The existence of "mob mentality" and "group psychology", as described by Gustave LeBon and studied by sociologists and psychologists since then, is a fact. As Ms. Coulter points out, we can see it in action in history (French Revolution, Russian Revolution, Nazi Germany, on both sides of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War protests) and on and on the list goes. Mobs are not only evident in large national and historic events; they are just as evident, for example, in school bullying and gang rapes.
Mob mentality is evident in all forms of political activity, be they on the left or the right or in between. With the developments in modern media, from radio to TV, and now the internet and social media, it is no longer necessary to actually physically gather together a "crowd", but mobs can be incited, controlled and directed from far away and over lengthy periods of time. This combination of modern mass media technology (both "technology" in the strict sense, as well as the methodology of mass persuasion perfected by the advertising industry), together with the virtually unconstrained American interpretation of "free speech", is indeed a very real danger to the survival of civil and democratic societies.
If Ms. Coulter had chosen to present a balanced description and analysis of mass psychology and mob mentality in American political life in history and today, and the very real danger it presents to civil society and meaningful democracy, then this might indeed have been a worthwhile read. However, her demonic obsession with turning this discussion into a one-sided political harangue makes this book into exactly what she accuses "liberals" of - an effort to incite marginally informed masses into a mob movement against any thought or action which does not conform to her rather myopic view of "correct" political views. With this book Ms. Coulter has become exactly what she decries - the Joseph Goebbels of the extreme right-wing.
Even reading the dust cover, it struck me as odd that Ms. Coulter was at pains to describe the French Revolution as liberal and mob-controlled (which undoubtably it was in some aspects), of which the Democrats are supposedly direct "heirs", while "Republicans, heirs to the American Revolution, have regularly stood for peaceable order". Right there is the first instance of Ms. Coulter's use of mob psychology for her own purposes, by wrapping Republicans in the American flag, and associating the Democrats with a foreign flag, culture and mentality - a text-book exercise in inciting mob hysteria.
By the way, Ms. Coulter might be interested in reading "A Note on Mobs in the American Revolution" by Gordon S. Wood, assuming she is open to reading something which might disturb her myopic world view.
For every instance Ms. Coulter cites where liberals, Democrats, progressives (or whatever label she wishes to attach to those she accuses of destroying America) use tools of mob psychology, there are equivalents used by conservatives and Republicans. Take slogans. Ms. Coulter states that "Conservatives don't cotton to slogans", and then goes on to list many of the whoppers coined by liberals and Democrats. But what about "Death Panels" and "taxing the job creators" to name just two.
Ms. Coulter accuses liberal mobs of "foisting faddish ideas … on the rest of us … which would never have occurred to anyone fifty years ago"; I guess civil rights is a faddish idea in her view.
The negative term "mob" is quickly equivalenced with Democrats (a classic ploy of mob psychology to establish automatic negative associations with your "enemies"), as in "The Mob's Compulsion to Create Messiahs". But hold on, Ronald Reagan has been elevated to a demigod by conservatives, with "supply-side economics" or trickle-down the equivalent of the holy grail.
Overall, Ms. Coulter is obviously a gifted and effective propagandist. I can easily imagine "Demonic" being prominently displayed on the coffee tables of the true believers, as some of the other propaganda masterpieces, "Mein Kampf", "Das Kapital", and Mao's Little Red Book, are still proudly displayed in other quarters.
No comments:
Post a Comment