The cancellation of controversial conservative commentator Ann Coulter’s Ottawa talk seemed to Capital Diary to be due less to protesters and more to incompetent organizers. Those in charge of the event kept allowing people into the foyer of the lecture hall until occupants were in danger of being crushed. The two sets of doors that opened into that foyer became difficult to open with all the bodies pushing through, creating a serious safety hazard. (At one point the fire alarm was pulled.) Ottawa police officers, who are certainly used to dealing with large crowds, seasoned protesters and dignitaries (like Barack Obama) rolling through town, were on hand but decided to allow the crowd to grow as more and more people from the long line outside pushed in. Ten minutes before the event was to start, two organizers started to slowly check off names from an email list and let people in. It soon became obvious many of the hundreds of people in line who had been waiting for hours would not get in, yet organizers chose not to inform them, fuelling anger in the crowd. “Will we even get in?” people started shouting. Fifteen to 20 minutes after the first people had been let in, entry to the hall was stopped (even though lots of VIPs continued to get in through side doors). Around 8 p.m., with the hall about half full, the event was cancelled.
Click through the link for a particularly dorky picture of Ezra.
2 comments:
The photo isn't exactly flattering, and the description of what transpired doesn't add too much to what was already known. What I find interesting is to read that McClelland & Stewart publisher Doug Pepper (and former Coulter editor) had planned to attend. This would be the same man who, according to Margaret Wente, leaked François Houle's letter to his brother-in-law at the National Post.
Is it not relevant that Pepper publishes Levant's Shakedown? Is it not relevant that M&S's parent company (in all but name) publishes Ann Coulter? Why no mention of any of this in the media, I wonder?
Imagine how many books Pepper has sold these past two weeks.
Interesting to listen to/read mainstream commentary from the free speech worshippers lamenting the fact that if the Ottawa event hadn't been cancelled, we'd all be talking about what Coulter said during that event. That we'd all be engaged in a healthy, robust public exchange examining and deliberating the worth of her ideas at this point.
Um, no. She gave two presentations (London, Calgary) and no one's bothered doing that. Because her ideas are unpopular/worthless.
The end.
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