Ann Coulter Speech in Calgary

by Jamie Phillips

Ann Coulter was received at Calgary’s Red and White Club by a relatively polite group of protesters. They displayed signs like, “Ottawa didn’t want you and neither do we” and, my favorite, “I don’t have a camel or a flying carpet, can you lend me your broom?”. The venue was, however, sold out. Students of the University of Calgary attended for free, non students paid ten dollars. One can guestimate that of the 800 attendees, at least half of them were just there to see what all the fuss was about.

Her earlier publicity stunt worked, of course. She accused the University of Ottawa of a hate crime and threatened to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, because of a warning letter sent by the institution’s provost. Prior to this speaking tour, which only included three universities, Western Ontario, Ottawa and Calgary, the majority of people had never heard of Ann Coulter. Today she was front page news.

Coulter’s Calgary speech went off without a hitch, as expected. Security was doubled, but that proved unnecessary. Her prediction that Calgarians would be “friendlier” appears to have been accurate: there were no frothing protesters brandishing barbed placards, like Ottawa’s uncouth youngsters.

There are a few Calgarians that are appalled that she was allowed to speak at all, citing bigotry and promotion of hatred, racism and homophobia. However, the overwhelming consensus in Calgary seems to be: Let free speech reign. We may not agree with what she says, but like a good democracy, we defend her right to say it. Besides, any discerning person who hears what she says will dismiss it as the nonsense that it is. Perhaps the best thing to do with a person like her, is to ignore her.

Posted by jamiephillips on March 25, 2010. Filed under International News,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.