Ann Coulter cries that Canada is bullying her

[Asher]

well, dont wanna be a drama queen but if I hate Islam and go around explaining why, how would I be exempt from the law? I'm "inciting" hatred of a religion.

What is your major malfunction?

If you are discussing why you hate Islam based on facts of Islam, there's no crime at all.

If you go around saying you hate Islam because "Islam is full of child predators and is the enemy, and we must take action now to protect our children", then yes, you are violating the law. Because you are inciting hatred, rather than expressing your own hatred.

I didn't think this is that complicated a subject, but apparently nuanced laws are too complex for Americans.

[Ben Kenobi]

If people rioted at the prospect of a gay person speaking just because they were gay? Yes, they would be homophobes.

People were rioting not because she's right-wing, but because she spews vile and calls for the murder of other people. She's a vile human being that people didn't want her in their schools.

QTPAL

[Asher]

WHOOSH

[Ben Kenobi]

It's hypocritical. You blame the victim when they are conservative.

[-Jrabbit]

And you only get upset when conservatives are the victim.

[Elok]

Glad to keep him [Phelps] all for yourself?

No, but he's barred somewhere, it's a start. Only a couple hundred more countries to go before he's not allowed anywhere.

FWIW, I'm opposed to Canada's hate-speech laws. Not that they seem especially onerous at present, but I can envision the law getting more flexible in the future and that's reason enough to oppose them now in my book.

[Asher]

It's hypocritical. You blame the victim when they are conservative.

I blame the victim when it's the victim's actions directly responsible for the behaviour.

And aren't you being a little bit dramatic here? Ann Coulter is a "victim" because people exercised their free-speech rights to protest her presence?

God, you are pathetic.

[Asher]

No, but he's barred somewhere, it's a start. Only a couple hundred more countries to go before he's not allowed anywhere.

FWIW, I'm opposed to Canada's hate-speech laws. Not that they seem especially onerous at present, but I can envision the law getting more flexible in the future and that's reason enough to oppose them now in my book.

The only way they've changed in writing is the inclusion of "sexual orientation" in the law in 2004. In practical terms, it's become less rigid because (AFAIK) no one has been convicted under this law in many, many years despite quite a few high-profile cases that probably should've been, under the law.

[Asher]

As for Fred Phelps, he claims to have been arrested for hate speech (along with members of his "congregation") in Canada, which is why we have godhatescanada.com.

I don't think there's any record of this. Regardless, in 2008...:

http://www.365gay.com/news/anti-gay-phelps-group-barred-from-entering-canada/

Anti-gay Phelps group barred from entering Canada

Members of an anti-gay group which describes itself as a church have been barred from entering Canada, according to published reports.

The Canadian Press and the Canwest News Service both report that the group, from Rev. Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, were turned back when they attempted to enter Canada at a border crossing south of Winnipeg on Thursday.
The Canadian government has not commented on the reports, but Pat Martin, a New Democratic Party member of Parliament from Winnipeg, says he asked Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to send an alert to the border patrol to look out “for people with signs and pamphlets that fit the hateful messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country.”

Canadian hate laws give the government the power to deny entry to people likely to violate the law. The so-called church was listed as a hate group under the law following previous protests.

Phelps, who runs the “God Hates Fags” website, had threatened to picket the Winnipeg funeral of a man decapitated on a Greyhound bus. Another passenger is charged with the sensational killing.

Phelps had threatened to protest the funeral of Tim McLean to show Canadians the murder was God’s response to liberal Canadian policies toward homosexuality.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps’ daughter and a frequent spokesperson for the “church” confirmed to both Canwest and CP that a small group of protesters was stopped at the Canada-U. S. border Thursday afternoon.

They won’t let us in, but we have a group that will cross in another spot,” she told the Canwest Winnipeg Free Press. “They’ll have to strip search everyone who crosses that border or they won’t know who we are. They’ll have to see the WBC [Westboro Baptist Church] tattoo on our butts.”

In addition to the threatened protest at the McLean funeral the group had said it would demonstrate in Toronto where a satirical play titled “The Pastor Phelps Project” is being performed. No members of the church showed up for the demonstration, which had been planned for Thursday evening.

Westboro Baptist members frequently demonstrate at funerals for American servicemembers killed in Iraq. The group claims the deaths are God’s punishment on America for being too pro-gay.

Westboro’s members are made up mostly of Phelps’ relatives. Although it professes to be Baptist it is not affiliated with any national Baptist group.

Westboro operates Web sites including GodHatesFags and GodHatesAmerica and has been described as a cult.

