I'm only doing this particular blog because I said I would.
The Skinny: This is about the whole Ann Coulter vs UC Berkeley thing. Sort of. Actually, it's about a dispute I wound up participating in on Facebook, over said thing.
For those who don't know: Ann Coulter was going to speak at Berkeley. Due to a fear of violence, Berkeley cancelled. Ms. Coulter said she was coming anyway.
The dispute boiled down to: Is a university refusing to pay someone to speak a violation of free speech?
On the Freeze Peach side was a woman I'll call Pomegranate, who seemed like pretty much every right-winger I've seen on the internet. At one point she even said she'd give up her right to vote to guarantee Republican victories. She almost broke me with her assertion that Ann Coulter was worth listening to because lots of people agreed with her. (I almost pulled a Godwin, but instead I took a break to watch Twitch streams.)
On the other side, everyone else, including me. We felt that censorship isn't covered by a university refusing to pay a shitlord to speak, with a side dish of Ann Coulter is an asshole, anyway.
This dispute was almost physically painful. I'm not even sure Pomegranate is a real person, she's such a stereotype of the fan of the shitlord. I mean, at one point I pointed out that Ms. Coulter still had access to the internet, so she could post a blog and people would still get to read it. Just like I am doing right now. This means Ms. Coulter's free speech is not being infringed any more than mine is. I mean, I don't get paid to jabber crap at people. (I would love to, though. Shoutout to anyone with money!) This is when the comment about lots of people listening to her came in, as if I am less worthy to be listened to because I don't have a massive audience.
Epilogue: Berkeley said she could come, they just wanted her at a different time to minimize the threat of violence. Ms. Coulter said she was coming at the original time, and that was that. Spoiler Alert: She didn't go.
Postscript: Dammit, I am sick of right wing shitlords. I could fill my political journal (the one I bought so I wouldn't bring this crap to the internet) with nothing but commentary on them, but it all boils down to the same thing. They're allergic to the truth. They hate people like me. Everything else is just flavor text.
Post-postscript: No, I will not end it there. Where the fuck were these Freeze Peach Warriors when Anita Sarkeesian was having trouble engaging in speech because of doxxing and threats to her life? I mean, she has to fucking move, and yet it's waah waah, Ann Coulter loses one speaking engagement and the First Amendment is going down in flames! Aaaargh! This is not about free speech, it's just more bullshit!
Rant over.
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