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Posted by
Christopher Spicer
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I think it is extremely unfortunate that Ann Coulter was not able to speak at her scheduled event at the University of Ottawa. I am ashamed of the protesters that caused the event to be canceled, and I feel the entire unfolding of events was a travesty. Now, anyone who knows me well, may be utterly shocked to read that I am in the defense of a radical, right winger, and that I am actually writing against the group that are opposing her. Am I trading in my 'liberal badge' (lower case liberal since I am pretty sure I've never actually voted for the Canadian Liberal party)? Have I taken the giant leap over to the far right? Am I ready to have a beer with Rush Limbaugh and start chumming around with Glenn Beck? Have I seen the errors of my past ways?
Nah. . . . Summit is more likely to discover the cure to cancer and Crosby has a better chance of actually not being hungry than I ever do of promoting and supporting the belief of the far conservative right. As for Ann Coulter, whenever I read her words or hear her on television, I am still driven to the unyielding desire to gnaw off my entire left hand in a desperate hope that the agonizing pain will entirely block out the verbal vomit that spews from her mouth. No, I don't support her outright bigotry or narrowmindness in any form. I completely agree when Conservatist strategist Tim Power described her as a performing clown. She is a pure performer and not one whose opinions should often be taken seriously. The unfortunate thing is most of her words are so full of hatred and venom that they almost always get a response and thus, she always has a crowd, which means she is unlikely to ever go away.
It appears there were many in Ottawa that had hoped she would go away because about 2,000 protesters descended upon the University of Ottawa, which forced the cancellation of the speaking engagement due to creating an unsafe environment. I can understand the rage that many may have for Coulter. I can also understand the desire to passionately voice one's opinion. I also understand that Coulter caused even more controversy than usual when after she was warned that hate speech is illegal (with the allusion being that Coulter's opinions and speeches often sift in that type of direction), she responded in derogatory fashion towards Canadians. After all, it's not like she viciously insults Muslims, Arabs, socialists and homosexuals at every opportunity -- oh wait, I am being sarcastic. In her previous engagement at Western University (in London, Ontario), she had told a Muslim women to 'take a camel', what possibly could be offensive with that statement, right (psst, I am being sarcastic again)?
Needless to say, I can understand the desire to protest. I can understand why so many are opposed to Coulter. The problem is, the 'dangerous' protest that caused the cancellation only resulted in Coulter looking like a victim, and thus giving her even more strength. This is quite obvious, after the cancellation, when she started calling University of Ottawa 'bush league', and began heaping numerous insults towards the University and its students. She added more fuel to the conversative far right fire and gave far righters more material to bash the more liberal minded thinkers. The protest only made the protesters look like simple minded savages, who were unfairly persecuting Ann Coulter. Coulter took advantage of this by even claiming she was a part of a 'hate crime', which sort of shows she doesn't understand the term but still, a strong example of how she was able to turn herself into a victim.
The fact is, the protesters should have allowed the speech to happen without incident. Their goal instead should have been to buy a ticket and be a part of the event. When it was time for the question and answer, this would have been their chance to level a more effective attack. Because the reality is, Ann Coulter's views and opinion are very narrowminded and laced with hate. Any person who was intellectual, logical and open minded should have been able to make her look like a fool. This was an opportunity to expose her weaknesses and allow others to see how misguided her agenda is. It all could have been done in a civil and behaved manner. It would be simple questions that would challenge Coulter and force her to actually use her brain. Instead, there was a humongous wasted opportunity that actually made her a sympathetic figure.
This time I do agree with the far right and Ann Coulter, the protests should not have happened and the cancellations were an utter shame. Though that is about the only thing we will probably ever agree on.
