When I heard Coulter was coming to Canada I figured attending the event would be worth the entertainment value, if for nothing other than to witness the unhinged reaction that was sure to follow. Ottawa U didn’t disappoint.
When I arrived there was a line of a few hundred, maybe a thousand people outside the Marion building. A few of them were chanting in front of the cameras but the line was otherwise better behaved than for a typical rock concert. The size of the line was no doubt a bit of a problem because the room held no more than 400 (my estimate).
Since I had registered for the event ahead of time I had no trouble elbowing my way to the front, verifying my name was on the list, getting inside and chatting briefly with Ezra Levant.
After a while the fire alarm went off, the obvious false alarm having been dealt with we sat down expecting the event to start.
Instead Ezra announced that police told him it would be “physically unsafe” to bring Ann in due to the “unruly mob” outside. There was certainly no issue, or even noise, inside the auditorium.
Since I was inside at that point I don’t know how unruly they became outside. But this is the national capital, just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, the US Embassy, the Prime Minister’s Residence and countless embassies. The police surely have the capability to respond to anyone threatening a woman with dozens of TV cameras around. Instead, they chose to cancel the event instead.
After leaving the auditorium (from a side entrance, as the police insisted), I walked back out front to see what the commotion was:
A lone policewoman standing on the step asked me to leave after I took her picture. I did leave, after expressing disbelief that they canceled the event over what appeared to be a few dozen pathetic protesters chanting in front of the nearby cameras.
A truly pathetic situation all around.
Ok, so do you believe me now on the power of a strongly worded letter?
GLENN BECK has a video commentary on this here. http://www.glennbeck.com/content/videos/?uri=channels/338017/848727
Does “T” stand fro tit or twat?
Nothing specifically Canadian. Just normal leftist thuggery. Par for the course.
I think “T” stands for Trotsky.
T spewed “At least this stupid, vapid zealot didn’t get to spew her venom, hatred and racist messages in Ottawa.”
T – you just described yourself.
BTW – T stands for Trudeau.
You play great hockey but you suck at defending Human Rights
Mouth:
I’m going to say the same thing to you I said to your pal, T-roll. Name one “racist” statement Coulter made. Post a link. Or STFU. I notice T disappeared after I challenged him. Do us all a favour, and emulate him, won’t you?
Was she carrying peanuts?
Posted by: ∞²
LOL. No all the nuts were outside apparently – jackbooting the good Canadians, but maybe she had a dog that resembles a pitbull and walked it in a public park or on a sidewalk or whatever; the hate packs can snarl up anything they target for their pet media to froth over.
“A large group of people decided that in this perilous time they didn’t need to hear someone…..”
Uhmmm, mouth, when normal people decide that they don’t need to hear someone, they don’t listen to them.
Your charaterisation of what happened here is disingenuous. These paragons of a “just” society decided that they did not want ANYONE to hear what Ms. Coulter had to say.
And to those that are calling this democracy, your lack of understanding is showing.
Here’s a hint so that your next post will sound a bit more intelligent: A-N-A-R-C-H-Y
“A large group of people decided that in this perilous time they didn’t need to hear someone…..”
Uhmmm, mouth, when normal people decide that they don’t need to hear someone, they don’t listen to them.
Your charaterisation of what happened here is disingenuous. These paragons of a “just” society decided that they did not want ANYONE to hear what Ms. Coulter had to say.
And to those that are calling this democracy, your lack of understanding is showing.
Here’s a hint so that your next post will sound a bit more intelligent: A-N-A-R-C-H-Y
The Canucks who died at Dieppe and elsewhere during WWII died for nothing. If speech is not free, there is no freedom. Recall: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
I think the surprise factor here was the complicity of the police, the apparently weak efforts by protestors to disrupt the event could have been anticipated, but the agreement to play along by the first responders as we must now call them, is indicative of the culture of political correctness having made inroads into police forces across the country. I am sure it doesn’t sit equally well with every officer, but we can all see with our own eyes that this country has more or less gone off the deep end on the security issue. We paid something like a billion dollars to keep Osama bin Laden from blowing up a ski hill — apparently though, our luge track designers are equally dangerous, if not perhaps as deliberately cruel.
A billion dollars. Imagine the good that money could have done, and frankly, if they had blown up a couple of snobs from Germany, would anyone have complained? Even in Germany?
(I am trying my best to be Coulter-like here since she’s not allowed to speak).
Anyway, thank goodness no nice multicultural students were offended, because that would be twice in one lifetime, and I can’t imagine what that would be like, having been offended 65,407 times so far, and that’s only by girls.
