By now, most Americans have heard about the controversy surrounding a now-cancelled speech by conservative author Ann Coulter at U.C. Berkeley.
After placing ridiculous demands on Coulter and the conservative groups sponsoring her, the anti-free speech leftists on campus got their way and silenced another conservative, after physically preventing conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos from addressing the students in February.
Officials at U.C. Berkeley claimed they couldn’t ensure Ms. Coulter’s safety, due to the left’s history of violence towards conservatives on campus, and the groups who had invited the conservative author to campus subsequently dropped their lawsuit against the university.
After her speech fell through, Ann Coulter appeared on Fox News’ Hannity to address the controversy, and the video can be seen here:
.@AnnCoulter: All of the people who should have been standing up for the 1st Amendment here all ran away with their tails between their legs pic.twitter.com/6VplYmYiL7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 27, 2017
Few public figures have come forward to defend Ann Coulther’s right to speak without fear of intimidation or violence, but it’s gone so far that even a Hollywood star is coming to her defense, Rob Schneider.
UC Berkeley, after your done eliminating speech you don’t like & words you don’t like what’s next?
Maybe add burning books to the curriculum— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) April 26, 2017
Schneider’s criticism of U.C. Berkeley comes on the heels of comments he made after Howard Dean ridiculously claimed that Ann Coulter promoted “hate speech” that was “not protected by the First Amendment:”
Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment. https://t.co/DOct3xcLoY
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 21, 2017
“ALL speech, no matter how repugnant is protected by the 1st amendment. Howard Dean is a turd.” https://t.co/3eXyJ30wsI
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) April 22, 2017
Schneider is 100% right, U.C. Berkeley’s actions are a dangerous precedent for silencing any and all speech that does not conform to their liberal ideology. School officials allowed liberal students to threaten violence as an excuse to prevent Ann Coulter from speaking on their campus.
Its faculty were likely never interested in allowing Coulter to speak on campus, and used the public safety argument as an excuse to essentially prevent her from ever appearing.
After the speech was cancelled, Coulter took to Twitter to thank some surprising individuals for defending her right to speak:
I am so grateful to people like Bill Maher, Chris Matthews and Margaret Carlson for opposing Berkeley’s censorship.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 26, 2017
As long as colleges like Berkeley prevent conservatives from appearing on campus, they are not preparing their students for the real world. Unfortunately, America’s colleges have become intolerant places where only liberal ideas are allowed.
How should conservatives respond to Coulter’s canceled Berkeley speech? Share your thoughts below!