| EnderD_503 |
04-08-2010 11:39 AM |
With all the ranting on American news channels and by Coulter herself about freedom of speech, what they all failed to address was the right to protest. I am a firm believer in the right of the people to voice their discontent, whether it be with the government or with anything that occurs in their own nation, on their national soil, no matter their opinion. I don't actually have any qualms with people like Coulter publicly expressing their opinions (despite the fact that I don't agree with them), but the Canadian people have the right to protest against that opinion. What did she want to happen? The police to go in, in full riot gear, firing rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd of 2,000 students? I'm afraid she's mistaken Canada for a police state. While police are present at protests, they generally don't start taking violent action against protesters unless the protesters do, and while they may have threatened violence, they didn't actually physically harm anyone.
That said, I'm not sure if I agree with what the protesters did or not, since I do believe that everyone should have the right to free speech no matter their opinion. Some liberals and left-wing types really do give themselves a bad name by acting just as fanatical as their right-wing counterparts. But it was good to see people take action in a country that is often apathetic. When I was a teenager (so not even a decade ago...hell barely half a decade lol) there were far more protests here in Canada, and in the last few years it's like people stopped caring unless it was about something that was happening in a foreign country. It's good to see Canadians stand up for something going on on their home turf...now if only we could drive Stephen Harper out of Canada the same way...Not surprising that Coulter was such a big hit in Calgary though. They've always been pretty ultra-conservative over there.
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