(Now I am trying to sound like Ezra, another person who isn’t allowed to speak)
Quite the victory for the forces of Canadian enforced niceness, I must say (now I’m dissociating and trying to sound like Ed Grimley or that other character Martin Short had, the weasel lawyer, and not the one you automatically think of when I say that, but the one who says … what, is it me?)
Yes it is you, or somebody just blended all the bad karma into one new kind and called it diversity. I wish I could get a little, but apparently if you’re a hoser, you just get to pay for it.
T,
Notice a couple of things: a) T stands for Troll, as in you made your comment and then fled the scene; b) you spewed hateful venom like a stupid, vapid zealot while you were saying, “At least this stupid, vapid zealot didn’t get to spew her venom, hatred and racist messages in Ottawa.”
Ironic on both points. Thanks for the chuckle.
Hello Kate. Got so upset over Coultergate I sent this letter to Allan Rock:
Dear Sir:
I would have expected one of our(tax payers) institutions of supposedly “higher” learning to treat a visiting speaker from the US (Ann Coulter) with a little more respect. By allowing a few student hooligans to rule the day Ottawa University has become an international joke.
To add insult to injury your Provost, Mr. Francois Houle, made a complete fool of himself by basically accusing Ms. Coulter of breaking our hate speech laws before she even gave her talk. I wonder if he felt the need to warn controversial speakers at your institutions involvement in Israeli Apartheid Week. I expect some hate was fostered at that shameful OU event.
I certainly do not agree with everything the controversial Ms. Coulter has to say but the way that your institution has acted makes me ashamed to admit that I served in the Canadian Military for 28 years to help maintain freedom of speech and education in Canada.
As a former Canadian MP you should be doubly ashamed of your institution’s behaviour and issue an apology to Ms. Coulter, the organizers of the event and all Canadian citizens.
I watched Coulter on Coren last night. Coulter’s got more balls than what’s in the entire city of Ottawa. Certainly, it was clear that in a sh!tfight, you know who’d have your back.
University of Ottawa.
Useful Idiots.
Why do we continue to allow children to control what adults are allowed to do?
Found this quote from Ms. Coulter:
“They’re [Democrats] always accusing us of repressing their speech,” she said. “I say let’s do it. Let’s repress them.”
She later added, “Frankly, I’m not a big fan of the First Amendment.”
http://www.alligator.org/app/pt2/051021coulter.php
What goes around, comes around.
My suspicion is that the ‘protest’ was staged, and by the provost, Francois Houle.
He sent that smug insulting letter to Coulter, suggesting that he knew already her speech was going to be ‘hateful’.
This letter was widely criticized in the press and blogs. Leftists can’t handle opposition and that criticism would enrage an elitist leftist; you don’t question an elitist leftist; you obey them.
The MSM are reporting that 2,000 protesters showed up, saying that this data is from ‘a university official’. Strange. The reality on the ground, that is, the reports by people who were actually there, says that the number was only about 30 people.
I suspect that Houle wanted Coulter’s talk shut down; he wanted to also show that his view of her as ‘unwanted’ was widely supported and that many, many others were just like him and also were against her.
I suspect the whole situation was micromanaged by Houle.
O’bully Imposeur “imposes news blackout(sic)”: Raus/off to the GULAG.
…-
“Israel threatens to block peace talks for year
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Relations between allies drop to new low, as White House imposes news blackout on Netanyahu’s trip to Washington”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/
“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”
Margaret Thatcher
Mouth, democracy did not speak. I was there. Approximately 30 easily-led and unthinking thugs intimidated people and stopped a far larger majority (over 600) from listening to someone who it was their right to listen to. That’s not democracy. That’s fascism.
You need to read more. And soon. You and your kind are scary.
Mouth, democracy did not speak. I was there. Approximately 30 easily-led and unthinking thugs intimidated people and stopped a far larger majority (over 600) from listening to someone who it was their right to listen to. That’s not democracy. That’s fascism.
You need to read more history. And soon. You and your kind are scary.
New Globe and Mail poll running, specifically about cancellation (yesterday’s was about letter):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/globe-online-poll/article1510193/
I went to Coulter non-event last night. The problem is that of Venue; It should have been at a hotel.
I was registered but turned away at the door around 8:30 by a police officer to told me the event was cancelled.
I must have been at another Coulter event to the one the clown posse are talking about because the one I was at had maybe ten kiddies (tops) chanting something incoherently. A line of police cars, two camera trucks and maybe 150 attendees standing around quietly in the drizzle waiting to go in.
