Karen De Coster, Notable Even Amongst the Insane

Pretty much the entire LewRockwell.com blog is showing severe symptoms of a cult mindset on all Ron Paul matters. They react to any criticism of Paul just like I saw the Church of Scientology doing years ago to any criticism of L. Ron Hubbard:
1) Make no effort at all to find out if the criticism has a basis in fact, e.g., no one at the blog asks, "Did Lew Rockwell really write those newsletters?" No, because there's no time to do that, being busy with 2 and 3:
2) Viciously smear the reputation and character of anyone who reports bad news (in Scientology we used to label them 'suppressive persons' and the Church would dig up (or make up) any tawdry detail from their past that they could); and
3) Invent far-fetched conspiracy theories to explain the "attack" on their messiah, e.g., the American Psychiatric Association was out to get Hubbard, or the "Cocktopussy" is out to get Paul.

But the chief fruitcake in this regard is far and away Karen De Coster. For instance, she sees it as a sign of a conspiracy that Julian Sanchez knew about his own article on the newsletters in advance of publication: "The Beltway-Kochtopus libertarians and their junior blogger understudies have been trying to put Lew in the gas chamber of ideas [Help! My ideas are being gassed!] for a very long time now... This is the kind of thing that these guys used to keep under wraps, but nowadays, they revel in the glory of their lynchings a bit too openly for their own good. For instance, this little squirt couldn't contain himself two days prior to his article launch."

And she adopts the classic "I wasn't even there AND I fired the shot accidentally" defense of Lew Rockwell:
"The burden of the newsletter content is on Ron Paul, the man whose name graces the covers, and shame on you scoundrel "libertarians" for automatically drawing the assumption that Lew Rockwell must have, had to be, surely was involved in writing those passages that have you all so horrified."

Lew would never write that stuff AND there was nothing wrong with it anyway! And Karen, no one "automatically drew the assumption" (and I thought conclsusions were drawn, while assumptions were made) that Lew was the author -- Sanchez and Weigel interviewed lots of people who were around at that time and those people told them Lew was the author.

Here, De Coster sees a dark conspiracy to ignore her blog:
"The round-up of Lew Rockwell continues. [Lew must have gotten loose out on the range again and be-a stampedin'!] I find this post interesting, especially since my extensive blog post is not to be found here. Of course -- I'm not taking the standard pc, lynch-mob line, thus I do not get the Reason honor badge. Ahem."

De Coster apparently didn't note that David Gordon, John Derbyshire, and Athena Kerry also did not take "the standard pc, lynch-mob line," and yet appeared in the list. Perhaps Reason was seeking out sane supporters of Paul so as not to make him look any worse?

She actually resorted to trashing the careers of people like Weigel and Sanchez: "I don't feel I have to follow anyone's politically-correct bullshit line for one moment. I am very well-employed outside of the libertarian clique that consistently attempts thought control, hence my ability to say whatever the hell I want, and I don't care what the other bozos think or say about any of it. Being employed far outside of the libertarian/academic inner circle leaves me free to tell the Kochtopus to kiss my well-employed behind."

DeCoster doesn't seem to notice that, along with the "beltway libertarians" she hates, she's also impugned the integrity of everyone who depends on the Mises Institute for making a living, since they must all be "thought controlled" by money as well.

Here, she hallucinates that this piece by Brian Doherty, which doesn't mention Sanchez or Weigel once, even indirectly, is giving them the "Mother of All Spankings."

DeCoster latest display of advanced Turrets appeared yesterday, suitably chopped up since almost every word written by her is nutty and worthy of comment:

"Junior Member of (T)Reason"

The "Bible-belt-way libertarians" are owed our allegiance! To criticism them is treason!

"Lie-A-Rama"

No one has been able to show a single thing in the Sanchez/Weigel piece was a lie. But let's just keep calling it mendacious until it sticks.

"Says 'Let's Get Over Ourselves'"

"David Weigel, the opportunist"

Just who is running a "smearbund," Karen?

"who put his name on an article"

Perhaps he "put his name on" the article because he co-authored it? Or is that a lie, too?

"full of anecdotal, unsubstantiated lies"

Well, apparently everyone they talked to substantiated everyone else's claims. I can see De Coster in a court of law: "Your honor, the claims by these dozen people that they saw my client kill the victim are merely anecdotal -- none of them have photos, do they? -- and each person's story is totally unsubstantiated, except, of course, by the other eleven liars.

"from "unnamed""

Why is 'unnamed' in quotes here, Karen? Are you doubting that they really were unnamed? And here's a named source who knows Lew wrote most of the newsletters. Are you willing to call McElroy an "unreliable" member of the "smearbund," Karen?

"and unreliable "sources," says: 'The Ron Paul campaign has captured much of the libertarian imagination and the controversies about his newsletters have alienated various sides of the libertarian thinksophere. We need to get over ourselves. The arguments over who wrote what in 1989 or 1990 are less important than whether the Senate retroactively legalizes and forgives international surveillance.'"

