FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

GUILTY: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America

by Ann Coulter

(Crown Forum)

Reader Appeal: Young adult to adult

Genre: Politics

Ann Coulter. Love her or hate her, she’s managed to make a name for herself. She’s built her career on hitting back at liberals with the same vehemence and disdain they throw at her. She’s always controversial, always witty, and she has a fearless and biting style that cuts right to heart of matters. And in Guilty she’s here to tear down the myth of victimhood and set the record straight.

Guilty’s title pretty much explains the premise of the book. the chapters range over many subject, though, exploring topics like media bias, single motherhood, and the “fairness doctrine” (of equal exposure in media). Through it all she works to undermine the tricky strategy of playing the victim to gain a political (or personal) advantage. There’s definitely a lot to explore in this area, since our old psychology was tipped on it head and we started putting so much emphasis on sympathy for the perpetrators of crimes, self-esteem, mental anguish, and avoiding offending anyone. And Coulter does lay out the facts about a number of important news stories and manages to show how the facts were misrepresented or where there was a double standard or where the cry of victimization was used to spearhead an attack on someone else. Being a victim does make you somewhat untouchable in our society, and it’s sad how often you see someone exploiting this for personal or political gain, whether it’s through landing that big lawsuit or getting your book published or winning that federal grant money or trashing your opponent’s reputation. The real tragedy is that it diverts attention from real victims and real offenses. And Coulter wants you to be aware of that.

I certainly couldn’t deny that Guilty is an interesting and sometimes enlightening book. I’ll admit that I myself am a conservative, and I spent a couple years at a very liberal college that was plagued with privileged upper-middle-class students who constantly talked and complained as if they were an oppressed and offended minority fighting a noble revolution where any tactics were justified to overthrow the status quo, without realizing that they themselves were the status quo (at least at that university, and in fact at many). As a member of a governing student body, I got to witness the confusion that sometimes resulted when they realized the difficult of maintaining their identity as rebels and victims when they had become the dominant (and often in its own turn oppressive) hegemony. So I do have some sympathy with Coulter. I think it’s very important to make sure that people aren’t exploiting the protections we’ve put in place to guard our society and counsel our hearts, especially if it draws the attention from the real victims. And I think it’s always a good thing to point out double standards and failures to uphold truth in journalism.

But I just can’t bring myself to recommend this book. There’s a very excellent verse in the Bible that says “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). And that pretty much sums up my thoughts about this book and Ann Coulter in general. If you don’t already agree with her you won’t want to hear what she has to say. And what she has to say is often so harsh and sarcastic and abrasive that it’s hard to listen to.

In my opinion, Ann Coulter is missing the boat just as much as the people she attacks. She herself is guilty of taking on a combative (possibly victim-motivated) stance that sacrifices the value of the real people and issues involved and their real needs for the sake of the tactical political high ground. In the end, it doesn’t matter if she’s right about the coverage of Trent Lott showing a double standard versus the coverage of Chris Dodd if you say it in such a way that you just draw the divisions and prejudices even deeper. What’s the point of rebuking someone if you don’t also restore them and reconcile with them? For most people, a lot of these carefully gathered facts and arguments will simply become counter-productive.

It’s too easy for some people to shelter behind “the truth” and use it as an excuse to ignore the basic command of the Bible to speak the truth in love. After all, the whole point of speaking it is to demonstrate love for the good of the people who need it (the truth, that is, which is everyone). To use another Biblical metaphor, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And Coulter just misses the boat here. She’s an attack dog. But just because there are attack dogs on the other side of an issue doesn’t mean its okay for your side to use those same tactics. Coulter shows her teeth in the titles of her books alone. And I just can’t recommend any book that starts from this kind of position.

Read this book if you want to and if you’re interested in delving more into this subject. But remember to take it with a grain of salt and try not to be drawn into the same kind of combative mindset. Remember how dangerous this attitude is, no matter what the facts happen to be (and I’m not taking a stance on any of them here). Even if reading this book set you straight about a few things, it would all be for nothing if you missed the heart of the matter.

FAMILYFANS RATING: C

AFTER THE STORY

If your family members are interested in this book, then encourage discussion about it afterward. You can use these questions to get started:

• If you didn’t agree with Coulter’s basic position, do you think this book would convince you? Why or why not?

• Have you ever told someone the truth and hurt them with it? Where is the line between being honest and speaking the truth in love.

--MV

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