I know, I’ll make a YouTube video! Kidding.
Never did I think that those words would come out of my mouth, but there’s one of life’s surprises for ya. For the record, I can’t stand Ann Coulter, she’s too easy to make fun of on every level – from the superficial to the intellectual, except for there’s nothing intellectual about her, so never mind that. But really, she makes it too easy. And she’s already hated in the blogosphere with the hatred reserved for child molesters, so I won’t be joining their clamor.
But she’s recently been on a tour of Canada, starting in Ontario where she had to cancel an appearance due to ‘security concerns’, and now she’s enroute to my cold fair town of Calgary to give a speech tonight. If there was anyplace in Canada where she would not be tarred and feathered it would be in this bastion of conservatism, and even here she’s polarizing enough to prompt some pretty unflattering comparisons, an outcry on social media sites and a Facebook group dedicated to forming a human wall to prevent her from speaking. TO PREVENT HER FROM SPEAKING! People, this is ludicrous and contrary to the notion of free speech AND common sense.
A part of what constitutes adulthood is the ability to develop discernment and judgment and freedom to make one’s own decisions. To that end we are free to choose what concerts we attend, where we dine and who’s speeches we listen to. If someone wanted to ban a rock concert from coming to town because THEY didn’t agree with the lyrics, we’d be pretty pissed off and say stay home, right? Why would we not extend that courtesy to the people who want to listen to her speech tonight, whether out of curiosity or whatever. (And believe me, the irony of Ann Coulter speaking about free speech should make you laugh, not bother you. ) All I’m saying is that she’s entitled to her opinion, and we are entitled to either listen to it or not, agree with her or not. Nowhere does that include saying ‘you can’t come here and talk’.
All I’m saying is if you don’t want to see her speech – stay home. It’s hard to preach anything to an audience of one, and I’m sure most of her audience will be there either out of morbid curiosity with which we observe train wrecks, or to try and argue with her in person. But to deny her the right to speak – well people need to get over themselves. Until she takes her hate speech to the level of calling for direct action of causing someone harm, she’s entitled to her opinions, no matter how misguided or offensive. So all ya ‘protesters’ need to get over yourselves and your belief that your opinion overrides hers. Stay home. Don’t listen. And if you want something to really get worked up about, sit there and ponder why the government thinks it’s a better steward of your money than you are.
PS – Stay home – is not a ‘tactic’ that you need to exercise to make her go away. It is YOU exercising YOUR rights, without infringing on the rights and freedoms of others.