Arrests made as hundreds protest Ann Coulter speech at UC Berkeley

[riversedge]

Source: LaTimes


Nov. 20, 2019 11:15 PM

Hundreds of protesters converged on UC Berkeley on Wednesday night as conservative author Ann Coulter delivered a speech on campus.

UC Berkeley police said on Twitter that “multiple masked protesters” were arrested at the event but did not provide details about why they were taken into custody.

Videos and photos show large groups of protesters outside the venue where Coulter was speaking, with some signs calling her a fascist and saying she should go home.

The Berkeley College Republicans invited Coulter for a talk entitled, “Adios, America!” Advertising said the writer would discuss the “current United States immigration system and the dangers of mass immigration.”

But protesters said she had no place at the university.

“The university is rolling [out] the red carpet for these fascist speakers to come and spew their hate,” demonstrator Alex Hernandez told NBC Bay Area............................................

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-20/arrests-made-as-hundreds-protest-against-ann-coulter-at-uc-berkeley

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Link to tweet

?s=20


Demonstrators March To Keep Ann Coulter From Speaking At UC Berkeley https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/4217853-demonstrators-march-to-keep-ann-coulter-from-speaking-at-uc-berkeley/#.XdafKpVtai0.twitter




Protests have begun at UC Berkeley ahead of a scheduled speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. Police barricades were at the ready as groups of anti-fascist protesters vowed to keep Coulter from speaking. Joe Vazquez reports. (11-20-2019) https://cbsloc.al/2OvpIfd

[Archae]

1. Just admit it, Ilsa!

Coulter is a damn Nazi.

[Scarsdale]

2. Somebody needs to tell Coulter

to put her clothes back on and go home. She is like a scarecrow. Loathesome witch.

[Mz Pip]

3. She got the attention she wanted

Berkeley never fails to deliver. Personally, I don’t think she’s worth getting arrested for.

[LakeArenal]

5. I think you are right. If I'm going to protest it should be something worthwhile.

[BannonsLiver]

18. She's not worth leaving the couch for let along getting arrested

[Grins]

4. "Adios, America!"?

Her 'talk' is titled, “Adios, America!” "? Is she leaving? Are we finally to be rid of the visibly-decomposing, Republican slunkmeat?

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. As in "Adios White America!" Why not just say it?

Its so childish the way these anti-immigration nuts act. I'm a white North American. My grandparents immigrated to Canada. They were persecuted in the USSR. I revelled in my cultural upbringing. The TV shows, bands, comedians, movie stars were all for the most part white like me. It was great, at least I thought so at the time, to have all these artists reflect back to me their interpretations of life through the eyes of someone who grew up with much the same white privilege as me. Jokes could be made, music stories could be written, sit-com settings that were most always a relatable white middle class family, and the top stars in Hollywood were most certainly white.

But as an open minded, and a thinking person, regardless of race, I accept and understand that Caucasians will one day not be the majority. They already are the minority in my city. I've moved on from that long ago. I learned to appreciate humour, music, performances from black America, and other minorities over the decades. Also learned to be more understanding and accepting of gay orientation when events happened like Ellen came out of the closet. I had never before even connected being gay and also being a talented funny comedian.

In other words, I've evolved. Its like there is this bastion of white conservative thinkers that are living in a dream world, where if they just try hard enough, they can go back to some idyllic society, in their minds, where every politician is a Ronald Reagan, and every movie star is a John Wayne, every comedian is Dennis Miller(?), every musician is a Kenny Rogers. It ain't gonna happen! Get over it for fucks sake! Grow up. Instead of looking at what you lost in giving up your dominance in culture, look at what you are getting! Such a diverse and talented scope of cultures from other countries, meshing and jamming with established culture to create new art, music and performances! Celebrate the possibilities of a new multicultural society. Stop clinging to something that will never be again, and also was a very limiting and limited view of what kind of richness culturally your society could be

Whenever I see someone like Coulter whining about immigration (of brown people and their culture they bring with them) I just think they look like bawling children stomping their feet over being told they have to eat their vegetables.

[Grins]

6. She does this to get this exact coverage. So she can point her bony fingers...

1.
The pencil-legged harridan does this to get publicity.
2.
She knows there will be protests, there are, and now she can claim the "left" is violent and hates the 1st Amendment. "Look! Proof!"
3.
And the Reich-wing will LOVE it because that narrative fits so comfortably into their savage brains.
4.
Protestors should know this and understand the best protest is - NO ONE SHOWING UP TO HEAR HER!
Leave her with an empty auditorium except for the "College Republicans" that will be there.
5. The University should also realize the twig-shaped dildo has had nothing to offer but invective for years, cannot expand any discourse or learning, so tell the College Republicans - "Nope. Not us. Go get your own space".

