Ann Freaking Coulter is going to be speaking at my University on May 22nd.
I almost wish I could go but I can’t due to a previous commitment.
A friend of mine and I thought it would be funny to just leave a basket of rotten tomatoes by the door, as though they were there for people to casually pick up on the way in. Probably would get us in some kind of trouble, though… (right?)
I have nothing useful to contribute. It’s just weird, to me, that anyone takes this lady seriously as a political activist. But I get the impression the College Republicans around here just eat her kind of stuff right up.
What pisses me off about her college appearances is that she ain’t doing it out of the goodness of her heart- the byotch is paid tens of thousands of dollars per appearance. At previous university appearances she’s made homophobic (and I don’t use the term lightly) cracks at gay students and profanity, and she can hardly be called educational unless the course is the long-term effects of twin addictions to media and cocaine, and as entertainment she’s only entertaining to a very few students. Therefore, those not studying addiction and those who aren’t Kool-Aid drinkers* to her increasingly insane neo-neo-Nazi performance art are still having to subsidize her $50,000 to $100,000 (however much she negotiated) speaker’s fee and expenses from their student fees. Think of how many scholarships and book stipends you could get out of that (not saying that’s how the money would be used of course, but…)
To show that it’s not just because I detest Ann Coulter, I was equally mortified when I learned that the U. of Alabama paid Alice Walker, a writer I like a lot (though I think her leftist political views [e.g. Fidel Castro is a big ol’ cuddly teddy bear and it’s only coincidence thousands of people flee from Cuba each year instead of to that utopia] are simplistic and loopy) $60,000 when she spoke in 2005. Some was recouped by a $100 per ticket cocktail reception, but we’re talking maybe $10,000 of it; the rest was just borne from the (admittedly multi-million dollar) departmental and student fees, all of which of course came ultimately from student tuition and state coffers.
Walker however is at least, is of undeniable educational merit- her books are not just bestsellers but taught in literature/women’s studies/GLBT/Af.Amer.history/Southern culture/etc. courses across the U.S. and abroad. (Of course when I was in grad school they brought in William Shatner, who I can’t imagine was cheap, but then they do have an American Studies program.) Coulter is just the world’s richest political she-troll (the she added because she earns nowhere near as much as Limbaugh and O’Reilly and a few other he-trolls) who has no insight on the political process that wouldn’t have to be filtered through accuracy and critical thinking sands 17 times before it could be used. Any number of past and present political figures or political reporters, even those who are unapologetically right wing or religious right affiliated, would not only have a lot more educational merit but would be a hell of a lot cheaper.
*To avoid nitpicks, yes, I know that the Jonestown folks drank Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid, but I’m going with the media term.
Not much of a debate here. Heck, given the topic line and OP material, I’m inclined to believe this was a straight out accidental mis-posting to begin with.
I debated GD and MPSIMS, and thought it likely to become a GD thread since I know there are people here who have expressed admiration for Coulter. So I put it here. Maybe it should have gone the other way, though.
I’m pretty sure it’s the Republican organization here on campus that is paying for her appearance. Surely, their money probably comes mostly from the University, but it’s money they have discretion over. I have no objection to the policy of funding student political organizations and allowing them to use the funds however they see fit.
Yeah, but I don’t see what your debate is. It’s not like everything that someone might disagree with belongs in GD. You even SAY that you “have nothing useful to contribute”!
Personally, I think it’s fine in MPSIMS. The BBQ Pit is also prime Coulter territory.
Colter made an appearance at Philander Smith College back in 2005. Since starting a program called “Bless the Mic”, a lecture series, the school has brought in Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Jonathan Kozol and Ward Connerly. How many of those people do you think do it for free out of the goodness of their heart?
In many colleges student organizations have a say in who they choose to bring to campus to speak. Sometimes they may choose to bring in a few decent lecturers who aren’t in high demand and in other cases they’ll blow their wad on one big named guest. So if Coulter is on campus don’t automatically assume it was the Republicans who brought her.
Well the OP didn’t specifically state which University Colter was going to show up to. As I said, she made it to Philander Smith College which I’m not even sure has a Republican student organization but I guess it’s possible.
Don’t you think it’s worth listening to views with which you disagree to test your own views? Don’t you respect freedom of speech? Don’t you think it’s a good thing to be able to say, “Yes, I have met her and …”
Well, I was thinking of it as a kind of protest speech, (and really, more, as just a joke,) and wasn’t expecting that anyone would actually be able to use them.
And I can’t see what’s anti-free-speech about me thinking she’s, in your word, “weird,” or my not understanding how anyone can take her seriously, or my disapproving of a Student Org supporting her views. I can coherently think both the following things: “What she says is idiotic and no one should take her seriously,” and, “She can say whatever she wants and whoever takes her seriously for some reason can invite her to lecture wherever they’d like.”
