Ann Coulter - Calgary proceeds

After the University of Ottawa address was canceled on Wednesday, Calgary managed to make up for by selling-out with a vastly larger, upgraded venue.  Still, a small group of protesters did do a bit a damage and raised a ruckus (Coulter's excellent retort to the noise they were making a they banged on windows - cracking some safety glass - "Sorry, not everyone who wanted to, could get in".)

Tellingly, one was interviewed and quoted as saying:

"I'm for social justice, and she's just full of moronic talk."

Which is THE problem.  Liberals feel they have a god-given right (no pun intended) to spout off whatever they want, but as soon as a Conservative make a comment THEY find controversial everyone runs away with their hands over their ears wailing about how offended the "feel".

George Jones of the National Post had an excellent comment entitled "Censorship and Satire":

On Tuesday, a howling mob demonstrated Canada’s commitment to restraint and respect by blocking Coulter (and those who came to hear her) from entering a lecture hall on campus.

The only group exhibiting Canadian-style restraint was the police. They cast a calm eye on the pandemonium, took a balanced view and chose no sides between people trying to exercise their rights and bullies trying to prevent them. Resisting any temptation to enforce the law, Ottawa’s finest exemplified Canada’s definition of moral leadership by observing neutrality between lawful and lawless.

I’d say Houle’s risk of being charged with practising law without a licence for giving legal advice to Coulter is higher than Coulter’s risk of being charged with hate speech for anything she’s said. But was the provost’s letter really for Coulter — or was it a green light for the mob?

Mike and Ellen [protesters in crowd] are the idealistic, demonstrating, book-burning, sometimes violent spear-carriers of social trends and ideas that shape all periods, occasionally for the better, usually for the worse. Many are educated beyond their intellectual means; all concern themselves with matters beyond their maturity. They’re the collateral damage of higher education.

Here’s the circular sophistry of two-tiered freedom: Approved speech = free speech; censored speech = hate speech. This is what corrupts minds, and I don’t mean students. I mean professors, provosts and presidents. The operating fallacies come from them. Mike and Ellen provide only the noise, the echo and the muscle.

Some say Coulter is an attention-seeking ninny. Assume it’s true. So? Offered as an excuse for a university preaching respect and civility while practicing suppression and intimidation, it’s worse than immaterial. It’s demeaning. Hypocritical. Ludicrous. I regret to say, it’s so Canadian.

Here is debate on Joy Behar - useful I think as she was a comedian so the free speech line is dear to her - plus they cover Sarah Palin's "Don't retreat, RELOAD" comment.