So what Weigel is saying is that he wishes people would stop arguing so divisively about the newsletters. That would be people like you, Karen. He is not apologizing for his article.

"I bet some people really wish they could turn back time and erase their moments of instability and imbecility."

But what if "the moments" turn out to have been one's whole writing career?

Comments

  1. Anonymous7:20 PM

    It's unfortunate because, there's more than a little bit of smoke to the fire she's pretending to have lit.

    Re: McElroy; her statements are no better than repeating second/third hand information. Going with your trial analogy; her testimony would be hearsay. I'm not saying she's wrong. Nor am I saying that her statements cannot be relied upon, merely that they don't count as evidence in a purely logical sense.

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  2. Hell I took "the standard, pc lynch-mob line" and reason didn't link me. And I fricking write for them. Now and then.

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  3. Callahan --

    You got too much time on your hands. As usual.

    But I think we both know who the insane loser is......just read your post. I got some advice for ya: why don't you get a job, or, god forbid, finally finish one of those PhD programs you started?

    What a crazed loser you are.

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  4. Anonymous12:23 PM

    That I find things in the posts you've put on this subject to agree with wholeheartedly does not for a second mitigate the disgusting nature of your conduct, De Coster.

    "Apparently, a'lotta people think you are nuts, huh?"

    Sanity, like anything else in the real world, is not subject to popular opinion or contests decided by vote. I know you know this. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for advancing such a cheap line of attack.

    "The Church of Hating Rothbard"

    I don't think Mr. Callahan hates Rothbard at all, but, given Rothbard's seminal influence, when he's wrong it's necessary to correct him and harshly. For example, the 'dance all day' remarks in that old issue of Reason magazine. Before you decide to jump on me with this line of attack; I consider Rothbard to be the premier theorist of modern libertarianism, and those who consciously build on his contributions in those areas build on very solid ground. I also, contrary to Mr. Callahan, consider him a good historian.

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  5. Yes, Karen, it's the messenger that's to blame.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. Karen,

    I commented about your public writings. I did not speculate about your sex life, your career prospects, or even your personal sanity -- it's your writing I was calling nutty, and for all I know you might be the most stable person in the world when you're not blogging.

    You, as is your habit, launched an attack on my personal life. You are free to respond to my blog post here. You are not free to come here and make up lies about my life -- for instance, I have never failed out of a PhD program anywhere at any time. I was admitted to LSE -- one of the top five programs in the world, by the way -- but left after one month because my children were upset about my being away so much. No 'failure' was involved at all. Then, I entered a program at Cardiff University, where I'm doing quite well, thank you. So what are these 'multitude of failures' you are talking about?

    And by 'wigging out,' I think you mean 'Being critical of Rothbard or any of his followers.' Yes, back in my Scientology days we put criticism of Scientology down to mental instability, too.

    If you and you friends want to gossip about my personal life, as you apparently have been very busy doing -- I must fascinate you, huh? -- feel free. But here, please restrict your comments to the blog posts.

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  8. By the way, I had never mentioned my time in the Church of Scientology -- in the early 80s before, as it was irrelevant to anything I was writing about. I finally brought it up here because, as I watched the response at the LRC blog to the newsletter flap, I saw the very same behavior as I had back in the early 80s -- draw the wagons, shoot the messenger, smear anyone who questions cult dogma. Finally, I felt I was in a unique position to call a spade a spade and say what was going on. It has not been pleasant or easy -- for instance, I met Karen De Coster once, and found her quite pleasant in person, and I knew that I would become a target of these smears once I spoke up -- but I didn't see I had any choice.

    And it's kind of funny, how back in the 80s, the Scientology higher-ups would watch carefully for signs of apostasy. If they showed, they would begin to circulate rumors that the apostate was 'unstable,' was 'flipping out,' and so on. Then, if the person publicly broke with the Church, the volume on the rumor mill would be turned up full blast.

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  9. By the way, Karen has an interesting way of 'refuting' her critics. If I wanted to sum up my original post in one sentence, it would be, "Instead of engaging with the substance of the arguments put forward by Paul's critics, De Coster instead resorts to ad hominem attacks."

    When faced with this complaint, what does De Coster do? Does she address a single point of substance in my post? No, she engages in an ad hominem attack on me!

    Thanks for illustrating my point, Karen!

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  10. Anonymous7:28 PM

    After watching how viciously much of Rockwell's gang has reacted to sensible critics speaking in good faith, I've lost a lot of respect for them. I honestly like Ron Paul, and I think the newsletter issue has been seriously overblown (a fact which many of the 'Cosmolifestylebeltwaytarians' have been perfectly happy to admit), but the paleo reaction has just been despicable - shallow and cowardly beyond measure.

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  11. Anonymous8:42 PM

    Right on, Jor. De Coster just provided a good example of your point..

