Ann Coulter Does a Doozy (2 Viewers)

[Unicron]

paxman didn't come out of that very well did he?
his line of incredulous questioning just proved her right.

He went a bit soft on her, she left him plenty of opportunities to go after her. She was saying some ridiculous things.

 

[oh shit]

i would agree with her that darwinism is, to an extent, a faith, and i would certainly agree that schools inevitably indoctrinate kids with certain ideological ideas. yeah, he should have been pointing out things like teaching scientific rationlism and environmentally friendly ideas aren't actually "anti-American" (which is where ann coulter's critique breaks down into deranged religious/republican bollox), but to fail to anticipate that his line of questions would just give her ammo to make him look dumb - that's just bad production from him and the newsnight production team. of course she believes what's in the book.

 

[Unicron]

i would agree with her that darwinism is, to an extent, a faith, and i would certainly agree that schools inevitably indoctrinate kids with certain ideological ideas. yeah, he should have been pointing out things like teaching scientific rationlism and environmentally friendly ideas aren't actually "anti-American" (which is where ann coulter's critique breaks down into deranged religious/republican bollox), but to fail to anticipate that his line of questions would just give her ammo to make him look dumb - that's just bad production from him and the newsnight production team. of course she believes what's in the book.

Whether it's a faith or not I can't agree that evolution is a "liberal idea" unless she's arguing that everyone who rejects creationism (and I'll lump the intelligent design folks in under the creationist unbrella) is liberal.

I find when watching her that her own invective is often enough for her to hang herself without debating her directly, she can often be egged on into exposing precisely how ridiculous she is. Perhaps that's what Paxman was banking on and if it was then I'd concede you could criticuse him for jsut being lazy.

 

[oh shit]

yeah but in american politics, sadly, it's at the point where the rhetorical, emotive issues - like darwinism vs creationism - have become the only way that real political ideologies get talked about.

it's all bollox to you me and paxman, but in effect if you're talking about bipartisan american mainstream politics, being for darwinism in schools is synonymous with being a "liberal". whatever that means.

 

[plug]

just watched that paxman clip. she seems to claim that packing your kid's lunch in a tupperware box is a crazy religious belief? amazing!

I don't understand how darwinism could be a faith though... isn't it a scientific theory, supported by enormous amounts of complimentary data? faith on the other hand, as I understand it, is a belief or trust in someone or something, not necessarily based on evidence of any kind. imho I would regard them as being more-or-less opposite to each other.

i agree that paxman let her off a fair bit; despite her obvious talent at making a tit out of herself, it would have been far better to see her get torn ourrivih on the idiotic points she was trying to make, rather than merely allow her to make a fool out of herself. if only for our entertainment! no quarter!!!

 

[Richie]

It's just a language trick.. Obviously she's trying to make liberals\lefties looks like hypocrites by forbidding overt religous displays in classrooms while propogating the 'religion' of environmentalism, Darwinism etc. (the not-so-hidden message being that these ideas are so fundamentally baseless to her that to believe in them you'd have to invest as much blind faith as you do to believe in a deity). The Theory of Evolution isn't a religion any more than the Theory of Gravity is... Scientific theory = a model based on observations that can be used to predict the behaviour of the universe.. Faith = belief based on hope\intution.. Labelling Darwinism a 'faith' is just an insidious technique of the IDers\Creationists to try and put it on an equal footing with their own ideas... but we already had a tortuous 30 page thread on this pretty recently, so enough of that..

 

[ITalkShite]

but we already had a tortuous 30 page thread on this pretty recently, so enough of that..

I see this thread as a car swerving dangerously towards a cliff-edge, and you've pulled it out of the way just in time. Good driving.

 

[Richie]

I see this thread as a car swerving dangerously towards a cliff-edge, and you've pulled it out of the way just in time. Good driving.

Cheers I.T.S... though I'd say we'll get another iteration of that debate anyway.. Incidentally, I wonder what Ann Coulter's stance on, say, an Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu child having the right to overtly practice their religion in an American school would be?

 

[Mormon Nailer]

WTF?
Good looking? I'd describe her as generic American blonde.

God shes not even that good.!
at least the generic american blonde looks tanned fit and healthy
she's a wretched dessicated anorexic.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

He went a bit soft on her, she left him plenty of opportunities to go after her. She was saying some ridiculous things.

I think he was stunned by the sheer breadth of her stupidity, theres not much point in arguing with someone so divorced from reality anyway.

 

[P. Littbarski]

just a couple of minor points...

Darwinism and evolution are not really the same thing. Darwinism is a specific theory which holds natural selction as the mechanism behind Evolution. Allthough Darwinism is commonly used to mean Evolution, there is a distinction between the two terms.

and like Richie said, a theory is a model based on observations that can be used to predict behaviour etc.. and this means that Evolution by natural selection is not necessarily correct...but its a very strong theory, possibly one of the strongest theories of the last 200 years. There are loads of theories which attempt to explain the origins and evolution of life, it's just that Darwinism is, in my opinion, the most plausible one considering what we know at this time.

 

[Unicron]

Cheers I.T.S... though I'd say we'll get another iteration of that debate anyway.. Incidentally, I wonder what Ann Coulter's stance on, say, an Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu child having the right to overtly practice their religion in an American school would be?

Somethings along the lines of "[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.[/FONT]"