Ignore Ann Coulter. Shes a boring performance artist, and shes gaming us all.

[oberliner]

President Trump may be the most successful conservative television producer in history, turning his ramblings and the vicious competition reality show that is his West Wing into must-see TV. But he’s hardly the only person turning politics into grim entertainment: On Wednesday, the provocateur Ann Coulter finally announced she wouldn’t be speaking at the University of California at Berkeley, after the kind of back-and-forth about free speech and security arrangements she thrives on. But if Coulter’s cancellation seems like a victory for the left, that assumption is a mistake. And the Berkeley brouhaha is the latest incident that has left me puzzled by why people who can’t stand Coulter and her ilk decline to use our most powerful weapon against them: our total and crushing indifference.

Coulter is like a distorted Tinker Bell: It’s not applause that saves her from fading out of existence, it’s shock and jeers. These days, her ability to elicit that reaction seems to be the main reason Coulter gets campus bookings in the first place. If it’s not, and if campus conservative groups have mistaken Coulter for any sort of serious or interesting thinker, than the campus right may be in even graver trouble than the campus left. Being willing to say anything deemed outrageous is not the same thing as having significant ideas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2017/04/26/ignore-ann-coulter-shes-a-boring-performance-artist-and-shes-gaming-us-all/?utm_term=.de74ba6cac24

I agree with this assessment.

[Locrian]

1. yep

We are our own worst enemy sometimes....their main trick is gaming us with shock and jeers. It's the medias cash cow.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. And I Agree With You!

The schtick is old and tired. She is irrelevant.

[shenmue]

3. She's an android

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Utterly insignificant

[sharedvalues]

5. Who?

[mountain grammy]

6. Our own American horror story.

[m-lekktor]

7. Exactly! She lives for our outrage and we deliver every time!

It never fails! She makes some horrific comment that is so outrageous you can't believe she actually means it, my facebook newsfeed lights up with damn near EVERY politically aware person posting their outrage all day long about how they just can't believe she has said this and i just shake my head at how fucking gullible people are giving her what she wants. Nobody seems to care that 30 of their other friends just posted the same exact outraged comment!

[Mr. Ected]

8. Performance art is all the right has

Last edited Thu Apr 27, 2017, 10:23 AM - Edit history (1)

We proffer Chris Hayes, they proffer Bill O'Reilly.

We proffer Rachel Maddow, they proffer Ann Coulter.

We proffer Randy Rhodes, they proffer Sean Hannity.

We proffer Joy Reid, they proffer Rush Limbaugh.

See the pattern? Educated, fact-based reporting vs. hysterical angry finger-pointing unsubstantiated performance art.

FOX news wiggled off the hook by admitting they weren't a news station. Ditto Rush Limbaugh.

Their people love the drama. Substance? Not so much.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. I was just about to post that.

AC is about 14:30 into her 15 minutes of fame.

Someone who is so desperate to be seen as edgy that she’s referring to Trump as her “Emperor God” in an effort to cultivate a market among alt-right Twitter trolls isn’t a courageous radical, just a marketer chasing her shtick wherever it leads her. If liberals shouldn’t get pulled into the trap of providing Coulter with the animus she feeds on, college conservative groups, which often claim to be more intellectually rigorous than their liberal counterparts, should be embarrassed to be defending someone so utterly cliche. Coulter may enrage liberals, but it’s conservatives’ money she’s getting rich off of. A self-imposed period of silence about Ann Coulter would be good for liberals and conservatives alike.

Alyssa Rosenberg blogs about pop culture for The Washington Post's Opinions section. Follow @AlyssaRosenberg

[Fantastic Anarchist]

19. Have you read the comments at your link?

Uuugh, especially the FreddieKrug troll with his personal insulting non-arguments.

We live in the same country as these people. "Sad."

[TNNurse]

10. As much as I support Free Speech.

I could not imagine anyone getting injured protecting her right to "perform" her crap.

[DownriverDem]

11. Follow the money

Very rich RWNJ repubs are paying these folks to stir up trouble on campuses. Maybe we should just ignore them.

[Initech]

12. Ann Coulter is a troll.

All she does is spread hate, ignorance and bigotry. The best way to stop trolls is by not feeding them. So the less food we give them, the more likely they will go away.

Although Berkeley making her a free speech martyr is pretty fucking stupid.

[dawnie51]

13. Been making a lovely living off it too.....

for many years now. She will do anything to try to remain relevant.

[Blue Idaho]

14. Free Speech is Crucial

But Coulter is irrelevant. I can't imagine why anyone wants to waste their time listening to that has-been.

[Javaman]

15. just another grifter with a scam for the gullible. nt

[Orsino]

16. She'll get another ghost-written book out of this, if she's smart.

She'll dine out on not speaking at Berkeley.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

17. I totally agree.

I am of the Left and I can't understand why my comrades want to silence her. Let her speak. First, we shouldn't be associated with shutting down speech on principle alone. But secondly, we should use her words against her. What she says says little about any group du jour she happens to hate but it does say a lot about her.

Let her expose herself for what she is, and let's encourage her to do so.

I think we get too bogged down in "safe places" - but sorry, life doesn't work that way. I might get heat for saying that, but we need to fight these reactionaries intelligently, not emotionally.

[gordianot]

18. I doubt the motives of those who want to clash over "free speech".

The violent protestors just want to clash and bust heads. In the spirit of free speech these clashes could turn into paid venues split the receipt.