That's Show Business
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I'd normally applaud Ann Coulter's sentiment here.
Sean Hannity has openly declared war on Bill Maher for the onslaught of vulgarities on last Friday’s Real Time, and while for the rest of the week Hannity bashed Maher with impunity, today he faced a bit of a predicament: interviewing one of Maher’s oldest media friends, Ann Coulter. Coulter distanced herself from his opinions but refused to comment as to him personally, instead beaming that he was a “true and loyal friend.”
Hannity began his interview with Coulter with his familiar laundry list of grievances against Maher: “it seems like he’s more angry, more bitter, more liberal, more hateful,” but no one stood up to him. He also noted he was not “going to spend a lot of time on him because he gets too much attention,” to which Coulter retorted, “from you!” She then addressed Hannity’s complaints, half in jest– “you want me to have no other friends than you, Sean Hannity”– half in earnest. “I obviously don’t believe in his politics, I like him, he’s a true and loyal friend, he always has been” she noted.
Friendships that transcend political divisions are healthy for everyone, and especially for public figures. If more of those who lead public debate spent more time listening with attention to people who see the world in different ways, then surely that debate would improve.
But given that Coulter and Maher both treat politics as a form of jihad against the forces of ignorance and wrong, with nothing to be said for opposing views, isn't there something weird in the ease with which they disregard their own narrative the moment the TV lights dim? That's not the way they'd act if they believed the things they say. Happily, it seems that both of them recognize that what they do in public is a performance, a show, to be separated from real life. Good & welcome - but also a warning to their respective fans: Don't take your favorite TV personalities' politics more seriously than they do themselves.