Anyone who is surprised by the unpunished intolerance, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism on college campuses and in America’s largest cities that has been on display since the Hamas Sabbath Massacre in Israel hasn’t been paying attention to what’s been happening to conservatives and Trump supporters for the past decade or so.
The first target of these selective cancellations that popped up on our radar screen was the campaign against Ann Coulter, who at one time was a fixture on the college lecture circuit.
Back in 2010 Coulter was slated to speak at the University of Ottawa, but the event was called off because the organizers said Coulter was advised against appearing after about 2,000 "threatening" students crowded the entrance to Marion Hall, posing a security threat.
And it only went downhill from there.
In 2012 Coulter’s appearance at a College Republican event at Fordham was cancelled. After saying the University would not block the College Republicans from hosting Ann Coulter on campus Fordham President Father Joseph McShane had this to say in a campus-wide email:
To say that I am disappointed with the judgment and maturity of the College Republicans, however, would be a tremendous understatement. There are many people who can speak to the conservative point of view with integrity and conviction, but Ms. Coulter is not among them. Her rhetoric is often hateful and needlessly provocative — more heat than light — and her message is aimed squarely at the darker side of our nature.
The College Republicans, no doubt looking to their futures, rescinded Coulter’s invitation and made a groveling apology more befitting a Red Chinese Cultural Revolution “struggle session” than a communication between Americans having a civil disagreement.
Interestingly enough, there was no such admonition to pro-Palestinian students at Fordham chanting “from the river to the sea” calling for the genocide of the Israeli people. Indeed. the official Fordham student newspaper devoted a major article to allowing the student leader of the pro-Palestinian student organization to anonymously make the Palestinian case, presumably to shield him from being held responsible for his despicable statements.
Ann Coulter can, admittedly, be an acquired taste, but the cancellations and riots targeting conservatives didn’t stop with the Dartmouth-educated raconteur.
In 2016 California State University at Los Angeles tried to cancel conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, but relented after he threatened legal action. Mr. Shapiro is especially reviled by the Left for being both Jewish and conservative.
That same year the University of California at Berkeley cancelled a discussion with Nicholas Dirks, the Chanceller of the University, after by students chanted and shouted over him. The protesters stated that he wasn't doing enough to help black students suffering hardships on campus and that his salary was too high (they were half right).
In 2017 a riot that erupted at UC Berkeley ahead of a planned appearance by former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos caused $100,000 worth of damage to the campus and left six people injured.
Two Berkeley College Republicans “were attacked while conducting an interview” on the campus. Black-clad protesters wearing masks threw commercial-grade fireworks and rocks at police. Some even hurled Molotov cocktails that ignited fires. They also smashed windows of the student union center on the Berkeley campus where the Yiannopoulos event was to be held.
Like Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos can be an acquired taste, so of course the campus Left ran the same playbook a month or so later to cancel Ann Coulter’s appearance. The same sources made threats prompting campus police to fear that some of the same extremist forces who caused problems during the Yiannopoulos riot would be out in force when Coulter was on campus.
Looking back at the beginning of the Trump era reminded us that at the University of Chicago, Bassem Eid was shut down by pro-Palestinian students who interrupted and shut down the political analyst and human-rights advocate's speech at the college. Eid, who is himself Palestinian, made comments that were seen as pro-Israel.
“Do not speak on behalf of the Palestinians again!” a student yelled during the event, according to a report in The Chicago Maroon cited by The Business Insider.
Fast forward to today, Jewish students are being assaulted on campuses across the country, in some cases groups of Jews have been treed in locked rooms until an exit secured by police could be arranged.
And off campus it is as bad or worse.
Back in 2016 during the presidential campaign assaults on Trump supporters and conservative event organizers were routine.
In one viral incident reported by NBC News rioters assaulted Trump supporters with eggs, bottles, and punches after a pro-Trump rally. One woman was cornered, spat on, and verbally assaulted while Trump opponents threw eggs, food and water bottles at her.
And now in 2023, it is Jews being assaulted, and in at least one case murdered.
So, why would anyone who has been paying attention be surprised that Jews and pro-Israel students and demonstrators would be targeted to be beaten, killed and have their views violently suppressed? It’s been going on for at least ten years, but no one paid attention when it was “just” conservatives.
First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
Ann Coulter
College Campuses
Fordham University
Muslim protest White House
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