The Molehill V: It Never Ends

From Ezra Levant (who couldn't be more awesome if he wore a Viking helmet and a cape):

The University of Ottawa disgraced itself on Tuesday night with its treatment of Ann Coulter, the U.S. conservative pundit. In a spectacle that earned international attention, hundreds of shouting protesters stopped Coulter's speech from proceeding through pure physical intimidation.

The protesters had bigger plans than mere heckling. Just look at their venomous Facebook page dedicated to disrupting the event: Vanessa Alexandra Peterson wrote "I wonder what the security would be like. I want to throw rotten veggies and eggs at her evil Barbie mask." Saif Latif wrote "somebody needs to throw a pie at her during her speech like they did at the University of Arizona," to which Guillaume Pelegrin replied "I hope someone will get arrested." More than 500 people on that group whipped each other up into a hateful frenzy, publicly spelling out their fantasies.

In case we forgot how "reasonable" "progressives" are.

Further:

This is the sham of political correctness. It's not about civility. It's not about protecting groups from hate, or even violence. It's about politics and power.

Houle essentially accused Coulter of planning to commit illegal acts. But when actual illegal plans were hatched -- in public for the world to see -- and then carried out, Houle was silent. So much for his "restraint, respect and consideration."

What Mr. Houle cannot do with a milquetoast warning, he uses a mob to do.

I would like to know why people like Mr. Houle think the public at large are children in need of protection. It is clear from his letter and his up-to-now lack of action it was his exercise in power to see that Miss Coulter didn't speak. He is now left to explain (for he should explain) why a taxpayer-funded post-secondary academic institution was the scene of ugliness not unlike the Cultural Revolution (and yes, I use that term deliberately and without hyperbole). It doesn't even matter at this point what Ann Coulter might or might not have said. She wasn't speaking to children but people who paid to hear her, to people who presumed theirs was a country where people will not be persecuted for what leaves their mouths.

And the arrogance to even think one speaks for all Canadians is insufferable.

Perhaps one must speak on Mr. Houle's level. When these students leave university, does Mr. Houle trust them not to smash his windows or set fire to his car when (not if) they throw a tantrum? I wonder what the Canadian Criminal Code says about that?

After all, blind rage is a virtue and- in the case of the University of Ottawa- a course requirement.