Drudge says there were “2,000 protesters with rocks and sticks”; He’s now a member of the Idiot Press(TM)and may be safely ignored.
Every ‘protester’ could have been driven home to their parents in a separate squad car.
Just love Ann saying what most of us think.
Wish I was in Calgary to hear her speak there.
Keep it up Ann.
Most of us in Canada are not like the idiots in Ottawa last night who think they speak for us.
Definitely not.
Peter O’Donnell – my hypothesis is that the University of Ottawa provost, Francois Houle, had the event cancelled.
I suspect that he contacted the police and told them that he was ‘concerned about safety’ and asked them to support his cancellation.
His staff told the news reporters that there were ‘2,000 protesters’ – a complete lie – and I suspect he was behind the leader of the 20-30 odd students who did actually protest.
Houle is in the political studies department; his research focus is on ‘pluralism and multiculturalism’. That tells you that he’s a leftist elitist who rejects interaction and debate.
The multicultural idea of ‘diversity’ is cultural relativism where everyone is theoretically allowed different beliefs and behaviour but these are kept in isolate purity. These different groups never interact except to exchange food at multicultural pavilions. You never debate or discuss issues or beliefs and behaviour.
The ‘glue’ that holds these isolate groups together in a society is the elite government which ensures that you don’t argue or debate with each other, and remain isolate in your domain.
That’s Houle and I suspect that he was behind the false data released to the press, and the request to the police about security, and wanted the event shut down.
You see, in the world of cultural relativism, ruled by the elite left, you must never, ever, confront the elite. Houle’s letter to Coulter was leaked, was roundly criticized, and his reaction was to show that He, not Her, was ‘Top Gun’. He closed down her talk. That shows that He’s The Boss.
I was registered, but ultimately went to see Henry Rollins as I already had a ticket for that. Dammit, why do these things have to happen at the same time? Anyway, it seems it was just as well I went to Rollins given the outcome here, although it seems the Coulter sideshow would have been more entertaining! And it’s not often you get an opportunity to hurl invective at lefty morons in their element.
Those green posters they were handing out? (Notice the colour..hmmm). I offered to take one and tear it up. The look the girl gave me was priceless.
I believe the threat to Ann was serious. There were some scary looking LARGE muslim men there. One tried to storm the door to the auditorium. Head of a Muslim student union. Things that make you go hmmmmm. The chanting protesters were not the problem, IMHO.
‘Course, the police could have handled this but was either asked not to or decided confronting protected groups was going to be too much trouble.
Two giggling moronic schoolboys.
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/clip280093#clip280093
They have the nerve to call themselves journalists and then wonder why local TV is dieing. Since I have a choice between Tom Clark or Glen Beck, Bret Baier or Ken Shaw, goodbye CTV.
If anyone is looking to hire students out of university, save yourself some time and thrown the resumes from those who received their degrees from the University of Ottawa in the shredder.
The difference between Ann Coulter and the demonstrators is the difference between losers and winners. Violence wins, it’s that simple. Until Ann Coulter shows up with her own mob to fight back, she’ll lose and lose and lose. For me, I’m not surprised Canadian Values silenced Ann. It’s their purpose.
The whole shutdown of Coulter was more Canadian than most would care to admit.
I don’t get it. It seems to me that we are mad at the wrong people.
Of course, the lefties are rabid thugs who use violence or the threat of vioelnce to silence their enemies. It’s what they do. They don’t play fair.
Of course, university adminstrators are spineless wonders, at best, and, perhaps more likely, themselves ideological opponents of western liberal values like free speech.
Of course, universities and the academic world have ceased to be (if they ever really were) havens of open and respectful discourse and have become intellectually discredited, profoundly malevolent, closed and dogmatic.
We knew all that stuff already. It’s not surprising.
The people we should really be upset with are the police. It’s their job not to be spineless. It’s their job to maintain order not by acquiescing to threats of violence but by throwing those that threaten violence in jail. That’s why we have police and jails – to contain the violence of the barbarians, not to give in to it, and to preserve a space (what we used to call civilization) where people engaged in legal (and in this case, constitutionally protected) activity can continue in those activities without fear of violence.
The lessons I would suggest are:
a) never have events like this on university campuses – it simply gives one’s opponents on campus and in the university adminsitration too much opportunity for sabotage; and
b) rely on adequate private security, not the police.
Tehag:
“I’m not surprised Canadian Values silenced Ann. It’s their purpose”
You got that right.
Drat! Now I have to change my name so as not to be confused with the idiot who calls himself “T”. Nice rebuttal Kate!