Phelps and the church first came to national attention when he organized a protest by his followers outside the 1998 funeral for Matthew Shepherd, the gay college student who was beaten to death in Wyoming. The killing, Phelps’ protest, and the reaction of townsfolk led to the play “The Laramie Project.”

Church members routinely demonstrate at the funerals of people with AIDS and most recently at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.

[MRT144]

This is complete bull****. Whatever happened to free speech in this country.

"Banned in Canada" is about the best thing for your career elsewhere.

Fred Phelps?

[Arrian]

1. Ann Coulter is a vile woman.
2. Canada's "hate speech" laws are too restrictive for my taste, but then I don't live in Canada, so it's not my problem. Though I favor free speech, US-style, Canada does not appear to be a hellhole of oppression.
3. Ann Coulter looks like a horse. Ben, if that's what you think an attractive woman looks like... dude

-Arrian

[Elok]

1. Ann Coulter is a vile woman.
2. Canada's "hate speech" laws are too restrictive for my taste, but then I don't live in Canada, so it's not my problem. Though I favor free speech, US-style, Canada does not appear to be a hellhole of oppression.
3. Ann Coulter looks like a horse. Ben, if that's what you think an attractive woman looks like... dude

-Arrian

QFT. Especially the Coulter bits.

[Ecofarm]

Technically, she was bullied.

Her speaking event was not cancelled because she feared getting in trouble for hate speech.

Her speaking event was cancelled because protesters had created an unsafe environment. The protesters were spewing hate and creating a situation that was unsafe (according to event security and her personal guard) for her to speak.


Isn't there some irony there?

After protesters at the University of Ottawa prevented Ann Coulter from giving a speech Tuesday night, the American conservative writer said it proved the point she came to make -- free speech in Canada leaves much to be desired.

Then she said what she really thought of the student protesters who surrounded Marion Hall, making it too unsafe, in the view of her bodyguard, for the pundit to attempt entry...

no more people would be able to enter and that Coulter had been advised it would not be safe for her to appear. Coulter's bodyguard ultimately made the judgment, after conferring with security staff on site.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/speech+cancelled/2718883/story.html

Which makes this:

She wasn't banned. Her compadres canceled. She was allowed to speak, she chose not to.

Again, it was her people that canceled. Blame her for being a cowardly ***** if you're so upset about it.

BS.

And I'm guessing you called her a b1tch... someone needs gender-sensitivity training.

Imagine if some gay activist (speaking at a religious school) was shouted down, had the fire-alarm pulled, and had threats shouted at him from unruly protestors. His guard (and the site security staff) decide it is unsafe for him to speak and he is forced to leave without speaking. Would you be all "blame him for being a cowardly *** if you're so upset about it"?


Stop demonizing the people you don't like, inventing history and attacking minority genders with hateful slur. I really don't see how you go about that stuff and claim to be different than her.

[Asher]

Technically, she was bullied.

Her speaking event was not cancelled because she feared getting in trouble for hate speech.

Her speaking event was cancelled because protesters had created an unsafe environment. The protesters were spewing hate and creating a situation that was unsafe (according to event security and her personal guard) for her to speak.

She wasn't bullied. People expressed their opinion about her opinions. There was no violence.

Isn't there some irony there?

That she was upset that people were utilizing their free speech? Yes.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/speech+cancelled/2718883/story.html

Which makes this:






BS.

Why do you have problems with reading?

Her security guard cancelled the appearance (or at least is taking the fall for it). It was the Coulter camp that cancelled, she was not banned and her people cancelled. No BS in those statements.

And I'm guessing you called her a b1tch... someone needs gender-sensitivity training.

***** is gender agnostic. I'm in a *****y mood today. Glenn Beck is a *****, too.

Imagine if some gay activist (speaking at a religious school) was shouted down, had the fire-alarm pulled, and had threats shouted at him from unruly protestors. His guard (and the site security staff) decide it is unsafe for him to speak and he is forced to leave without speaking. Would you be all "blame him for being a cowardly *** if you're so upset about it"?

I would blame him for being a coward. I wouldn't call him a *** because I don't use that word. I would call him a cowardly *****, if he was a *****.

I have to admit I'm finding it very amusing that the act of pulling a fire alarm (a disruption) is a threat.

[Ecofarm]

Next I'll have to hear about how "gay" is a gender agnostic pejorative. How Civ Revolutions is gay, and disease is gay and stupid people are gay.


Your true colors are showing.

I have to admit I'm finding it very amusing that the act of pulling a fire alarm (a disruption) is a threat.

Combined with an unruly crowd shouting threats, it constitutes reason to avoid the speech. If the same thing happened to a gay activist at a conservative campus, you would be blaming the school.

Threats + unruly crowd + fire alarm disruption/distraction = unsafe. That's obvious.