I personally think it’s ridiculous to be supporting and pushing her views on campus, which is part of why I want to protest tonight. I’m just wondering if anyone who’s familiar or ever read any of her columns on her sitehas any commentary they’d like to add that might help inspire me to ask questions that’ll hopefully keep her in check, if only for a moment.
I don’t think Mirrored is trying to censor her—it’s just going to be a peaceful protest, with people carrying signs elaborating on why she is an evil, insane bitch. Nothing wrong with that, that is “free speech!”
Essentially we’re there not to censor her, but to make her think twice before she makes commentary about people she doesn’t seem to know enough about to be commenting on. I thought about printing out a picture of a nice Muslim family and aksing her if she wanted to kill them, but then I thought better of it and realized that’s just not the point of the protest. I personally think I’ll probably make a sign that says something like “that’s really messed up” when she says something ridiculously hateful or “that’s not very Christian of you” for the same occasion. I may just sit there and look horrified at her or ask a couple of poignant questions. It’s frightening that there are enough people on campus interested in hearing what she has to say and defending it that she’s been sponsored by a group to speak.
IMO, her ideology goes along with the thought of someone saying that “she should’ve yelled ‘stop’ louder when the guy was raping her” as if it’d have prevented it or “she was just ‘asking’ to be raped with the way she acted.”
Oh, wait—are you going to be outside the auditorium holding up signs, or are you going to be inside, heckling her during her speech? The latter is very ill-mannered, no matter what she’s saying.
Honestly, I think it’s better to ignore her. She seems to thrive on confrontation, but strikes me as someone who can’t stand to not be paid attention to.
You know Mirrored maybe you should go and listen with an open mind. We always hear libs telling us to have an open mind. Why can’t libs practice what the preach? Some of what you call mean is just her attempt at humor. If you don’t like it fine, but listen to the substance of what she is saying. She makes a very good point. Listen to the message. I wish I could go and hear what she has to say. Oh yeah and she is HOT!.
Unfortunately, Scylla, I posted that thought before I had read the article… Either way, her obsession with pointing out only the bad actions of Muslims and not the fact that there are some people who deserve the term “good” applied to the fact that they are Muslim bothers me.
Eve, we’re not there to heckle. We’re there to show that, even though we don’t agree with her, we’re going to try to make sure we see her side before criticizing her… I think I’m gonna give up on ever posting about my serious attempts at anything. It just gets shot down as soon as I post it, and I honestly don’t feel like getting that reaction anymore.
Whatever…
-indigo-
PS: If you’re gonna tell me to “grow up,” save it for someone who isn’t already in the process of doing it.
Well, will she be taking questions? You might go to the speech and aim a few well-pointed, barbed queries at her. Or, stand outside with a big ol’ sign pointing out her fallacies. But if you think you’ll be unable to control yourself and be polite during her speech, it would be best not to go—you’d only give her the wedge she’s looking for.
I might add that I would be unable to sit through her speech w/o my head exploding and ruining the coats of those sitting near me.
I think she needs to be called to task for her attitudes and writings concerning Muslims.
Sometimes I think she believes that she’s the only thing, the thin blonde line seperating the U.S. from overthrow by radical shiites.
If I was to ask her a question I think it would be:
“While I think you are often a valuable contrary force to some of the worst of the liberal rhetoric that is bandied about, I’ve clearly and often detected what I can only describe as a hatred of Islam and Muslim’s in general in your writing. I find that intolerance to be against many of the principles you supposedly stand for. Could you clarify for us succinctly your stance on practitioners of the Islamic religion?”
(have quotes ready)
If she follows up that she has no quarrel with Islam but it is her contention that it is Islam that is against American society, I would ask her if she would equally condemn Christianity for such terrorist acts as the bombing of planned parenthood clinics.
I think you need to question and be straightforward. I’m not sure a protest though is necessarily appropriate.
Coulter is a controversial figure right now, and I think your school is doing a good thing by giving you the opportunity to see her, and form your opinions firsthand, and an even more valuable opportunity to force her to either disavow her earlier stance, or reveal her ture colors as a hatemonger.
But, to do that she has to be able to speak and answer questions. I read about how she was recently protested off the stage of a college campus before she could say a word. There was no dialog. No understanding. Nobody was the better for it, except Ann who still collected her fee.
You may despise her, and she may deserve some of that, but that should be moort.
After all, I would pay good money to hear Hitler or Stalin speak.
I personally don’t like protesting with signs and such, I don’t think that accomplishes anything, but I get a humor list where one of the entries might make a good sign:
The Lyin’, the Bitch, and the Wardrobe: The Ann Coulter Story
That’s too bad that people decided they needed to do that. I guess we’re saying it’s a “protest” but we’re more out there to ask the questions that need to be asked without being disrespectful. A couple people had ideas to flash reactionary signs silently if she made a comment that was totally inappropriate in their opinion… I dunno if I’m gonna actually do any of that, though. I guess I may just ask a couple of poignant questions and then listen to what she has to say. Thanks for all the help.
[sub]Sorry if I sound like a little kid on a crusade today; extenuating circumstances have made my life a “blue week” right now, so I’ve been touchy when it’s uncalled for. Have a good day everyone.[/sub]
I don’t see why a university needs to invite Ann Coulter in order to give its students the chance to form their opinions firsthand. Her writings are readily available on the Web.
I believe educational institutions should try to bring in speakers with a wide variety of points of view, but only if they bring something new to the debate. There are lots of conservatives that do, even if I believe they’re wrong most of the time. Chuck Colson has some things to say that you’re not likely to hear from anyone else. Robert Bork, when he’s not making a second career out of being a victim, puts things together in ways no one else would.
I’ll be damned if I know what ideas Ann Coulter brings to the table, other than anti-liberal invective in designer clothes. She’s Cal Thomas with looks. Whoopdedoo.
IMHO, the protest ought not to be against her - I agree that the best answer to Ann Coulter is as empty an auditorium as possible - but against the university, for wasting part of their finite speakers’ budget on her.
The trouble with that is that would also disqualify most people whose opinions are well known, such as William F. Buckley, John Ashcroft, John McLaughlin, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Christopher Hitchens, Susan Sontag, Michael Moore, Cornel West…sorry, I was on a roll.
But even more troubling is this question: Who would decide what is “new”?
She might be less “obsessed” if prominent people on the left would condemn some of those “bad actions”, such as blatant anti-Semitism in the Middle East (for example, Egypt’s tv fictional series which treated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as reality), as opposed to saying nothing and even defending Saddam and criticizing the U.S. while speaking in Iraq.
That pesky free speech thingie. Imagine, people actually disagreeing with you.