News
Coulter’s campus visit stirs controversy
Bestselling author and conservative pundit Ann Coulter made her first Canadian appearance at Western yesterday, entering to a standing ovation in the packed North Campus Building auditorium.
Over the course of the hour-long speech, Coulter lived up to her reputation as an outspoken writer. Among her controversial statements in recent years, Coulter has claimed Jews “need to be perfected” as Christians and referred to Barack Obama’s autobiography Dreams from My Father as “a dime-store Mein Kampf.” 
When the doors to NCB opened, hundreds were lined up outside. Coulter’s speech focused on what she perceives to be a double standard applied to Republicans regarding political correctness, media bias, and Canadian hate speech law.
After the speech, the floor was opened up for a question and answer period in which Coulter fielded questions from fans and critics.
One attendee, who identified herself as a 17-year-old Muslim, asked Coulter what method of transportation she should use — a reference to a statement Coulter made in 2003 suggesting Muslims should stay off planes and instead use “flying carpets.”
“What mode of transportation?” scoffed Coulter. “Take a camel.”
Coulter didn’t back off comments she made about Canada, including a statement from 2004 when she said Canada “better hope the United States doesn’t roll over one night and crush them” and “they are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent.”
Coulter responded to a question about the statement with a smile.
“I read the transcript again last night. It’s hilarious. I may post the whole thing to my web page.”
Coulter’s visit was not without opposition. There was a last minute frenzy before the event began when a group of protestors tried to misdirect registered guests from NCB. An hour before the doors opened, a phony email circulated claiming the event had been relocated to a venue downtown.
Earlier in the day, protestors set up a blog, “Countering Coulter”, inviting people to express their opinions about Coulter.
“Ann Coulter laughs in the face of democracy, I thank the creators of this blog for trying to restore it,” wrote one anonymous poster, who signed with the name “Voting Woman.”
The controversy extended beyond the Western gates. Coulter promised the audience she would file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission over a letter she received from François Houle, provost and vice-president academic at the University of Ottawa, which advised her to brush up on Canadian hate speech laws before arriving in Canada.
“I think I’m a victim of a hate crime,” Coulter said. “Either what he did to me was a hate crime or that whole commission is complete B.S.”
Coulter’s appearance was organized by the Campus Coalition for Democracy, the International Free Press Society of Canada, and the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute.
According to Andrew Lawton, vice-president external affairs for the Campus Coalition for Democracy, the event was a success.
“Not only did we fill up an auditorium, but the majority of the people there were very favorable to what Ann was saying – they were laughing they were cheering, they gave her a standing ovation – and I thought free speech prevailed last night.”
13 Comments
** And Ottawa U! Two peas in the same C-list pod.
Samantha Jones fails to remember that in our Charter, there IS a limitation on speech when it incites hatred.
I’m absolutely disgusted that Western would allow such a hate-mongerer onto our campus in the first place. Coulter’s views have proved time and time again that she is by no means an educated person just discussing her opinions. Her political, racist and sexist dribble is not “exercising freedom of speech”, it’s hate speech. She incites hatred and violence. That might be cool in the States, but it doesn’t fly here, and never should.
I don’t think the issue is with Coulter’s opinion. if she chooses to express such ideas and Western student want to hear her they should be allowed to do so without repercussion. These types of events only serve to incite discussion among students and ultimately isn’t that what university is supposed to promote in us? Setting up a rational counter argument to Coulter only helps you later recognize flaws and incorrect assumptions you’ll encounter in your later career and even in every day life.
For example, take her constant use of the phrase “Liberal media”. She, like many radical Republicans, present the concept of a biased, liberal media as fact in order to discredit not only concepts such as global warming, but also concrete criticism of conservative politicians such as Sarah Palin as attempts by the ‘liberal’ media to influence the public.
