Bernie Sanders Says Ann Coulter Has Right to Speak at Berkeley ‘Without Fear of Violence and Intimidation’
The Vermont senator defends free speech, says censorship "is a sign of intellectual weakness."
Johnny Louis/JL/Sipa USA/NewscomSen. Bernie Sanders supports Ann Coulter's right to speak at the University of California-Berkeley, and told The Huffington Post that attempts to shut her down are a "sign of intellectual weakness" amongst some of her critics.
Sanders made clear that he is no fan of Coulter, but nevertheless believes students who want to hear speak deserve that opportunity.
"Obviously Ann Coulter's outrageous ― to my mind, off the wall," said Sanders. "But you know, people have a right to give their two cents-worth, give a speech, without fear of violence and intimidation."
Berkeley administrators recently cancelled Coulter's upcoming visit because they could not guarantee her safety. Protesters had threatened violence and rioting if Coulter should appear.
But giving into the protesters means succumbing to the heckler's veto—it commits the university to censoring anyone whose views displease the mob. Berkeley, thankfully, has reconsidered, and Coulter will be giving a talk.
"What are you afraid of ― her ideas?" asked Sanders, according to HuffPo. "Ask her the hard questions. Confront her intellectually. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I don't think that that works in any way."
Sanders, like Robert Reich, deserves credit for taking the principled civil libertarian position that the answer to offensive speech is more speech. Howard Dean should listen to them.
Photo Credit: Johnny Louis/JL/Sipa USA/Newscom
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NEEDZ MOAR HATE SPEECH LABELZ!!!!1!1!!1!!
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All caps are hate speech.
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Props to reason.com for realizing how Republican they were when the zeal to condemn the Left produced several letters condemning Berkeley, and hatepraising Coulter.
Reich.
Sanders."The Left" has condemned it.
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"Reich.
Sanders.
"The Left" has condemned it."Does cherry-picking get you a 'living wage'?
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I find myself agreeing with Bernie.
I fear the end times are upon us...
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Broken clocks and all that.
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Bernie will run as the LP candidate. Sanders/Soave 2020!
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Or Soave/Sanders? Soave and the hair are too distracting to be in the background. Even Biden and his plugs kept eyes on him.
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I apologize to for not capitalizing Hair.
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Up next: "Bernie Sanders prefers rice pudding to tapioca pudding, and he's right."
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"Obviously Ann Coulter's outrageous ― to my mind, off the wall," said Sanders.
As if Sanders has done anything more than read a couple of her quotes.
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All you have to do is hear her one time and realize that she's a joke. He's right on this one. She still has the right to be heard, although I would never be in the crowd to hear this harpy.
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IKR, only racists and careless fools appreciate that super crazy cunt.
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Which is all you need to make such a determination.
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Shit, even Tony is right on this one.
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Tony fights hard to keep his batting average almost as high as broken clock and blind squirrel, we should appreciate his effort.
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The last time I saw her (and that was a hile ago), she was on some show getting shit for quoting some study that said 3 things to be middle class. Graduate from high school. Get a job. Wait until you are 21 to get married and have kids. I mean Christ.
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"attempts to shut her down are a 'sign of intellectual weakness'"
Truth
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Huh, maybe socialism would work with the right person in charge!....nah, nice try Bernie
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Why are people like you so ignorant and downright stupid? I mean seriously, do you not know the difference between socialism and democratic socialism? People like you make America look like a bunch of dumb hicks, pleasssse go back to school. Bernie Sanders is more capitalist than you, but you're just too ignorant to see that. The difference is he wants tax money to go to good things and not stupid shit like people like yourself.
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do you not know the difference between socialism and democratic socialism?
the latter is just "capitalism being used to finance a welfare-state"?
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It's how they fool you into thinking you have a choice right before the former kicks in.
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it should probably be amended to something more like this =
Q = What Is "Democratic Socialism"?A = Its basically "Capitalism".... *
....*albeit, Capitalism with a gigantic Welfare-State tapeworm in its guts....
