A lost battle may help us win the war
Ann Coulter’s second stop on her cross-Canadian tour was canceled in an eleventh-hour decision by local police. After a rousing speech to a cheering crowd of 800 in London yesterday, Ann was expected to address the University of Ottawa tonight, but ended up getting canceled on account of a directive from the Ottawa police, stating that neither Ann nor event attendees would be safe if this event proceeded. Ezra Levant gave a sincere speech to a supportive, but disappointed crowd — the ones who had arrived at the event early enough to be seated.
University Vice-President and Provost Francois Houle set Ann up for failure when he emailed her last week threatening criminal charges unless she “restrains” herself. And, as Ann herself predicted…that act exposed her to more hatred and violence than anything else in Canada.
The whole point of free speech is that those you disagree with have a platform to speak their minds, and you as a citizen have a right to challenge them. That freedom to challenge ends when violence is thrown into the mix. Ironically, these pathetic leftists claim that Ann Coulter should have been denied the right to speak because she promotes violence. However, there were zero injuries at her presentation in London, and the entire reason her Ottawa appearance was cancelled was because of the violence from the left. Hmm, I’m sensing a bit of hypocrisy here. Anyone else?
This is a lost battle for free speech, and a sad day to be a Canadian. However, to anyone who supported the censorship of Ann Coulter: recognize that the world’s eyes are on Canada right now. And they hate you. This small lost battle may help us win the war now that people know how bad it is. This goes beyond a leftist media bias and shows the extreme of political correctness. Unfortunately, the “necessity” of political correctness has indeed gotten extreme itself.
Pray for Canada tonight, we need it.
Tags: Ann Coulter, Censorship, Freedom of Speech, University of Ottawa, University of Western Ontario
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
[...] tips to takebackyourschool@gmail.com UPDATE (11:37 PM) from Strictly Right: The whole point of free speech is that those you disagree with have a platform to speak their [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Congrats on a successful event! Ari, I have some photos of Ann with your family. Contact me if you’d like copies.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:53 pm
I am proud to be a Canadian right now. “…recognize that the world’s eyes are on Canada right now. And they hate you. ” Really? Everyone in the rest of the world hates people who protest hate speech? LMAO.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Actually Heather, the world doesn’t like censors.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Their tactics had the look of Brown Shirts.
While not a Coulter fan myself, these radicals have made her appear the sensible one here, somehow.
Good on you for spearheading this Andrew. Next time, we’ll have to send a letter to uOttawa and provide our own protection.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:01 am
I’d be careful how you generalize “the world.” Clearly there are people who don’t fit into your model of “the world.” Censorship is not what occurred tonight. Other people expressed their rights to freedom of speech.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:19 am
I was disappointed by this. We showed up an hour before the doors opened but we couldn’t get in due to the crowding and then it was cancelled. I don’t agree with her, but I think it’s important to challenge your worldview and I had a few questions I wanted to ask. Maybe next time?
March 24th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Hi Lauran,
I think that’s fantastic of you. So many people who dislike her or have issues with her — the majority in fact — don’t feel that censorship is the answer. It’s unfortunate that the issues she was planning on addressing are the exact issues that kept her from presenting.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:29 am
The problem is, however, while that technique (going there and questioning her ideas) works in theory, it obviously failed with her in reality last night. When a student brought up a question relating to Coulter’s past comments on conversion and “flying carpets’ she was only given a snide answer. I fail to see that response as addressing the student’s issue other than to demonstrate Coulter cannot think on her feet (and those boots did look painful) and can really only rehash past comments. Questioning would have accomplished very little I am afraid and you would also be down $10.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:45 am
It’s too bad that people don’t take the time to really listen to what she has to say instead of jumping on a few sound bites or someone else’s take on what she’s said. Listen to her actual interview with Michael Coren (it’s posted on YouTube) and she sounds pretty rational, reasoned and intelligent in her comments to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_INuAWSn7U
March 24th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by andrewlawton: New Blog Post: A lost battle may help us win the war http://is.gd/aVml4 #StrictlyRight #AnnCoulter…
March 24th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Heather, it appears that you presuppose that the only way to be successful is to shut her down somehow. Obviously asking tough questions won’t get her to recant, but that is not the point. You DO NOT have to listen to her if you don’t like. Also, these protesters, we armed, called in a bomb threat, and pulled the fire alarm. I was wondering if you could explain how that is simply expressing “their rights to freedom of speech” whereas Ann is crossing some line by simply stating her opinions. Also I should remind you, historically, hate speech has only gotten traction in the absence of Free Speech, like in Nazi Germany or the USSR. Heather, if we curtail Free Speech, I believe that we will actually be in more danger of having radical ideas become mainstream.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Luca, would you be able to direct me towards an article from a reliable news source that mentions that bomb threat? So far what I have read about is a large group of loud protesters and a fire alarm being pulled, so I would really appreciate to hear the full story. The problem is, while I would love simply not to listen to her, I take issue with a university allowing a group to profit off of someone who openly promotes homophobia and hatred. People on this website also have the unfortunate habit of comparing pretty much everyone to Nazis. A history class would benefit quite a few of you as you would learn Nazis were people who killed millions, not students staging a protest against a racist and homophobic speaker.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Sorry, that should say “pretty much everyone to Nazis whom you disagree with.”