[The Mouth]

7. I've said this over and over again-

but if one is going to protest. being disruptive and appearing to try to shut stuff down is counter-productive. A) it plays into their narrative and B) it doesn't do a damned bit of good; a PUBLIC university is REQUIRED to allow everyone to speak.

"Free Speech" doesn't just apply to speech you don't find offensive. It applies in particular to the most vile, disgusting, and horrific ideas, right up to the instant that a genuine incitement to violence occurs.

Personally, I am going to fight anyone, anywhere, who tries to shut down another's speech; the first amendment should apply to every public word that isn't a provable incitement to riot (plus defamation, but that is after the fact and in no way a reason to prohibit speech preemptively).

Ann might actually draw a crowd. In the case of the neo nazis, I really think that almost no one goes to hear them speak, if it was 8 fat incels and crickets, with a really rocking counter protest on the other side of town with killer music and food, it would be more damaging to their cause than having 500 Antifa show up looking to kick ass. Just a dozen or so losers with no audience becomes pathetic and laughable instead of a threat.

If Ann was to speak to 10 or 20 people, no protests, no one PAYING ANY FUCKING ATTENTION it would be a better message.

[LanternWaste]

8. Who is arguing otherwise?

"Free Speech" doesn't just apply to speech you don't find offensive."
Is anyone at all making that argument? Or is is simply an irrelevant point said to look clever?

"being disruptive and appearing to try to shut stuff down is counter-productive"
Too young to remember when the Anti-Apartheid Movement was doing that very thing, eh?

[The Mouth]

13. To your point

wearing a mask and getting arrested, I would say is arguing otherwise. Giving her the attention she craves and furthering the narrative that the left is intolerant,

[lunatica]

25. There is a group of young people who wear masks in 'protests' in the Bay Area.

The police know who they are and they aren’t UC students or students anywhere. They are a masked group of disrupters who go to liberal protests to try to give the liberals a bad name. They are loud and commit vandalism and start fights with the students who are legitimately in opposition.

That's why the police arrest them so quickly. They’re infiltrators, not counter protesters.

[oldsoftie]

9. You're right of course. But lots of folks have no problem shutting down others.

Especially if they're spouting stuff they dont like. Hypocrites, yes, but plentiful. We have plenty here. And a couple who never add anything to any conversation, but like to read their own posts.
How many times have we seen speakers get cancelled because of "protests"? Many! And faculty of course gets their 15 minutes too.
Its like the Klan; if they have a march and no one shows up, what have the accomplished? Little.

[DBoon]

10. Buy up the tickets and don't show

empty seats are a very effective protest

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Good idea

Except she still gets paid.

[The Mouth]

14. Once she has a signed contract, there's probably no way to stop that

I doubt she gets paid by the seat sold.

[LisaM]

15. Yes, they should ignore her and she'll go away.

That said, I'm having a little trouble with the language - witch, harridan, pencil-legged - I'm seeing on this thread, generally insults and body image remarks used against women. I think we can do a little better on that front.

But yes, just don't pay attention. The College Republicans are inviting people they know are objectionable because they all relish in the attention. Speeches to an auditorium with 20 people huddled together towards the front make a larger point, IMO.

[SharonClark]

16. Well said on both points.

[Bengus81]

12. Skeletor still at it.............

[SKKY]

19. So, as Liberals/Progressives, do we agree with free speech as long as it's what we want to hear?

Seems to me, the more we allow them to speak, the more they reveal themselves. If you don't like what she's saying, you don't have to go listen to her. My concern is these protests, and the subsequent press, give her a validity she is not deserving of.


Edit: Removed an extra period.

[jayfish]

20. A Platform For A Speech Is Not Free Speech.

I tend to agree with you on the rest.

[rockfordfile]

21. She's a racist

[zentrum]

22. Can't believe such

....racist words are allowed on a public forum at UCB. Adios America tied to immigrants? Ugly.

IMO it's close to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater.

[Brainfodder]

23. People to ignore for 1000 Alex?

My disgust with her goes way back.

All bark.

[dustyscamp]

24. .

Link to tweet

[muntrv]

26. Playing right into the reich wingers hands.

They should ignore her and let her speak to mostly empty space.

[maxsolomon]

27. It wouldn't be empty.

It would be filled. There are enough Republics to fill a hall, even at Berkeley.

This is a deliberate campaign to provoke the Left into fulfilling the Right's paranoid free speech fantasies.

See: Inauguration Day, 2017, Univ. of Washington campus, Josh Dukes shooting.

[SpankMe]

28. Remember when Berkeley was the center of the free speech movement?

No more, apparently.

[jmowreader]

29. There is a huge typo there

They misspelled “right-wing troll.”