.... which vacuums up all of the profit generated by capitalism to finance expensive cradle-to-grave entitlements, diverting capital otherwise reinvested into new, economy-expanding ventures into vast, institutionalized benefits systems, which reward the lazy+partisan and punish the ambitious... producing a population which enjoys its no-risk lifestyle so much that it no longer sees much benefit in things like, 'raising large families' or taking on risk to launch new businesses (which would themselves be inherently disadvantaged vs. established crony competitors, and provide little reward to the investor, given the wealth-punishing tax regime) ... sinking into generational cycles of social-immobility, where most people exist simply to keep the machinery of bureaucracy functioning, which they increasingly blame on the political class which now relies solely on the goodwill of the employees of the entitlement system for re-election.... inevitably coalescing into a political-economic death spiral as the ageing, childless, benefit-dependent population lashes out at the bureaucratic classes for sapping their society of all of its vigor and self-direction, culminating in fiscal bankruptcy and social dissolution....
see = Europe.
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This new batch of trolls is second rate....Soros budget cuts?
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This new batch of trolls is decidedly second rate......did Soros cut the budget?
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Sarcasm?
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When your handle starts with 88 does it matter?
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What if it starts with 69?
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Then it would only matter if it was a hot babe.
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The difference is he wants tax money to go to good things and not stupid shit like people like yourself.
You got me there. I admit if someone asked me whether I'd rather have a portion of my income go to myself or an old man yelling at a cloud...I'd pick the selfish option. I just don't think the crazy, angry old man and I agree on what constitutes a "good thing".
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The difference is he wants tax money to go to good things and not stupid shit like people like yourself.
you typed that believing it is says something profound, didn't you? Stop projecting; ignorance and stupidity come from thinking that there are variants of socialism. There are not. First, there is no such thing as "democratic socialism" as the two are diametrically opposed. And no, Western Europe does not practice this. The nations you're thinking of have popularly-elected govts and market-based economies. They also have lavish social programs but few delude themselves into believing that the money stems from govt goodness.
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88mikell|4.22.17 @ 9:37PM|#
"Why are people like you so ignorant and downright stupid? I mean seriously, do you not know the difference between socialism and democratic socialism?"Why are people like you so ignorant and downright stupid? I mean seriously, do you think anyone capable of rational thought gives a shit about your pedantic 'distinctions'?
Oh, and fuck off. -
Why are people like you so ignorant and downright stupid? I mean seriously, do you not know the difference between socialism and democratic socialism? People like you make America look like a bunch of dumb hicks, pleasssse go back to school. Bernie Sanders is more capitalist than you, but you're just too ignorant to see that. The difference is he wants tax money to go to good things and not stupid things such as perpetual warfare.
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Bernie Sanders is more capitalist than you...
Citation required. It seems unlikely you know dick-all about Lap, let alone where she falls on the capitalism scale as compared to Mr. Third Summer Beach Home and his wife, Mrs. Bankrupted Her College. Fine cronies they are, too, I'm sure, but nevertheless, let's see your proof. -
Don't encourage him! Little does he know that if he calls me stupid 6 or 7 more times I'll be forced to agree with anything he says.
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Encourage him? Fuck him, twat that he is. There's precious little I can say to such as him that will ever penetrate the narrative wall he is so comfortable cocooned within. But that isn't the point. It rarely works that way.
This wasn't for, or about, him. Convincing him of anything rational was a futile gesture from the start. You, on the other hand. You could be convinced that there were people out there who gave a damn about you being subjected to a puerile attack for simply thinking wrongthoughts according to some little tit on the internet who demonstrably is innumerate on the federal budget, and also abysmal at intellectual debate.
I didn't speak up to teach him. I spoke up for you. You're worth it, Lap; you've earned it, you deserve it.
I hope this finds you well. How's the munchkin?
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The difference is that Bernie wants tax money, period. I want tax money to vanish, to cease existence, to lie tits up, so *my* money will go to what *I* deem good, not what Bernie deems good.
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"off the wall", takes one to know one.
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Bernie is an old socialist from the time before the 'postmodern' transformation of the (academic) left. He similarly criticized campus rape bureaucracies if I recall correctly.
He's a curious specimen. Among the core of his base he's just a guy who has outlived his time; among the general public however he (like Trump) was (at least in 2016) a trailblazer.
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He is definately interesting. As crazy and immature as his economic views are, he's a picture of reason and Intellect compared to the campus antifa Black Shirts.
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That was some faint praise there.
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That's the best I can do.
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I'm agreeing with Bernie Sanders.
...I need to take a shower...
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Don't forget to delouse after.