Nah. . . . Summit is more likely to discover the cure to cancer and Crosby has a better chance of actually not being hungry than I ever do of promoting and supporting the belief of the far conservative right. As for Ann Coulter, whenever I read her words or hear her on television, I am still driven to the unyielding desire to gnaw off my entire left hand in a desperate hope that the agonizing pain will entirely block out the verbal vomit that spews from her mouth. No, I don't support her outright bigotry or narrowmindness in any form. I completely agree when Conservatist strategist Tim Power described her as a performing clown. She is a pure performer and not one whose opinions should often be taken seriously. The unfortunate thing is most of her words are so full of hatred and venom that they almost always get a response and thus, she always has a crowd, which means she is unlikely to ever go away.
It appears there were many in Ottawa that had hoped she would go away because about 2,000 protesters descended upon the University of Ottawa, which forced the cancellation of the speaking engagement due to creating an unsafe environment. I can understand the rage that many may have for Coulter. I can also understand the desire to passionately voice one's opinion. I also understand that Coulter caused even more controversy than usual when after she was warned that hate speech is illegal (with the allusion being that Coulter's opinions and speeches often sift in that type of direction), she responded in derogatory fashion towards Canadians. After all, it's not like she viciously insults Muslims, Arabs, socialists and homosexuals at every opportunity -- oh wait, I am being sarcastic. In her previous engagement at Western University (in London, Ontario), she had told a Muslim women to 'take a camel', what possibly could be offensive with that statement, right (psst, I am being sarcastic again)?
Needless to say, I can understand the desire to protest. I can understand why so many are opposed to Coulter. The problem is, the 'dangerous' protest that caused the cancellation only resulted in Coulter looking like a victim, and thus giving her even more strength. This is quite obvious, after the cancellation, when she started calling University of Ottawa 'bush league', and began heaping numerous insults towards the University and its students. She added more fuel to the conversative far right fire and gave far righters more material to bash the more liberal minded thinkers. The protest only made the protesters look like simple minded savages, who were unfairly persecuting Ann Coulter. Coulter took advantage of this by even claiming she was a part of a 'hate crime', which sort of shows she doesn't understand the term but still, a strong example of how she was able to turn herself into a victim.
The fact is, the protesters should have allowed the speech to happen without incident. Their goal instead should have been to buy a ticket and be a part of the event. When it was time for the question and answer, this would have been their chance to level a more effective attack. Because the reality is, Ann Coulter's views and opinion are very narrowminded and laced with hate. Any person who was intellectual, logical and open minded should have been able to make her look like a fool. This was an opportunity to expose her weaknesses and allow others to see how misguided her agenda is. It all could have been done in a civil and behaved manner. It would be simple questions that would challenge Coulter and force her to actually use her brain. Instead, there was a humongous wasted opportunity that actually made her a sympathetic figure.
This time I do agree with the far right and Ann Coulter, the protests should not have happened and the cancellations were an utter shame. Though that is about the only thing we will probably ever agree on.
Comments
I deleted a delightful trolling comment, because really, trolling is far too cool for this blog.
ReplyDeleteScott Martin via Facebook:
ReplyDeleteYes, she is a twit. Saddly she was given more ammunition by the way things turned out. She said she was going to report people at the University of Ottawa because the protest that caused the cancellation was a result of the email she received warning her about hate speech. THis proves she is a twit, because she was the one who released the email to the press. Yes... she is a twit, but a twit who can keep stirring the pot. The best advice I heard a politician give about dealing with her was to ignore her... then you take away all of her power.
In her defense, she gave the e-mail to the American media rather than the Canadian media. We all know that Canadians know nothing about American politics or events. It isn't like we have internet, or American TV channels or access to American news articles up here. I can see how she would have not known that such information would have come to us crazy, liberal Canucks.
ReplyDeleteI agree it is best to ignore her and hopefully, she'll eventually get bored and take up knitting or bridge jumping (into traffic). But at the same time, if she holds a speech which contains a question and answer, then I feel she is inviting an opportunity to challenge her views. I do believe once she is faced with tough questions or a well reasoned argument then her own flimsy views will be exposed to all. Of course, this has to been done in as civil a manner as possible, in order to prevent her from whining about how she is victimized.
Though I find it absolutely hilarious that a person who sprays out such toxic, venom fueled bigotry would ever claim to be a victim of a hate act.