The bullies of the intolerant left succeeded again. They shut down another event where, gasp, people wanted to have an open and frank discussion about media bias and gender identity. In public.

It’s the “in public” part that caused all the trouble.

A group of bullies found the topic, “How Media Bias Shapes the Gender Identity Debate” offensive and in today’s world, if you’re offended just parade your victim status card and everyone backs down. It’s an unwritten law.

Tim Marron, director of public safety for the downtown campus, said there was a high risk of violence but left the final decision to the event sponsor, SFU professor Mark Collard.

Collard took Marron’s advice.

The event, to be moderated by Lindsay Shepherd, would have showcased Meghan Murphy, Jonathan Kay and Anna Slatz but activist groups posed a “high risk of violence” if it went forward as planned.

What I find so disturbing is the unabashed willingness to shut down all opinions the offended ones don’t agree with, by any means necessary, including violence.

Across Canada, as well as America, any time an individual right-of-centre on the political spectrum wants to host a public meeting, those who preach tolerance and acceptance use violence or, as in the SFU case, the threat of violence, to get the event canceled.

This is absurd on a variety of levels, but I’ll address just one.

When people show up at an event and attempt to commit or instigate violence, arrest them, and remove them from the venue. Charge them with the crimes they’ve committed and let them and their lawyers figure out whether it was worth being so stupid.

But that’s not what venues do. They kowtow to those who threaten violence.

That’s not how you stop bullies.

Every time you accede to their insane demands you embolden them. You encourage them to behave badly again.

The correct response from Tim Marron would have been something along these lines.

“So, as usual, we’ve had some threats of violence if we go ahead with your event. I’ve called the police so they’re aware, and they will respond immediately if needed. I’ve also added extra security because I refuse to allow intolerance to breed on this campus.”

But that’s not the choice he made.

He chose to allow bullies to dictate who can and cannot speak on SFU’s Harbour Campus.

 

Post Script. A new venue was located for the event and it went ahead, as scheduled. The bullies may have won on SFU’s Harbour Campus, but they failed to shut down the free marketplace of ideas. Amen.

I applaud the event organizers and participants for their commitment to free speech and the exercise thereof.