“What we have here is failure to communicate”
ET’ and others are on it, this is Boss Hoggs’ er uh Boss Houles’ county and no interloping foreigner is coming in here and telling him how to live.
The Egyptian Student Jihadi goat coveters are his leg breakers.
The cops were paid to shut it down.
Another elitist Canadian unaccountable mandarin gets’ his wings, another day closer to the shooting war.
We bring fairplay and waiting in line with 10 dollars.
Knife to a gun fight and all that.
“I’m not sure that this could have worked out any better.”
Agreed, from reading the comments, it appears the UofO and the protesters(sic) have been hoodwinked by Anne and Erza.
Thank-you Anne for exposing Canada for what it is on a scale that we here are incapable of achieving.
Blackcat:
“The people we should really be upset with are the police. It’s their job not to be spineless.”
One word:
Caledonia…
Shame on you Ottawa, but at lease she will be welcomed in redneck Calgary.
Anne Coulter CBC Poll Going Horribly Wrong
In order to prevent Muslim’s from blowing up commercial aircraft have you liberal Canadians pass laws that require all Muslim’s get first class seating,free Muslim ethnic food and forbid the searching of Muslim passengers boarding flights,yet?
Maybe we should have stood up for our values long before but most conservatives were TOO BUSY WORKING.
My informal poll last night yielded these majors:
sociology
women’s studies
international relations and human rights
political science
education
health sciences (a quiet polite student)
Note:
I could not find one engineer, pre-med student, computer science, theater or music, or business student. They are too busy GOING TO CLASS.
Though I did think it weird that a PhD graduate in structural engineering from Dubai with a multimillion dollar business (his words) was there. Things that make you go hmmmmmm
Wow, the misquotes, out-of-context quotes and outright lies about Coulter via the pass-it-on route in the land of the fascist element permeating the halls of higher learning is astounding and in our Capital city no less. In fact they’re giving her even more ammunition to take to litigation.
Is this not the worst slander without cause we’ve seen in some time?
black cat at 11:17 am.
You make appropriate prescriptions on the basis of these events, but they are prescriptions of shame for the country. Do not book controversial speakers at those institutions which are supposed to be bastions of free inquiry? Do not rely on the forces of law and order to maintain the peace?
I have a longer term but more painful (for some people) prescription to propose. When I see this type of crap happening at so many universities, I’m inclined to conclude that many, if not all, should be defunded except for the sciences and the professional schools. The arts students, the journos and the lawyers should have to learn decorum and listening and reasoning skills before the government commits to maintaining funding to their faculties.
This is a necessary, but also shameful conclusion, since the liberal arts have been the bedrock of higher education for centuries and have contributed alot to the success of western civilzation and culture. Unfortunately, today, they are contributing to the downfall of western civilization and culture, and possibly doing so deliberately. If these little jerks (and I include much of the professoriat and administration under that rubric) want to continue in this way, it’s time they paid the whole freight themselves.
Thuggery like this will only get worse if it is tolerated. People who value free speech, even speech they disagree with, should aggressively protect it. Seeing that we can’t always depend on law enforcement to do its job, organizers of these events should take steps to deter thuggery.
Let’s think outside the box and get creative. One thought that occurred to me as I read the story would be to anticipate the fascists’ methodology and to counter it. For example, could the fire alarm handles have been “painted” ahead of time with some dye that is invisible, but which would show up under UV light? Is this feasible? Then you could catch the perp “red handed,” so to speak, and press charges under applicable law to the fullest extent. At a minimum, we should follow Instapundit’s advice and have people (amateurs, not paid staff) filming every event for documentary evidence to counter the MSM’s disinformation crusade.
Most fascists are sheep and not really committed to their “cause.” If we can use their fascist behavior to successfully prosecute them or legally cause them some other discomfort, maybe they will limit themselves to lawful behavior in the future. Is it naive of me to think this?
Self-respecting people go to Carleton. The mingey
types prefer Ottawa U.
Was anyone arrested?
From the looks of it there was no mob. Levant manufactured this whole thing.
If there’s one thing conservatives love it is to feel aggrieved and feel that the world is out to get you.
Go on feed your victim complex, it feels good doesn’t it?
I have always liked Coulter. I have always disliked left wingers, ever since I hung around with some of them in university. Now I am afraid of them. I am now too old to fight in the streets or anywhere.
Where are all of you young conservatives and freedom lovers? At home writing blogs to the converted?
What is needed is action, strong action up to the limits of the law, not in-house talk. I do not know of any arganized and commited action groups at all in Canada. We are losing and all you are doing is talking to each other. Act!