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Ann Coulter's "Demonic"
In her most provocative book to date, Ann Coulter argues that liberals exhibit all the psychological characteristics of a mob, for instance: Liberal Groupthink: The same mob mentality that leads otherwise law-abiding people to hurl rocks at cops also leads otherwise intelligent people to refuse to believe anything they havent heard on NPR. Liberal Schemes: No matter how mad the plan isFraternit, the New Soviet Man, the Master Race, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Building a New Society, ObamaCarea mob will believe it. Liberal Enemies: Instead of counterrevolutionaries, liberals opponents are called haters, those who seek to divide us, tea baggers, and right-wing hate groups. Meanwhile, conservatives call liberals liberalsand that makes them testy. Liberal Justice: In the world of the liberal, as in the world of Robespierre, there are no crimes, only criminals. Liberal Violence: If Charles Mansons followers hadnt killed Roman Polanskis wife, Sharon Tate, Clinton would have pardoned him, too, and hed probably be teaching at Northwestern University. Citing the father of mob psychology, Gustave Le Bon, Coulter catalogs the Lefts mob behaviors: the creation of messiahs, the fear of scientific innovation, the mythmaking, the preference for images over words, the lack of morals, and the casual embrace of contradictory ideas. Coulter traces the history of the liberal mob to the French Revolution and Robespierres revolutionaries (delineating a clear distinction from Americas founding fathers), who simply proclaimed that they were exercising the general will before slaughtering their fellow citizens for the good of mankind. Similarly, as Coulter demonstrates, liberal mobs, from student radicals to white-trash racists to anti-war and pro-ObamaCare fanatics today, have consistently used violence to implement their idea of the general will. This is not the American tradition; it is the tradition of Stalin, of Hitler, of the guillotineand the tradition of the American Left.
As the heirs of the French Revolution, Democrats have a history that consists of pandering to mobs, time and again, while Republicans, heirs to the American Revolution, have regularly stood for peaceable order. Hoping to muddy this horrifying truth, liberals slanderously accuse conservatives of their own crimesassassination plots, conspiracy theorizing, political violence, embrace of the Ku Klux Klan. Coulter shows that the truth is the opposite: Political violencemob violenceis always a Democratic affair. Surveying two centuries of mob movements, Coulter demonstrates that the mob is always destructive. And yet, she argues, beginning with the civil rights movement in the sixties, Americans have lost their natural, inherited aversion to mobs. Indeed, most Americans have no idea what they are even dealing with. Only by recognizing the mobs and their demonic nature can America begin to defend itself.
Editorial Reviews About the Author ANN COULTER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Guilty, If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans, Godless, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must), Treason, Slander, and High Crimes and Misdemeanors. She is the legal correspondent for Human Events and a syndicated columnist for Universal Press Syndicate. A graduate of Cornell University and University of Michigan Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Pasco Bowman II of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee, and served as a litigator with the Center for Individual Rights, a public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of individual rights, with particular emphasis on freedom of speech, civil rights, and the free exercise of religion. A frequent guest on many TV shows, she was named one of the top 100 public intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner in 2001. Her weekly column can be read at anncoulter.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Product Details Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Crown Forum; First Edition edition (June 7, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0307353486 ISBN-13: 978-0307353481 Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (320 customer reviews) Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #15 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Government > Democracy
Reveiw:
If you are interested in reading this book, it's likely that you are already of a certain political mindset. Therefore, I'm going to try to make this review helpful to you depending on your specific beliefs. I will do my best to be direct and not mis-leading. -------If You Are a Liberal: Let me give you a fair warning; If you are a liberal democrat, even an "open-minded" one, you will hate this book. I would not recommend you waste your time reading Demonic. You will likely find Ms. Coulter to be mean-spirited toward your affiliation and paint you all with a generalized brush of disdain that you may not deserve. Now, if you still choose to read the book (despite my stern warning) you may learn some interesting facts(while being offended) as this book is undeniably well-researched and covers some interesting historical and philosophical concepts. However, I would imagine the chore of spending the hours needed to read this book red faced and clenchjawed will easily override some interesting facets the book uncovers. In fact, you will probably garner more from simply reading the work of Gustave Le Bon, particularly his book "The Crowd"which provides many of the same factual insights discussed in Demonic, without being overtly offensive. So, to you my liberal, beloved, fellow American, I hope this review will save you some time and money by avoiding the aforementioned work.
