Shamefully, because of this controversy, we Canadians have been made to look more like the "country bumkins" that Americans call us behind our backs. Thank you nutty professor Houle of U of O. Nice job, keep it up. And, as for that Seamus character, I cannot believe someone who thinks like this nut can be the Prez of the Student Fed. of the U of O, but then I believe many of our universities in Ontario are churning out socialists quicker than you can say "Jihadis" (that's my take on the old phrase). Coulter should send him a Thank You card, because he did a better job of publicizing the event than Ezra Levant could ever have done. The actions of the Left invariably have opposite results of what they desired. Poor dears, they will never ever learn.
Ed Morgan of the NP has nailed it when he says:
.......Our universities encourage diversity in their student and faculty bodies, but as the Coulter case demonstrates, they often bridle at too much diversity of opinion.
Hate speech prosecutions, on the other hand, are with good reason difficult for the Crown to mount. They have also been remarkably ineffective in their results. Indeed, high profile acquittals such as the recent exoneration of the late David Ahenekew by the Saskatchewan courts have done more to bring vile speech into mainstream discourse than anything the speakers themselves could have managed.
Update: Michael Coren blogs:
World-renowned journalist Ann Coulter is coming to speak in Canada on Monday and is giving me an exclusive one-hour interview on The Michael Coren Show. In this country our publicly funded universities regularly host speakers who accuse Catholics of being murderers and child-rapists, evangelicals of being bigots and Gay-bashers, Zionists of being genocidal madmen and conservatives of being mentally ill and sadistic. There have been calls for Christians to be killed, pro-lifers have been threatened and silenced, scientists who question global warming have been banned and Jewish students report being frightened of being publicly identified. In this context I bring you a letter written by the Vice-President of the University of Ottawa to the award-winning and best-selling author Ms Coulter. As she herself said today, “The provost of u of ottawa is threatening to criminally prosecute me for my speech there on monday before I’ve even set foot in canada!”
Well, I'm not certain that an event that is free to all students - whether they attend the hosting institution or not - can be considered a sold-out.
ReplyDelete(And here I assume you don't really mean "sell-out".)
That said, were it not such a bother, I'd attend, though I'm no fan of Ms. Coulter... I'm no longer a student, but it would cost less than a ticket to see Avatar.
I know I'm not alone amongst those what you term "the Left" to object to the stances taken by François Houle and Seamus Wolfe, just as I'm certain that you object to Ms. Coulter's insistence that the Jews "be perfected", or her finger-wagging that Canada must be polite because her country "allows" it to exist.
Hmmm - Brian... I didn't know it was a free event.
ReplyDeleteWhenever Coulter's name is mentioned there has to be someone who will point out that she said something against Jews or against Canada or aganst something or the other.
We are not living in Utopia... so saying something against someone, somebody or something is all OK in my books.... just as long as I can do the same.
What say you?
We allow Michael Moore to sing his Marxist melody on Canadian soil. I don't see how Ann Coulter can be farther on the right than Mikey is on the left.
ReplyDeleteFreedom of speech ain't what it used to be.
Maria, I think it clear that I don't agree with any attempt to muzzle Ms. Coulter, as was, say, done to George Galloway. This is not to say that I'm necessarily "OK" with anyone "saying something against someone, somebody or something".
ReplyDeleteIn short, I disapprove of much of what Ms. Coulter says, but I defend her right to say it.
Frankly, given your past writings about this country and that you "hate anti-semites [sic]", I doubt very much that you are "OK" with much of what Ms. Coulter says either.
I think it clear that I don't agree with any attempt to muzzle Ms. Coulter, as was, say, done to George Galloway.
ReplyDeleteThe difference being that Anne Coulter didn't come here bragging about how much money and material she has given to banned terrorist organizations, and open admitting that she was going to continue to illegally raise more funds here in Canada.
Brian... people tend to take things out of context for ulterior motives that makes sense only to their perverted minds. Is Coulter really an anti-semite? NO. I am willing to bet (and here let me warn you, I am an accomplished gambler, winning my bets 99.9% of the time ) that she is NOT. And neither does she hate Canada.
ReplyDeleteMany people say things for shock value too and I can see debaters like Coulter doing so from both sides of the coin. I read somewhere yesterday that just to prove a point she debated on both Pro-Choice and Anti-Abortion issues at different times and won both debates.
As for Galloway, he is a supporter of a terrorist org and the Canadian and true Canadians do not welcome such visitors and for that matter even residents.
Maria, I can't see that Ms. Coulter's comments about Jews have been taken out of context. Even when offered a chance to clarify her belief that Judaism should be thrown away and that Jews need to be perfected (as, she claims, Christians are), she maintained her stance. Interviewer Donny Deutsch considered this hateful and anti-Semitic and told her as much. Do I agree? Yes, I do. I appreciate and recognize that we have differing opinions on the matter.
ReplyDeleteBefore I leave this alone, let me add that I recognize Ms. Coulter is more an entertainer than a pundit... just as I recognize that much of what she says is for shock value. She likes to take jabs at anyone to her left... it irritates and provides a good deal of amusement. However, I don't see that she was doing so here. I cannot dismiss her statements about Jews and Judaism as just little things being said to shock.
Brian - my last take on this.
ReplyDeleteI just watched Coulter on Michael Coren and she was very clear about what she meant re. your above claim and that many rabbis defended her stand. The one hour show will be repeated again and you can watch for yourself and stop thinking once and for all that she is an anti-semite.
Perhaps not an anti-semite, but an anti-Semite?
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, that last comment was a touch flippant. I'm not certain that I can get Michael Coren's show, but will try my upmost to hear what Ms. Coulter has to say on the subject.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Ms. Coulter's claims about the support of rabbis in the past. In fact, just days after her comments on The Big Idea, she claimed the support of "a thousand Orthodox rabbis" (Hannity & Colmes, 30 Oct 2007); though I've yet to hear one speak out in her defence. I do know that the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League have condemned her comments.
I hope that Ms. Coulter doesn't really believe that Judaism should be thrown away. Truly, I do.
Brian - I don't know if I have given the impression that I am a fan of Coulter's, I am NOT. She is more into making money and full of her own wit and blondness than working for the conservative cause, IMO.... but I defend her right to speak her mind. If we could let raging lunatics in the streets of Toronto shout out "death to Jews" or similar, and carry placards of the worth sort, then it is all OKAY in my books to let an A1 debater like Coulter to do her thing anywhere in Canada. She is not a supporter of terrrorists and that gives her plus points, according to moi.
ReplyDeleteHere's where you can watch the show. It is a full 60 minutes minus the ads.
http://www.ctstv.com/ontario/player.php?ctsvidID=17499&show=Michael%20Coren%20Show