Wolcott on the Coulter Pie Incident

[livius drusus]

In case you hadn't heard, Ann Coulter recently got pied in Arizona. James Wolcott's blog entry on the incident cracks me up.

Ann Coulter may be a travesty of humanity, as unacceptable a hank of flesh draped on a hanger ever to be foisted upon an ignorant populace hungry for more ignorance. Her racism, her character slurs, her whirlwind talent for rewriting history, her ability to leave a glossy coat of slime on any issue she discusses (when she licks a stamp, it curls up and dies), these are condemnable.

But credit where credit is due. The skank can shift ass on a dime.

[LadyXoc]

Waste of a good pie. I saw a caption somewhere that said the only way to unmake her was to throw her back into Mount Doom.

[livius drusus]

It's just cool whip on a plate, so not really good pie, per se.

[Roland98]

Originally Posted by LadyXoc

Waste of a good pie. I saw a caption somewhere that said the only way to unmake her was to throw her back into Mount Doom.

I love that.

[Ymir's blood]

Originally Posted by Roland98

I love that.

Fark?

[beyelzu]

sometimes I forget what a stupid evil bitch anne coulter is

and then I read something like this

Originally Posted by the evil bitch herself from liv's link

"invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

damn, that's fucked up

[ApostateAbe]

She also repeated the line that she has been most criticized for, saying U.S. policy in the Middle East should be to "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

I would love to hear her explain her preferred method of converting them to Christianity after their government is overthrown.

[Socratoad]

The person who threw the pie should rot in jail.

I have fond memories of innovative uses for coolwhip and anyone who would so belittle this versatile product on that slimy non-entity with an overly large mouth and correspondingly small brain, needs to have the book thrown at them.

SO THERE

[ApostateAbe]

Here is the video of the incident: http://homepage.mac.com/njenson/movies/coulter.html

[seebs]

I am not fond of the whole "hitting people with pies" thing. I mean, not to say Coulter's not pretty scummy, but... I dunno. I don't like felony assault charges for something obviously not meant to cause real harm, but I don't like people attacking others even with non-lethal weapons.

[ApostateAbe]

Originally Posted by seebs

I am not fond of the whole "hitting people with pies" thing. I mean, not to say Coulter's not pretty scummy, but... I dunno. I don't like felony assault charges for something obviously not meant to cause real harm, but I don't like people attacking others even with non-lethal weapons.

You said it, seebs, you don't help your cause when you make a victim of your opponents.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by seebs

I am not fond of the whole "hitting people with pies" thing. I mean, not to say Coulter's not pretty scummy, but... I dunno. I don't like felony assault charges for something obviously not meant to cause real harm, but I don't like people attacking others even with non-lethal weapons.

I thought about that for a while today after I watched the video linked in this thread. I'm not a big fan of it either. I believe in free speech, and it seems like physical attacks, however impotent, put restrictions on that freedom. Besides that it just seems cruel. The first and only time I ever felt sympathy for Bill Gates, for example, was when I saw the look of abject terror in his face when he was pied in France. I'm sure he thought he was in for much worse.

But then I think... yeah but it's just a pie. It's probably scary and disturbing, and it does inhibit someones ability to speak freely for a time, but then things return to normal, no permanent damage is done (ideally) and perhaps an important point has been made.

In the end, though, I guess I don't think it's cool. Assault is assault. I really don't think people should have to fear physical attacks when speaking freely in a country that prizes free speech as highly as we do. Still, neither would I like to see a pie thrower get a felonious assault charge.

[livius drusus]

I rather like the pieing practice. Its slapstick history and total harmlessness make it a rather effective protest, I think. Had we not had a centuries old tradition of pie-in-the-face humor I might not find it so endearing. As it is, however, I just can't help but love a good pie in the face.

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I rather like the pieing practice. Its slapstick history and total harmlessness make it a rather effective protest, I think. Had we not had a centuries old tradition of pie-in-the-face humor I might not find it so endearing. As it is, however, I just can't help but love a good pie in the face.

In this vein, I would like to bring back the famous Stooge's eyepoke for Coulter. What do you think?

The problem is history or not, if someone random person pied me, I would probably respond with violence. White pieing maybe humorous, and believe me I thought it was funny as hell, it is still assault. By attacking someone even in such a harmless fashion, you take the conflict out of the verbal realm and move it to the physical.