If You Are a Conservative: Ahh, yes, the target audience for this book. If you fit within this group, Ann Coulter, and her newest work will likely appeal to you- especially if you prefer a no-nonsense delivery and a barrage of well-articulated shots taken at the Democratic Party and Liberal/Progressive leaders and it's followers. Coulter's true strength is her ability to couple well-researched events and link them to what she feels are modern equivalents (often with compelling evidence). The end result will supply you with entirely new reasons to remain firm in your political and moral convictions while giving you new ammunition to besiege your Democrat-loving relatives next Thanksgiving dinner. In truth, Ann is incredibly insightful and much too smart for my personal liking- as I fear ever having to debate someone like her about ANYTHING. I greatly enjoy her writing style, she is blunt, bold and opinionated- and fortunately for you, those are opinions you will likely support. Final Thoughts Demonic is primarily a book that seeks to highlight the mob-psychology that often occupies space in modern politics. Ann equates the "mob mentality" with literal demonic/evil influence- a notion that many may feel takes the argument too far. However, as with many of Coulter's books, her claims are backed by a myriad of historic events, facts and statistics, that may lend credence to many of the implications within the book. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide whether her allegations bear any weight. I can only tell you, that for me personally, Demonic underscored strong correlations with some tragic historic events and recent tactics seen in several parties and
sects today. Those who fail to observe the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them; perhaps Demonic will help America dodge some of the most unpleasant lessons on the horizon by encouraging critical thought from its people, rather than loyalty to propaganda and hollowcatchphrases.
I'm not a huge fan of Ann Coulter; sometimes I think she says or writes controversial things just to get a rise out of her opponents. She is like a cat toying with a fuzzy, helpless animal most of the time...on one hand, you feel sorry for the helpless animal, but on the other hand, you accept that nature demands winners and losers. Ann strikes at the heart of the matter, and right out of the box. Christians who know their Bible know the story of the hapless man possessed by 'Legion'. The book opens with this and sets the tone for the entire book. There is no toying with her prey in 'Demonic', rather there is an unrelenting assault (limited, well placed sharp humor) on the left and the lefts reliance on ginned up mob mentality. My guess is that Sarah Palin read an advanced copy at some point; the true story of Paul Revere's ride and capture by a group of Redcoats is explained. BTW - the NYT and WP asking for readers to help in reviewing the Palin emails on 6/9/11 is a perfect example of the 'mob' Coulter refers to in her book. Let's just say people aren't scouring Palin's correspondence for moose eyeball recipes. The press minions are assembling in attack formation...I bet they feel delightfully evil...oh, what's another word? (See title of book!) 6/13 follow up: Drudge states that some would-be mob icons the press uses to lend credence to the Destroy Palin movement have begun to turn and question why this much focus on a single woman who was last a candidate 3 years ago. The premise of Coulter's book is that real Americans embrace the traditions of debate and individualism, while those that hate America embrace the traditions of groupthink and mobs. This is an excellent book for those people who self identify as 'new to politics' and have participated in tea party activities a couple of times. Ann lays out a good deal of recent history, and exposes how group think might have shaped your thoughts prior to the great tea awakening. She also covers a great deal of mob think history, and no, I'm not talking about Cosa Nostra; think French Revolution, and NOT the white washed version you thought you learned in school that supposedly paralleled the birth of our country. For those who have walked in Conservative shoes longer, this is a must have book as it is Ann at her best. And for those, like me, who have found her to be abrasive in the past, 'Demonic' is the one Coulter book you'll want to read. 'Demonic' is a must have for historical purposes alone...and even the least educated liberal should appreciate a well written book given their penchant for open-mindedness.
==== ==== Conservative's love it, Liberal's catch fire. http://tinyurl.com/82nzsmj ==== ====