03.23.2010 09:44 PM

Dumb, dumb, dumb

Dumb.

Man oh man, we’re going to be hearing about this for years.

Sigh.

26 Comments

  1. mclea says:

    When you decide that there should be line between acceptable and unacceptable speech, it is almost inevitable that this line will eventually morph into a division between the people you agree with and the people you don’t agree with. Especially if you’re a 20 year old idiot in University.

    Trying to eliminate “hate speech” is all well and good until you realize nobody can agree on what exactly hate speech is, except at its most extreme levels. And thus, you end up with incidents like the one tonight.

  2. Rotterdam says:

    http://drudgereport.com/

    Drudge has picked up how “tolerant” the left is in Canada.

    The Canadian Campus hates free speech, especially if you support Israel like Ann Coulter or Daniel Pipes.

    Israel apartheid week- a week of Jewish hate- no problem. No warning letter.
    A Conservative on the other hand gets a warning letter.
    I think Houle’s letter empowered these fascist thugs.

  3. bibs says:

    Exasperating!

    They should have let her speak. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that she would have firmly lodged her foot in her mouth. We would have made a few jokes at her expense, replayed the ridiculousness of it all on CBC and CTV a few times and eventually let it die. Nobody would have been truly offended because no one takes her seriously.

    Now she actually has a basis for saying that Canadians censor free speech, and she will bring it up for years to come. The U of O email that was sent to her was no big deal, completely exaggerated on her part. In comparison the cancellation of her speech tonight makes me really uneasy.

  4. Ginger says:

    When I saw the title “Dumb, Dumb, Dumb” I admit to immediately thinking it was going to link to the failed motion put forth by the Liberals today.

    I accept that I have to put up with the Conservatives being in power, but I think I should at least be able to depend on an opposition who will keep them in line – especially on something as important like this. I am so profoundly disappointed in the Liberal Party today.

    As for Coulter, meh, she’s not worthy of the thought space.

    • Catherine says:

      I thought the topic was the ‘defeated motion’ as well.

      Terrible execution by the LPC.

      I am of the mind that the Libs have not opposed anything for so long, that they fell flat.

      So, welcome the opposition because Harper deserves it. However, the cause deserved better from the Libs.

      So, run with the ball more often and get your legs.

      Because that is what an opposition should do.

      • Ginger says:

        “welcome the opposition because Harper deserves it. However, the cause deserved better from the Libs.”

        Well said. I live in a riding where the MP is a crazy pro-lifer who writes articles in our paper thanking any physicians who make it more difficult for women to obtain choice.

        To whom am I going to write to voice my displeasure? Him? The lone Liberal MP who lives hours away?

        Have there been any posts by any of the reputable liberal bloggers on this? Does anyone know? I’d like to know how the Liberals managed to screw this up so badly – both in terms of their completely unnecessary Bush bashing and their inability to count their players on the field (a still hurting Roughriders fan analogy). I had read this was a whipped vote – what is going to happen to those Liberal MPs who voted against the motion? Why the hell did they push this motion through when there were so many MPs missing?

        But again, at the end of the day, the Liberals continue to deserve their opposition status (though I’m now doubting even that), but the cause did deserve better. Unfortunately, my body and reproductive abilities are still being politicized by dodgy old white men looking for a wedge issue.

        • Catherine says:

          Ginger, we agree.

          You speak of dodgy old white men that obviously have no concerns with the overwhelming burden of women who are ultimately responsible for the children they bear, whether wanted, timed, or not.

          These same ‘old white men’ that think the family unit can nurture all of these children, are not always faithful to their vows.

          But, where were the women that represent us?

          Apparently, on Harper’s bench, they do not feel any empathy with those women who are facing the reality too many children to see thrive.

          I am emboldened that the LPC did not take a pass.

          I am disappointed that they failed.

  5. Jan says:

    Coulter – just an innocent conservative trying to spread her message. Please.

  6. Darrell says:

    Hearing from folks who were on campus that the size of the crowd is being overblown. The National Post has a quote from an officer saying ‘It’s a Public Safety Issue’, but also seems to suggest the concern might have been the interaction between the ‘pro-coulter’ and ‘anti-coulter’ factions rather than any threat of violence towards Coulter herself.

    Although it’s clear they’ll rail about Coulter being denied freedom of speech (as you say, we’ll hear about it for years) it seems to me it was the organizers who made the choice to shut this down – possibly because they realized the story would be an unsympathetic audience exercising their own right to free speech. This way it will still be all about them, and their rights.

  7. Robert K. says:

    Meh.

  8. Nasty Bob says:

    1. Coulter is like the three year old at the dinner table when all the adults are talking above the wee one’s head who, in an attempt to gain attention, blurts out ” POOP”. Ignore it and the child eventually shuts up- react and the child will use potty mouth again and again.

    2. 200 people is a security threat? Were they brandishing pitch forks and torches? Call me suspicious and I may be wrong but ” Coulter Shut Down” makes for a far better headline than ” Coulter plays to partially filled room” ( the G & M suggest attendance was low). I’d be interested to hear from police about their security concerns.

    • Nasty Bob says:

      Why am I suspicious- this from MacLeans:

      Levant said there were “2,000 intimidating protesters pressing against police,” but officers confirmed there was closer to 200 demonstrators.

