From the land of political correctness - Canada. Is the US heading in the same direction?

Ann Coulter, the conservative antagonist of the left, was scheduled to give a speech at the University of Ottawa - until it was shut down for fear of violence.

In an irreverent column, Coulter points out the hypocrisy of the left and it highlights to me where the US is headed if it continues on its current, cultural trajectory.

Speech codes have already been implemented on various US university campuses. While they are often struck down for violating the free speech clause of our Constitution, the liberal drift in our culture and legal community is no doubt moving us in the direction of making "hate speech" unprotected speech. It may not be today or tomorrow but I could certainly see it coming in the future.

Coulter, in her typical sarcastic manner, points out the hypocrisy of the university provost who threatened her with possible criminal charges if she made remarks true to form. His statement was in fact a form of hate speech, leading to the incitement of a riot and threats of violence.

This is the mode of operation of many on the left -- intimidate and harass their opponents into silence. We're seeing this as increasingly the mode operendi of many gay activists in the US. See the response to Prop 8 in California which banned homosexual marriage. Supporters of the referendum, both persons and institutions, were subject to various forms of harassment.

That's not to say harassment of opposing views doesn't occur on the right, but the overwhelming number of incidents come from the left. Why is this? I thinks because their ideas ultimately can't stand up to public scrutiny and debate. To gain power, they attend to cow and intimidate their opponents into silence.

Here's Coulters column in response to the situation. True to form, she filed a hate speech complaint against the Canadian university provost who originally threatened her.

Oh, Canada!

By Ann Coulter

Friday, March 26, 2010

Since arriving in Canada I've been accused of thought crimes, threatened with criminal prosecution for speeches I hadn't yet given and denounced on the floor of the Parliament.

Posters advertising my speech have been officially banned, while posters denouncing me are plastered all over the University of Ottawa campus. Elected officials have been prohibited from attending my speeches.

Welcome to Canada!

The provost of the University of Ottawa wrote to me -- widely disseminating his letter to at least a half-dozen intermediaries before it reached me -- in advance of my visit in order to recommend that I familiarize myself with Canada's criminal laws regarding hate speech.

This marks the first time I've ever gotten hate mail for something I might do in the future.

Apparently Canadian law forbids "promoting hatred against any identifiable group," which the provost, Francois A. Houle, advised me "would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges."

I was given no specific examples of what words and phrases I couldn't use, but I take it I'm not supposed to say, "(Expletive) you, Francois."

Upon reading Francois' letter, I suddenly realized that I had just been the victim of a hate crime! And it was committed by Francois A. Houle (French for "Frank A. Hole").

What other speakers get a warning not to promote hatred? Did Houle send a similarly worded letter to Israel-hater Omar Barghouti before he spoke last year at U of Ottawa? How about Angela Davis, Communist Party member and former Black Panther who spoke at the university just last month?

I'm sure Canada's Human Rights Commission will get to the bottom of Francois' strange warning to me, inasmuch as I will be filing a complaint with that august body, so I expect it will be reviewing every letter the university has sent to other speakers prior to their speeches to see if any of them were threatened with criminal prosecution.

You'd have to be a real A-Houle not to anticipate that accusing a conservative of "promoting hatred" prior to her arrival on a college campus would in actuality incite real-world violence toward the conservative.

The university itself acknowledged that Francois' letter was likely to provoke violence against me by demanding that my sponsors pony up more than $1,200 for extra security.

After Tuesday night, the hatred incited by Francois' letter is no longer theoretical. The police called off my speech when the auditorium was surrounded by thousands of rioting liberals -- screaming, blocking the entrance, throwing tables, demanding that my books be burned, and finally setting off the fire alarm.

I've given more than 100 college speeches, and not once has one of my speeches been shut down.

Only one college speech was ever met with so much mob violence that the police were forced to cancel it -- the one that was preceded by a letter from the university provost accusing me of hate speech.

If a university official's letter accusing a speaker of having a proclivity to commit speech crimes before she's given the speech -- which then leads to Facebook postings demanding that Ann Coulter be hurt, a massive riot and a police-ordered cancellation of the speech -- is not hate speech, then there is no such thing as hate speech.

Either Francois goes to jail or the Human Rights Commission is a hoax and a fraud.