Two Media Creations

1. Ann Coulter 2. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Ann Coulter and al-Zarqawi are no more real than a George Bush photo-op. It’s amazing to me that the people who foam at the mouth and rant about Coulter don’t realize that they have created her. Coulter fine-tunes her next appearance by measuring what enraged the public about her last appearance. Next time out, she takes the outrageous remarks and hatred a step farther. And she fine-tunes her physical appearance as well. Whatever pisses off the public most about the way she looks will be made more distinct next time. If you noticed on the Lou Dobbs segment last week, Coulter not only made no attempt to hide her prominent Adam’s apple, she flaunted it. Whatever ramps up the outrage gauge, Coulter will kick up to a higher level next time around. Even including the transgender question. As soon as it was made public that her voter registration had no Female/Male preference checked, that topic got a big play and we started seeing Ann Coulter putting her Adam’s apple on display. Coulter’s act has been carefully honed, measured, calibrated and rehearsed. She has given the public exactly what it wants. She has created herself according to the creature the public clamored for. Zarqawi is not all that different, except it is unclear whether he was a total construct or whether he was simply a boob whose picture was used to shore up a myth. What is clear about Zarqawi is that the Bush administration and the Associated Press are still in the process of creating his persona. The AP and the White House haven’t completely written Zarqawi’s death yet. First he was just killed. Then he lived after the airstrike. Then he said a few words while he was living after the airstrike. Then he tried to get away after he said a few words while he was living after the airstrike. I expect we shortly will get the translation of the few words he spoke while he was still living when he tried to get away before he died after the airstrike. But like Ann Coulter, Zarqawi’s personality evolved according to what the public wanted. The Bush administration divined that the public needed a bad guy to hate in Iraq, other than George Bush and the Americans. Bush had badly screwed up the presentation of Osama bin Laden dead or alive to the folks--so badly that the scenario had to be re-written. And the White House opted for Zarqawi. They assiduously researched the bad-guy attributes that the public wanted. And they produced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. What happens when the public gets bored or wised-up? Joe McCarthy literally shriveled and died. H. Ross Perot disappeared from public view. And then there was Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein who fooled around with nature. His creature provoked hatred and revenge and finally committed suicide. No doubt about it, those who are created by the public are destroyed by the public.