

[PajamaTruthMafia]

I'm sure if we all teach our children to use the dictionary to look up swear words and encourage them to use them in everyday discourse, our electoral prospects will improve.

I love how you just allow the Left to define a word for you and accept their rules about which groups can and cannot be offended with impunity. If you represent even a small minority of conservatives we have already lost and it's going to get a lot worse before it (if ever) gets better.

[SoothingDave]

23. Don't talk to strangers

Did you skip this chapter?

[RobRoy]

>>What do you care?<<

http://www.billstclair.com/lodge/Books101.shtml

[LibertarianInExile]

"Would you care to provide us with a link where Medved said "Bush is Hitler", our Marines are savage murderers, or that America is worse than Pol Pot's regime?"

I didn't post that. Nor did you read the post I was responding to, or understand its point. I suggest you reread, and after you do that, try again. I'll still be here to attack after you take the time to understand who posted what, and what they meant.

[RobRoy]

>>Did you skip this chapter?<<

Did you? ;)

[Dominic Harr]

So if someone you don't like calls you a 'faggot', you aren't offended?

:-D

She isn't his friend, and didn't mean it nicely, in a friendly way.

If a D had said what she said, about you -- you wouldn't have been offended?

If someone you don't like calls you a faggot, you aren't offended?

[SoothingDave]

I love how you just allow the Left to define a word for you and accept their rules about which groups can and cannot be offended with impunity. If you represent even a small minority of conservatives we have already lost and it's going to get a lot worse before it (if ever) gets better.

Giving pointless offense to other people is not a conservative principle. We are supposed to be defenders of Western civilization, remember? Civilization means you don't run around insulting people.

The measure of a man is not in how many people he insults each day. If Norwegians decide they want to be called "Norwayites," then a civilized response is to call them Norwayites.

[Mr. Silverback]

You know, to even compare what Ann did to the Leftists idiots is very revealing on your part. To draw some morale equivalence is really an outrage.

Why, because calling someone a dry drunk is so much worse than calling them a faggot?

In all seriousnes, do you not see how you're contradicting yourself? You say we "can't allow [the] enemy to fight by his rules while [we] fight with mittens on and expect to win" (post 53) but then you say that she is not using the same tactics as the enemy, and in fact it is outrageous that I've said she is. Well, which is it, should we fight like the enemy, or should we be like Ann who (accoriding to you) would do no such thing? I know it's probably hard to read your computer screen from up on your high moral horse, but pick a position, wouldyaplease?

First of all, Ann is not RR and she is not running for any office that I know of. Second, this isn't 1980. Things have changed substantially since then.

I wasn't talking about her running for office, I was talking about advancing the conservative cause. Why did Ronald Reagan succeed so magnificently?

Third, you don't really understand the point she was making which was about "Semantic Totalitarianism" of which you are either a victim or a perpetrator.

I do understand, but just because you understand what someone was doing and agree with their larger point doesn't mean it's a good tactic.

Let's see if you really believe what you're saying with all the conviction you send across. If someone had asked her about Obama, and she had said "I can't really talk about him because white people aren't allowed to use theword [N-Word]", would that have been OK with you, yes or no?

[Rutles4Ever]

Can we be intellectually honest here? We're above it. You want name-calling, take a spin around D.U. It's a sewer. If you're in favor of handing more ammunition to the media, keep supporting stupid remarks like this. She does us no favors with this kind of rhetoric.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You forgot the part where you dig yourself a bunker and shoot anyone you don't know, who comes near it.

[Ramcat]

I described certain behavior and words as such. If they apply to you, I am sorry. It is vulgar to use vulgar words, it is cretinous to insult people for no good reason and it is a rube who thinks that such behavior is a good and acceptable way to draw people to your political ideas.

Sorry Dave but you lost me with your "mean and nasty" comment.
May I refer you to the Elements of Style forum?

[Dominic Harr]

Ditto.

Um, did you really just tell your kids they could call people 'faggots' in seriousness?

Not a friendly "you faggot, you drank the last Coke". But someone they do not like, in public, where they'll hear -- can your kids call someone they don't like a 'faggot' as an insult?

[subterfuge]

or else settle for a semi-permanent role as angry, doom-speaking complainers on the fringes of American politics and culture.

Thanks for going along with the media's definition of a Republican mike. Hint: the media doesn't decide what we are, we the people do (at least we're supposed to).