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  12. Gene, what did you think of Raimondo's critique on Taki's Blog of the original New Republic article on the newsletters? (I'm speaking of course of Raimondo's attempt to defend the controversial statements by putting them in context, etc... Not of his usual "your mama" style of throwing in insults in between his substantive points which I have never personally liked.)

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  13. Gene wrote:

    I commented about your public writings. I did not speculate about your sex life, your career prospects, or even your personal sanity -- it's your writing I was calling nutty, and for all I know you might be the most stable person in the world when you're not blogging.

    Aww c'mon now Gene. You titled the post, "Karen De Coster, Notable Even Amongst the Insane."

    If you want to make distinctions about name calling and how much one deviates from the written work (versus personal life), go ahead; you'll certainly win on that account.

    But c'mon, you've done more than express academic disagreement with LRC bloggers or with Rothbard (say).

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  14. True, Bob, I was expressing more than mild disagreement. But all of my disagreement, and what I was calling "insane," was entirely what's out there in public for everyone to read. I wasn't expressing anything about De Coster's personal life, because I know nothing about it and it would be none of anyone else's business if I did.

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  15. Stephen, Raimondo is right about the TNR piece -- that was a smear. I am not Eric Dondero, and I don't hate Ron Paul -- or Lew Rockwell, or even Karen De Coster. But I am sick of seeing personal attacks directed at every person who says, "Gee, there are some problems with the Paul campaign." The slandering of Weigel and Sanchez was really the final straw for me, where I felt I just couldn't, in good conscience, keep quiet about this anymore.

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  16. http://www.no-treason.com/weblog.php?id=P428

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  17. Gene,

    I’m not sure you see what is happening here.

    Unlike some of the people who have had so much to say on this issue, I have actually read through every single one of the documents, from beginning to end, that TNR has so kindly posted on-line for us (http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=74978161-f730-43a2-91c3-de262573a129 ).

    I’m not a neo-Confederate: my sympathies have always been with the radical abolitionists. I’m not a Christian (or even theist) of any stripe. I like immigrants: I married into an Asian immigrant family, and the kids and I are learning Chinese. My wife and I have taken multiple trips to foreign countries. I have a couple of gays in my family. My wife and I both have doctorates from an elite school (Stanford). We’re a high-tech “dynamist” family: I hold several patents on computer and satellite technology.

    I am, in short, the very model of a modern cosmopolitan libertarian.

    I am also incredulous that any real libertarian has any serious problem with any of the documents posted by TNR.

    Just to take some of the most-discussed examples: the political analysis of David Duke’s failed race seems to me accurate and fair. M. L. King was indeed a “flagrant plagiarist with a phony doctorate” and, if we are to believe Ralph David Abernathy, “a world-class philanderer.” My wife is a physician in private practice (she also holds a Ph.D. in molecular immunology) – her views on precautions in dealing with AIDs patients are similar to the newsletters’.

    And what I really liked was the “Special Issue on Racism and Terrorism.” It was strong on the facts about Rodney King, it was rightly harsh towards the thugs who looted and murdered in South Central, and, as someone married in to an Asian immigrant family, I especially appreciated the praise it gave to those Asian Americans who had the courage to defend themselves and their property against violent thugs by force of arms.

    If Karen is upset, I am sure that it is because she is astounded that any libertarian does not admire these newsletters as I do.

    What we have here is, I think, a welcome and necessary split in the libertarian movement. Those of us who admire and praise the Korean-Americans who shot and killed violent African-American thugs will be in one movement; those who find it unacceptable to loudly, proudly, and assertively express such praise and admiration will have to be in another movement.

    Politics is about making choices and choosing sides.

    Clarity is a good thing.

    All the best,

    Dave Miller in Sacramento

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  18. Anonymous6:56 AM

    Nice, Sabotta equates criticism of the Fed with communism, reminding me why I gave up on those clowns a long time ago.

    Bah. A curse on both houses, filled to the brim with unhinged lunatics as they are.

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  19. Anonymous7:22 AM

    Personally, if I have to choose between PC lynch-mobs and whackjob cultists, I'll take none-of-the-above.

    I've been without a 'movement' before. It ain't so bad.

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  20. Anonymous9:46 PM

    jor,

    Sabotta equates criticism of the Fed with communism...

    Yeah, not so much. DeCoster mentions the Federal Reserve in passing but it's clear that her vitriol is reserved for New York City and the "Wall Street Parasites". Who uses that kind of phrasing? I can think of two:

    1) Communists
    2) Karen DeCoster

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  21. Anonymous5:48 AM

    "Gene, what did you think of Raimondo's critique on Taki's Blog of the original New Republic article on the newsletters?"

    Does anybody have a link to this? I cannot find it on Taki's webzine.

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  22. "If Karen is upset, I am sure that it is because she is astounded that any libertarian does not admire these newsletters as I do."

    Karen must be really upset with Ron Paul, who totally rejects the message of those newsletters!

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