I am probably biased on this because I cant stand for strangers to touch me. I have a highly defined sense of personal space. I figure i would have gone ballistic in a similar situation.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by beyelzu

In this vein, I would like to bring back the famous Stooge's eyepoke for Coulter. What do you think?

I think you're a tease.

The problem is history or not, if someone random person pied me, I would probably respond with violence. White pieing maybe humorous, and believe me I thought it was funny as hell, it is still assault. By attacking someone even in such a harmless fashion, you take the conflict out of the verbal realm and move it to the physical.

That makes sense. It is a marked escalation of conflict, and with all my blather about polarized discourse, I should probably reject pieing as well.

I am probably biased on this because I cant stand for strangers to touch me. I have a highly defined sense of personal space. I figure i would have gone ballistic in a similar situation.

I kinda figure you would have ducked, but I take your point nonetheless.

[LadyXoc]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Fark?

Yes! Thank you. I found the link again.

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comm...IDLink=1180114

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

That makes sense. It is a marked escalation of conflict, and with all my blather about polarized discourse, I should probably reject pieing as well.

well it can be hard to reject something that is that funny. and truly, when I watched the video I was kind of sad when they missed, because it would have been even funnier if they had hit her. Something else to consider is the difference between tv and real life. We see it on tv and its funny as hell, but if you were actually there and saw two men running for her, what would you think?

I kinda figure you would have ducked, but I take your point nonetheless.

I dont think I have sense enough to duck, I think I would wait and then return fire, but I have never had a pie thrown at me, thus I dont really know.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by beyelzu

Something else to consider is the difference between tv and real life. We see it on tv and its funny as hell, but if you were actually there and saw two men running for her, what would you think?

That's a good point. I would definitely fear violence.

I dont think I have sense enough to duck, I think I would wait and then return fire, but I have never had a pie thrown at me, thus I dont really know.

Return fire? You'd have to carry aliminum plates and whipped cream canisters with you at all times.

[Socratoad]

Yeah, I suppose it would be a little more magnanimous of me to condemn pie-throwing in general. and yet in this case and a few others that spring to mind methinks not ....... When a hatemonger such as Coulter has pretty much been given a free ride to disseminate her own special brand of hate and intolerance, then I see nothing wrong with mere plebeians given a tiny platform via pie-throwing. But then again Toad observes from a different angle.

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by Socratoad

Yeah, I suppose it would be a little more magnanimous of me to condemn pie-throwing in general. and yet in this case and a few others that spring to mind methinks not ....... When a hatemonger such as Coulter has pretty much been given a free ride to disseminate her own special brand of hate and intolerance, then I see nothing wrong with mere plebeians given a tiny platform via pie-throwing. But then again Toad observes from a different angle.

I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it-Voltaire


I despise Coulter, but she does have freedom of free expression, even if she is a monstrous cunt.

[Shake]

Wow! Check out the commentary here.

Perhaps a better way to embarrass her would be to publish some of her beliefs (quoted by Rob in the above link) and use them to get her off the air.

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by from the link that shake gave us

"If you wanted to teach people about the great things about America, a college campus is the last place you’d send them. Even fanatical Muslim terrorists don’t hate America like liberals do." Ann Coulter -- CPAC conference, 2002

"I don't know, how about ... NO ARABS?" -- Ann Coulter's "Would Mohamed Atta object to armed pilots?" 5/30/02

"My libertarian friends are probably getting a little upset now but I think that's because they never appreciate the benefits of local fascism." -- MSNBC 2/8/97

(talking to a disabled Vietnam vet) "People like you caused us to lose that war." -- MSNBC

fuck, I really despise this kind of rhetoric.

[livius drusus]

From Shake's link:

(talking to a disabled Vietnam vet) "People like you caused us to lose that war."

Just when I thought she couldn't sink any lower...

[Socratoad]

Originally Posted by beyelzu

I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it-Voltaire


I despise Coulter, but she does have freedom of free expression, even if she is a monstrous cunt.

Hard to argue with what you have said, but still not even Voltaire could have imagined the hate spewed by Mr. Hitler in his many early beer-hall rants.

What we have here is a clash between ideals that we all admire, and the cold scary light of reality.

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

From Shake's link:

Just when I thought she couldn't sink any lower...

yeah, that one brought me up short as well. I cant even imagine a context that would make it less deplorable.