By BaxterOn this Canada Day, we cats would like to salute the widely held notion of Canadians as a fundamentally decent, civilized people.
Because what more evidence could you have than the University of Ottawa's barring Ann Coulter from speaking on their campus?
Now, now. If you're tempted to get up in arms about how a free society and, especially, a university should tolerate all opinions and welcome all points of view, hang on a sec. We think that university president Allan Rock pretty much slayed the thought that Coulter could add anything valuable to the public square.
"Ann Coulter is a mean-spirited, small-minded, foul-mouthed poltroon," he wrote in an e-mail to his vice president and provost. "She is an ill-informed and deeply offensive shill for a profoundly shallow and ignorant view of the world. She is a malignancy on the body politic. She is a disgrace to the broadcasting industry and a leading example of the dramatic decline of the quality of public discourse in recent times."
Wow. Rarely have we encountered such an elegantly worded smackdown. Especially one that so neatly embodies Canada's reputation as a nice nation, easily shocked by the crass, the coarse, and the craven. Would that us folks south of the 49th Parallel could adopt some of those fine Canadian qualities.
In short, freedom also means freedom from hate speech. We cats PURR. Happy Canada Day.
1 comment:
I had heard—with great joy—that they cancelled Coulter's appearance, but was not aware of that wonderful quote. I thoroughly dislike Ann Coulter, but will probably still go see her, Palin and Bachman in the GOP's production of Macbeth.
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