In reality, almost ALL media outlets in the US are controlled by a few major corporations and not the ‘liberal’ government. As mentioned in Mr. Kennedy’s speech tonight, the United States media in the past operated under the Fairness Doctrine, which required media outlets to not only present important issues to the public (hint: not those dealing with Heidi Montag’s latest horror-inducing plastic surgery), but also give balanced coverage of both sides of an issue. Since the FCC repealed this rule under President Reagan, the corporations running the media outlets have been allowed to operate based on achieving profit and not to presenting “fair and balanced news” (I’m looking at you FOX News) to the public. If you don’t believe this, just look into “video news releases” (VNRs), which are advertisements for corporations and even for government policies such as former President Bush’s No Child Left Behind program. These VNRs are made by PR firms but disguised as news in order to sway the public to favour corporations without ever mentioning that these pieces are NOT made by the TV stations themselves:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_news_release
You can read about one of the most ridiculous video news releases outed by PR watchdogs here:
http://www.prwatch.org/fakenews/vnr16.
See? Without Coulter prompting this post I bet some readers wouldn’t have learned that. We shouldn’t stop those like Miss Coulter from speaking at our universities. We should use radical opinions such as hers in order to strengthen our own arguments and create a dialogue about important issues.
Nadine:
Yes, how could we forget the clever little caveat which allows anyone to object to another person’s opinions and have them crucified for expressing them. In Canada, we don’t legislate morality (heavens NO!), but we DO legislate manners. WHAT A JOKE. Without freedom of expression, nothing separates us from a totalitarian regime.
Well done Western for being TOLERANT of ALL points of view and not paying politically correct lip-service to that point.
Proudly wearing my UWO sweats,
SJ.
Tara:
You clearly hate Ann Coulter. Should we ban you from campus for spewing such hate speech too? Get a life, you over sensitive baby. Maybe one day you’ll graduate from a top 10 law school in the US like Ann. Not likely, but maybe.
Umm…yeah. Pretty sure there is a difference between being disgusted by something and hating something. I’m disgusted by cat vomit but I don’t HATE cat vomit. Way to prove your argument there.
And also not helping your argument: calling someone an “over sensitive baby” when you’re the one that results to name-calling individual commentators.
Have them crucified? Why are you exaggerating and sensationalizing so much? You’re being hypocritical, if Ann Coulter has the freedom of speech, why are you condemning me of speaking out on what I believe in? Your opinion is your opinion, Ann’s is Ann’s and mine is mine, just don’t contradict yourself. Also, name-calling takes away any and all credibility you once had. I am done here.
Careful! I may just call the OHRC because my feelings are hurt. That’s how we deal with things in this country: whine to the nanny(state).
Telling a Muslim to “Take a camel” is not an opinion. It is a vile insult aimed at stirring up negative emotions.
I don’t disagree that Miss Coulter be entitled to an opinion and a soapbox to preach from. However, her bigoted speeches and responses to questions are not designed to promote ideas and dialog. They are designed to promote violence and hatred. This is something that Ann knows and it lines her pocketbooks very well.
Ann is clearly not interested in debating and learning. She is out to speak “heresy” and reap the financial rewards.
We “should” be promoting ideas and intelligent dialog at our universities. Not blind bigoted propaganda. Save this kind of trash talk for late night radio and the government.
I enjoyed her talk. I especially liked the evisceration those who believe there is a difference between `free speech` and `hate speech` (hint there isnt, speech is either free or its not) and think that one shouldn`t be allowed received
I’ll begin worrying about people’s free speech when they are my fellow Canadians, not American bigot pundits traveling north of the border on a mission to stir the pot.
I mean if the KKK came to town spewing the same hate-filled provocative rhetoric as Miss Coulter — would we let them speak freely on our campus??? I hope not.
Free speech or not, I am appalled this woman was given the right to speak on my university campus.
I hope the money (I believe close to $10000 but not sure) put forward by the right-wing organizations who funded this rhetoric was worth it for our administration at Western. Having my university’s name all over the national news with Ann Coulter telling a Muslim girl to “take a camel” followed by a mix of wild applause from some of the audience, makes me feel embarrassed — to say the least.
Free speech is a right, but it is also a privilege that has been handed to us by previous generations. People (zealots) like Ann Coulter do not respect that fact — they abuse it to fill they’re pockets selling shock value.
Why don’t you eat some of your own advise and take your broom and fly away you shock-jock.
Well done, Western! The event went off without a hitch, and freedom of expression was allowed (you know, per our Charter!). What a stark contrast with the stupidity at Carelton. What people armed with sticks and stones are doing at an institute for higher learning and exchange of thought is beyond me and speaks to what we already know about Carleton: IT’S A JOKE.