March 24th, 2010 at 11:19 am
I’m so proud to be a University of Ottawa student right now! This was probably the most peaceful shut down ever.
Oh and for EVERYONE’S information: there was NO violence at all, it was actually pretty quiet outside and inside the building. And people started arguing & debating (duh) only AFTER someone pulled the fire alarm.
She got shut down. She better never come back. We’ll have official signs that say “Hate speech is NOT welcome at the U of O, sorry Coulter.”
And again… WHY does she go crying “boohoo I AM a victim of a hate crime when M. Houle reminds me that such and such action can get such and such consequence” eh? She’s gotten much, much worse in the past I’m sure… What an idiot she is…
March 24th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kshaidle, Jimmie, Andrew Lawton, Andrew Lawton, noelllleon and others. noelllleon said: New Blog Post: A lost battle may help us win the war http://is.gd/aVml4 #StrictlyRight #AnnCoulter /via @AndrewLawton I think she won bg tm [...]
March 24th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
“However, to anyone who supported the censorship of Ann Coulter: recognize that the world’s eyes are on Canada right now. And they hate you.”
Mr. Lawton,
The overwhelming majority of the rational people in the world do not hate Canada for protesting against homophobic, racist hate speech. It’s really quite sad you don’t realize this.
Like people of the past who tried desperately to hang on to the ideas of slavery, antisemitism, and segregation, you are the last few on the sinking ship of homophobia and racism and for some reason you can’t realize the water is up to your eyes and it’s time to abandon ship.
It is truly time to move on.
OttawaU students realized having Coulter at their university would not benefit free speech on their campus. Unfortunately, here at Western, for whatever reason, we did not. She is intentionally inflammatory in order to sell books, gain interviews, and appeal to people like yourself who still cling to these old views and laugh at her great jokes about marginalizing Muslims. There’s a lot of money in doing this (apparently $10,000+ a night) and it is obvious that Ms. Coulter is intelligent enough to realize this economic opportunity.
Let’s stop rationalizing her opinions. Her presence at the North Campus building was an embarrassment to Western and to London. People don’t hate OttawaU students for not allowing Coulter to speak, they hate UWO students for appearing like a bunch of racist, homophobic ,right wing nuts… not intelligent, rational students looking to discuss difficult issues in a mature manner.
March 24th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Thank you Josh. I think you’ve articulated the situation perfectly.
March 24th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
The event was not cancelled by Ottawa police, not even by uOttawa organizers, but by Coulter’s own security team. And contrary to what you might read anywhere on the Internet, there were only a few dozen protesters, not 2000, and no one was violent. Francois Houle never threatened her, he cited the law, saying “promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges [...] I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind”. “Could”, not “will”.
April 3rd, 2010 at 1:34 pm
[...] ~ Strictly Right: A lost battle may help us win the war [...]
April 8th, 2010 at 3:50 am
I’m pretty embarassed that the organizers pulled the plug last minute. You don’t have to agree with her, just let the woman speak. There was a direct quote from the metro newspaper from ottawa by a representative that went along the lines of “…we don’t need your hatred speech on our canadian soil”. I’m absolutely angered by the person who dared to speak on behalf of my country as if I agreed with this action. Also, two other universities in Canada let her speak so to the OttawaU vp, you’ve done nothing but make yourself look like a fool.