      • Mike says:

        Notice that the Toronto Star was happy to accept Levant’s exagerated number.
        Regardless of how many were there, an institution of “higher learning” is no place for this kind of intolerance.
        Whether there were 200 or 2000, they’ve succeeded in cheapening the degrees of all who attend U of Zero.

  9. Bruce Marcille says:

    I was here. The protestors chanted and yelled and that was the heightof their debating skills. I had visions of them cowering in fear that Ms Coulter might unleash that most feared weapon…. an IDEA, for which they had no defense. My alma mater is now, officially, home to small-minded, self-righteous twits who believe sanctioned thought is good thought. Do I wish Ann Coulter would see the light and become a reincarnated William F. Buckley, instead? Yes. But until then, its uOttawa’s small-mindedness that is the story.

    Oh, where were they when the officially sanctioned Israel hate-fest was going on for TWO WEEKS?

  10. Derek Lipman says:

    @Mclea:

    -Yeah, the gall of those university “idiots” who fool themselves into thinking they can have substantive opinions on global issues. I guess its better to patronize those young people- our future doctors, engineers, lawyers, political scientists, etc who think they can make the world a better place. We should really be listening to people like you, whose Jack Handy thoughts will give us the “common sense” we are missing.

  11. Brian says:

    Aside from agreeing at the “dumb” part, I just want to add the important comment that:

    1. This event got Ezra the art and the ink he so desperately craves; and

    2. As a result, thanks to the Globe’s photogs, we can now confirm that Levant has gotten really fat, really quickly.

    Normally I’d be above such petty observations, but I’d rather see Levant be a living martyr for Weight Watchers than for this debacle.

  12. Walkswithcoffee says:

    A shoutdown: A bully pullpit shoutdown versus a crowd shouting down a speaker.

    Is that what we have here? Seriously, was that it?

    Was there any evidence of violence or threats?

  13. Joel Coates says:

    Great, just great. Now Canada looks even more like a pack of thin-skinned, politically correct girlie-men. (With apologies to Gov. Terminator.)

    I hope the desk jockeys at the U. of Calgary show more guts than the U. of O.

  14. Ferdie Dens says:

    Young people at university are an idealistic bunch with no life experience to understand the intricacies of free debate and an exchange of ideas. They protest with no suitable understanding of why it was so very important for Coulter to speak. Yes, I get that her handlers canceled her speech due to security concerns but really, could anyone guarantee she wouldn’t get a pie in the face as is consistent with how Canadians apparently protest in the 21st Century?

    I liked Chretien a great deal – he would have gone to make a speech despite the protesters and he would have personally @#$% throttled the first person that got in his face. As for how this is playing out, how sad for Canada that Anne Coulter, a known @#$ disturber dominates the headlines when there’s Afghan detainee scandals playing out and votes on women’s maternal health.

    What a #$% country, eh?

  15. Elizabeth says:

    I don’t have a problem with her speaking. The audience is bound to be full of Republicans who make it look as if we have a country full of them – but whatever, let her talk. She is NOT going to influence anyone in Canada to be suddenly racist and anti-Muslim. She’ll just be preaching to the choir, that’s all. She’s entertainment – not good entertainment, but weird, strained entertainment. Canadians do not know how to handle Coulter; Americans do. Bring an American like Bill Maher up at the same time to debate with her in front of a U audience.

    This was probably anticipated and engineered by Ezra Levant – he may have given the order to shut it down.

    Remember when George Galloway was refused admission into Canada? He didn’t even get to cross the border.
    She’s coming to Calgary on Thursday. Protests are planned, will be interesting, but probably much more muted. I wonder if Ezra attends her on all stops?

  16. Elizabeth says:

    The police apparently shut it down because they thought it was getting too dangerous.

  17. Derek Lipman says:

    Coulter is not a Canadian, and her nutcase ideas have come into disrepute down South. It seems the people were the ones who spoke at this event. She was not wanted on campus, and people were spared of her noxious fumes. So what’s the problem?

    It must be difficult for Canadian right wingers (some of whom seem to be sniffing around this thread) to confront the fact that their “base” will never constitute a majority in Canada, and that people espousing Reform Party ideals are really on the fringe when we break the numbers down. The facts speak for themselves: Reform-Conservatives cannot win a majority government, their people cannot sustain a a national newspaper or even a William F. Buckley-style magazine, and they are forced to part with their ideological baggage when they try to govern.

    Even more disturbing is the Tory-provoked anti-intellectual tone of this thread. Some of the Conservative posters seem to feel that a young person in university is incapable of articulating developed thoughts, or lack the maturity to express themselves. To the right, they just don’t have the “life experience” to sit at the table. Rubbish. The courageous young people who wouldn’t stand for Coulter undermining the credibility of the institutions at which they study should be applauded.

    • Ferdie Dens says:

      Young people have all the passion but lack the critical thinking skills. I wouldn’t trust a university student to vacuum my rug – everything with the young is black or white, yes or no. They follow blindly and this is an established fact. University students are just that – students. With age comes wisdom and insight.

      I am not a conservative poster either. Perhaps you missed my comment about the last awesome Liberal leader in Canada, Mr. Chretien – who would NOT have canceled the event and would have kicked the crap out of anyone who got in his face.

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