> Still, it isn't hard to imagine using the same
> methods to write the same book from precisely the
> opposite point of view, and indeed someone has
> already done it: Michael Moore, in Stupid White
> Men. Moore's book calls for U.N. observers to monitor
> American elections, accuses pretty much everyone
> on the right of corruption and venality -- and has been
> a major bestseller both here and in Britain. The real
> question, then, is not what makes so many people buy
> books by Ann Coulter, but what makes so many people
> lap up the Coulter-Bruce-Moore formula. Perhaps it's
> a longing for clarity, a reflection of the deep human
> need to find a straight path through the modern jungle
> of information. Perhaps it's laziness. We all have media
> overload nowadays -- too many sides of the story are too
> easily available.
>
> But while some people go mad trying to absorb
> everything, others seem to go mad trying to eliminate
> any information that doesn't fit their predetermined
> stereotypes. And the looniest of all -- they wind up as
> bestselling authors.
Anne Coulter is loathsome. But this explanation sounds too self-flattering. Applebaum is asking the right question, but falters with the answer. It's similar to the liberal conceit that conservative demagogues are popular because their audience isn't as nuanced and well-informed as the appalled liberals. First and foremost, demagogues like Coulter and Moore, and O'Reilly and Michael Weiner, are combative, passionate, and entertaining.
-- Shane
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