Last word on Ann Coulter
Nov. 28th, 2008 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerSo, it's come to my attention that in some quarters my reaction to the Ann Coulter thing has been perceived as a touch "holier-than-thou."
There's not a lot I can do about that. I didn't feel particular holier than anyone when I was shouting and swearing all over the place because I felt so damnably angry, but that's cooled down now. Ann Coulter, as a person, does not loom particularly large in my universe, and I don't expect anyone to care about what happens to her who doesn't already. Nor do I expect anyone who feels she is responsible for the deaths of their loved ones to forgive her for that.
But I honestly didn't think it was holier than thou to expect the good guys to be better than the bad guys, for whatever value of those terms obtains in these ambiguous times. I know it's human, when one's enemy is hanging from the cliff by his fingernails, to want to stamp on them and laugh as he falls, or at least to be disinclined to offer him a hand up, but I honestly didn't think it was unattainably saintly to be able to subdue those impulses, or that choosing not to do so was something to be proud of. And in the smaller world of everyday dramas, I honestly didn't think anyone would actually come up with a defence of publicly jeering at a woman, not for her stupidity, not for her bigotry, not for her selfishness, but for having had a--can I say moderately painful?--accident which could have happened to anyone.
Sorry I offended people. Comments disabled for the usual reason. Normal service will be resumed after breakfast.
There's not a lot I can do about that. I didn't feel particular holier than anyone when I was shouting and swearing all over the place because I felt so damnably angry, but that's cooled down now. Ann Coulter, as a person, does not loom particularly large in my universe, and I don't expect anyone to care about what happens to her who doesn't already. Nor do I expect anyone who feels she is responsible for the deaths of their loved ones to forgive her for that.
But I honestly didn't think it was holier than thou to expect the good guys to be better than the bad guys, for whatever value of those terms obtains in these ambiguous times. I know it's human, when one's enemy is hanging from the cliff by his fingernails, to want to stamp on them and laugh as he falls, or at least to be disinclined to offer him a hand up, but I honestly didn't think it was unattainably saintly to be able to subdue those impulses, or that choosing not to do so was something to be proud of. And in the smaller world of everyday dramas, I honestly didn't think anyone would actually come up with a defence of publicly jeering at a woman, not for her stupidity, not for her bigotry, not for her selfishness, but for having had a--can I say moderately painful?--accident which could have happened to anyone.
Sorry I offended people. Comments disabled for the usual reason. Normal service will be resumed after breakfast.