Anne Coulter in Canada

On Monday, Ann Coulter spoke at Western Ontario University. During the Q&A, a 17-year-old female Muslim student asked her to explain comments Counter had made after 9-11 which included references to banning Muslims from airline travel and converting them to Christianity. The girl rhetorically asked if she should convert to Christianity and ride a flying carpet? In her response, Coulter made a derogatory remark about public schools in Canada producing just as ignorant students as those in the US, then suggested the girl "ride a camel".

I happen to like Ann Coulter and heard her speak at UC-Irvine a year or so back. Coulter is a satirist and combines sharp sarcasm with humor. In her speeches and books, she takes no prisoners when it comes to the left. She enjoys pushing their buttons and is not afraid to come into a hostile venue and do just that. It drives liberals crazy and makes her a lot of money.

Having said that, I think Coulter should have treated the young lady differently. From her (the student's) point of view, it was a question that made sense. Had I been in Coulter's shoes, I would have given a different answer and showed more respect.

What I would have told the young lady is that Islamic terrorists have cast a cloud of suspicion over all Muslims. Therefore, innocent Muslims suffer too. How many of us have publicly stated that we don't want to lump all Muslims into one batch, but that we want peaceful Muslims to stand up and lead the charge against the bad guys. For the most part that has not occurred. Instead we get PR from groups like CAIR that is just that-PR. Instead we get constant complaints of discrimination from groups like CAIR-some of which turn out to be hoaxes. Meanwhile, the handful of Muslims (or ex-Muslims) who stand up and speak the truth have to live under constant guard wherever they go.

I could go into much more detail about hateful speech and actions directed toward non-Muslims and those of us in the West plus calls for shariah law in the West, honor-killings, death for apostates and gays and all that, but I have already written those things.

Though I didn't like Coulter's response, that was no excuse for what happened the next night at Ottawa University. With her audience and Coulter already in the hall, campus officials cancelled the event at the last minute due to the presence of several hundred protesters determined to shut her down.

They succeeded. The school was afraid that things were about to get violent, so they cancelled the event. Meanwhile, all the usual suspects outside celebrated with cries of, "Whose campus?-Our campus!"

Indeed, it was.

Now I understand that free speech laws are a little bit different in Canada than in the US, but last I checked, the idea of free speech still meant something up north. I've been following the university scene in Canada as well as the US-especially York University, which has experienced several embarrassing incidents.

Actually, what I would have said were I in Coulter's shoes was that "Canadian universities are just as dumb as American universities", but not in conjunction with that particilar question.