Posted on 04/13/2005 9:18:54 AM PDT by hinterlander
"…though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view."
--William F. Buckley, National Review, Jan 11, 1956.
On March 31, 900 students, faculty and community members gathered in a Western Michigan University lecture hall to hear Pat Buchanan talk about immigration and the culture war. The conservatives on campus, led by Young America's Foundation (YAF) supporter Matt Hall, had worked tirelessly to bring Buchanan to their campus. They had a track record of hosting and organizing many successful events featuring YAF speakers and convinced the school to provide them with a substantial portion of Buchanan's honorarium. As in most cases though, YAF underwrote a portion of the fee because the school didn't cover his entire honorarium.
As the event approached, many leftists complained of the timing because it was scheduled on a day to "celebrate" Cesar Chavez. A city commissioner, faculty members and others all expressed their outrage that the conservatives would dare schedule a counter program to their events. This is a typical tactic of campus leftists. They always create an excuse in an attempt to cancel an event or silence ideas they dislike. They purport our events' promotional materials to be "offensive" or that the event is held on the wrong date. These complaints only underscore the left's insecurities. On most college campuses, liberal speakers and events dominate campus life and they want to keep their monopoly even if they trample on students' free speech rights.
When conservative speakers and their ideas are rarely heard on college campuses, why would the left claim to be threatened? After all, freedom of speech is supposedly embraced, valued, and taught in the halls of higher education! The left's vitriolic response only indicates they want to indoctrinate, not educate.
Every indication suggests students were eager to hear Buchanan's ideas. Prior to the start of the speech, Hall and the other organizers brought in more chairs to meet the demand. There was an open question-and-answer session, but the left didn't want "questions answered." They want to intimidate and silence speakers. As Buchanan was answering a question describing neo-conservatives, a lone leftist ran up to the front of the hall and as he reached the podium, he doused him with salad dressing (see photos below). This attack caused Mr. Buchanan to cut the event short.
This latest incident is included in a list of attacks on David Horowitz at Butler University, Bill Kristol at Earlham College and Ann Coulter at the University of Arizona. Campus security was present at both YAF lectures by Buchanan and Coulter, but in each case they refused to properly protect our speakers. At the Buchanan lecture at WMU, student organizers approached security asking them to move toward the front of the hall so they would be in a better position to react. Security refused. Following the attack, the conservative students restrained the protestor first, not campus security.
In addition, the response from WMU administrators has been lackluster at best. Several WMU administrators were at the event, including the vice president of finance, the dean of students and the director of student activities. Not one campus administrator approached Buchanan to ask if he was OK or to apologize for the attack.
The university president has yet to publicly apologize to Buchanan, although I am told a letter will be sent to his home. They have not made any calls for leftist professors and students to take free speech "sensitivity" training as they would if the same incident happened to a liberal speaker. They have helped create a climate of hostility to conservatives, and they refuse to take adequate steps to ensure this will not happen again.
This weak response from the school only emboldens other intolerant leftists when they realize there will be no strong repercussions from their actions. After all, the two who attacked Coulter at the University of Arizona had their charges dismissed. Conservative activists must expose the left's dirty tricks and demand leftist agitators receive the same punishments and penalties as any other criminal.
Mr. Coyle is director of campus programs for the Young America’s Foundation.
Why didn't Pat press charges?
"…though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view."
--William F. Buckley, National Review, Jan 11, 1956.
So true.
A single .45 pistol shot to the head would do wonders to discourage leftists from such behavior.
"IT'S NOT FASCISM WHEN WE DO IT!".
The hell of it is that if one of the speakers dared catch the bastard him/herself, they'd be prosecuted.
I'm curious as to why this punk doused Buchanan in salad dressing. Because it's free at the campus cafeteria, because he thought it would stain more than water or soda or some other easy-to-fling liquid, why? It's one of those random details that sometimes stand out.
I met Pat and shook his hands during his run for the presidency in the mid-90s. The man makes a lot of sense, and I was impressed with his perspective. I still think his idea of a fence on the US' southern boundary to halt illegal immigrants is a good idea when he proposed it in the mid-90s and even today.
"Why didn't Pat press charges?"
I believe that the perp got away but I doubt he would have pressed charges anyway. It's the difference between liberal tolerance and conservative tolerance. A liberal only sees damage done and wants revenge. A conservative recognizes that no real damage was done and behaves as the bigger man. In the end the liberal comes out looking like an idiot.
Conservative public speakers need to start employing armed security when speaking at an event for their own protection. If the guy had had a gun or knife, what could Buchanan have done about it? As it was, a body guard could have either intimidated him from attacking in the first place or at least intercepted and neutralized the threat. Being neutralized can be painful.
What's appalling about that is the assailant was right up in his face. What is they'd wanted to kill him? Or throw a dangerous chemical on him?
You can't say "Bless you" without offending someone, but apparently assault is OK as long as it's a lefty perp.
There was a Letter to the Editor in yesterday's Boston Globe saying how intellectuals welcome a diverse opinion -- and how it is a tradition of liberalism. The exact quote was how they "speak respectfully about people who disagree with them." One of the zaniest letters I have ever read and, of course, it hailed from Cambridge. LOL!!!!
No this person needs a strike against them. What next?
Even in the beginning, a skinhead with a red mohawk looks like an idiot. He probably has lots of metal bits sticking out of his face too.
My God, he's being attacked by Foghorn Leghorn!!
The dousing in salad dressing was symbolic. The dressing was Ceasar, symbolizing Cesar Chavez. There is a big to-do on Flynn's blog about some other trouble that occured that day at the college in a confrontation between the event coordinator and an liberal professor.
Bronco buck!
Yeah. The leniency afforded people who act violently, even though not necessarily injuriously, toward conservatives is only going to cause problems down the road. One day in the not too distant future, Ann Coulter or Pat Buchanan or some other conservative speaker is actually going to be *hurt* by something other than a pie or some salad dressing, and then the fecal matter is going to hit the fan. The liberals who have tolerated these attacks are going to likely do a lot of backpeddling and blame-shifting on their prior tacit approval and encouragement of them, and then there will likely be some kind of *very* public so-called discussion in Congress and state capitols. That means, of course, that there's either going to be nothing done or that there will be a classic American overcorrection. Instead of just putting the target on the perpetrators and their ilk, *everyone* will lose some more of their rights and liberty.
Vandalism and attacks by Democrats and other Leftists against conservatives has been growing over the past several years. I don't believe I need to make any kind of mention of where this *is* heading.
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