The War of the Glenns

There's a running skirmish going on between Glenn Greenwald of Unclaimed Territory and Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds this week. What are they fighting over? Iraq? Iran? The burgeoning deficit? No... Ann Coulter. I usually find Greenwald to be a sane and satisfying voice in the political debate, but in his article, "Why Ann Coulter Matters" I have to disagree.

The beginning of his argument is a complaint that Reynolds failed to condemn the Toxic Twig for her recent "raghead" comments at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. He then goes on to explain how "powerful and influential" speakers such as Coulter are among the Right wing. First of all, when Reynolds finally got around to addressing the subject (apparently his wife had a heart attack recently and he missed his appointed speaking slot at the conference) he definitely did denounce Coulter, but commented that he "generally tends to ignore" Coulter.

If more people took that approach, not only to Coulter but to the rest of her ilk such as Limbaugh (and to a far lesser extent, wannabes like Michelle Malkin) along with their parallels on the left (e.g. Babs, Harry Bellafonte and Michael Moore) we would have far less of a problem. I've long held the opinion that most of these folks really don't even believe half of the stuff that comes tumbling from their mouths. They're looking to make a buck and drive media attention their way so they can sell books, movies, advertising time, etc.

These people really don't matte. I don't think they represent the real feelings of any but the most lunatic fringe of both sides. To do justice to the national dialogue, I don't think you condemn them... you simply ignore them. Take away their audience and you take away their power and motivation to act out in such unacceptable ways. Without people raising a national hue and cry about their outrageous behavior, they simply dry up and blow away with the breeze.

Both of the Glenns, with this sort of debate, "degrade the blogosphere" as Reynolds put it. You do us no service by driving more fans to Coulter or selling more of her books for her. Much like a poorly behaved child, if you deny them the attention they seek, they will eventually wander off to sulk on their own.