TOMAS BORSA
Opinions Writer

Students of the University of Ottawa, I am deeply disappointed in you. Ann Coulter is the victim of a ferocious hate crime. And you are co-conspirators.

On March 23, Coulter was scheduled to speak at your university but after 2,000 rabid miscreants gathered to protest, the event was cancelled over fears for her life. The administration’s decision to cancel Coulter’s speech reflects an inadmissible silencing of her right to diatribe and has tarnished the university’s reputation as a diverse and non-discriminatory campus space.

Apparently, an email from the school had warned her to use “restraint, respect and consideration” during her speech. I find this despicable. Thankfully, she has found the inner strength to persevere despite this wretched bigotry, and will be filing an official human rights complaint.

Coulter is a maverick for minority rights. Her people — rich, white conservatives — have historically experienced tremendous race-based differential treatment and have been shackled by the oppressive voice of reason. I thought our society had finally turned the page. I stand corrected.

Thankfully, the University of Western Ontario exercised better judgment and allowed Coulter to deliver her speech. After an inspiring monologue on the merits of affirmative action and inter-racial marriage, she took questions and comments from the audience, including one query by hijab-clad 17-year-old Fatima Al-Dhaher, who quizzed Coulter about the speaker’s previous remarks that Muslims be banned from airlines.

“They can use flying carpets,” Coulter pleasantly suggested. The girl said that her family could not afford one; a suitable alternative, Coulter proposed, would be to “take a camel.”

No rational person could argue that Coulter’s opinions are inflammatory or in any way degrading. Ever the egalitarian, she has made it her mission to offend no single group more than any other. She has described Islam as a stone-age culture of rag-heads, which, with the obliging assistance of American warheads, could begin its long trek to civilization. Conversely, she has suggested that Jews be “perfected” through conversion to Christianity. Equality in action.

Indeed, she has even extended her bony, philanthropic hand to new immigrants, by suggesting that they be employed to build a protective wall around the United States (“It’s cheap labour,” she explained). And on the domestic front, her urging of Muslims to embrace greener transport alternatives like “magic carpets or camels” represents a visionary balance between egalitarian politics, fiscal responsibility and a progressive approach to environmental concerns.

Like Rosa Parks before her, Ann Coulter has shown courage and fortitude in the face of adversity. Her moral battle against the U of O’s tyrannical muzzle of sensibility is made all the more inspiring by the fact that she has no discernible motive beyond the voicing of her own decayed principles.

Ann, I urge you, do not give up the fight. We, the people, are with you. You shall overcome!

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photo: Flickr