Ahmadinejad to Speak at Columbia U

Over protests from all corners...
Dean John coatsworth, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs said he would have invited Hitler in 1939 to speak as well.
In the interests of providing an open-forum for discussion. Of course this same dean would not allow the ROTC or NRA to speak. They were denied.
Free speech my arse. There is a political pandering at work to be sure.
Many are calling for the deans' resignnation.
Jewish residents and Coumbia students observing Yom Kippur see it as a blatant insult.
Others are investigating stopping goverment funding to this institution.
Still others would like to see Ahmadinejad declared an "enemy combatant" and whisked-away to GITMO.
Opinions?

Tim

 

I completly agree, but with addition that political pandering goes here both ways.

 

I can't post what I think of it on a public forum. :angry: :bang:

 

The guy wears a windbreaker from 1983. Get with the time ! :lol:

 

I can't help but admire the tactic - give an extremely controversial figure a platform to speak from, and if anybody complains point out that Freedom of Speech is a right...

 

call me old fashioned ..if a guy is currently actively involved in killing us servicemen ,i dont think he should be invited to speak in the usa ..he instead should be in poland and eastern europe mabey to do research and see if there really ever was a holocaust , i understand he belives the nazis made the whole thing up and kept meticulous records all the while ....also he claims there are no homosexuals in iran ,none ...sheep shaggers mabey but no homos ...

 

Worse still, I think he is actually trying to use this to demonstrate what a wonderful country Iran is to Americans.
It's as if Borat became president!

 

With the exception that you can laugh with Borat.
I must say, i get this flashback from 1933 or so. A crazy extremist man that ignore's weapon treaties and arms his country. Accuses the western countries to stop interfere with his country and has a thing against jews and hates homosexuals.
I swear, if he's a vegetarian and had a mistres with the initials E.B, i would say we have the reincarnation of A.H. in our modern times. It can't be a coincidence that his first two letters are A and H, knowing history for her sick humor.

Looking forward for the Anschluss of Iraq, or Pakistan, or whatever country is a neighbour and off course, a pact singed with Syria.

 

It was funny when he said" homosexuals, thats an american phenomenon. whoever told you there was homosexuals here"

Notice that there was a reaction from the crowd when he said what he said about homosexuals, but not a peep when he was talking about annihilation and war and all that other irrelevent stuff ?

 

Eh, at least he's making an effort...
Its a perhaps terribly misguded act of goodwill, but an act of goodwill nonetheless...

Ahmadinejad also asked to be allowed to lay a wreath at the site of S11, as a mark of respect. He was forbidden from doing so by New York Police despite his country's widespread public demonstrations of sympathy in 2001...

Seems to me like he's actually making an effort to smooth things over with America, its just that he doesn't understand that Americans like homosexuals

 

smeg, he should have asked to lay the wreath at the 911 site ..the 511 site is where all those poor people got roasted alive by that crazy iranian janitor with the flamethower ... at the gay and lesbian new york policemans costume ball ..and yes , they are still quite upset about it ...

 

going that far to say we like them, i personally dislike them and there sins, i only know about 3 gay people and i stay away from them.


before you start writing hate mail i look at it this way.

if there born gay i'm born homophbic.

 

I heard an assesment of him that I think was right on the mark. It was "he may dress simple, he may talk simple, but he is a master manipulator"

 

I would disagree, homophobia like any prejudice is entirely conditioned by your upbringing and your experiences as you grow up. No-one is born with any prejudice whether it be racist, anti-semitic, homophobia, whatever, you are conditioned to it as you develop and you as a mature human being can chose to accept such social conditioning or challenge it.

Depending on what views you wish to take, you may or may not be born with your sexuality predetermined but you are not born with any prejudices.

 

I too noticed that he was jeered loudly for his statement that no homosexuals existed in his country.
If he had come to Columbia and simply spouted hate against Geo. Bush, the United States and it's military... the audience likely would have given him a standing-ovation.
What baffles me somewhat is the "introduction" provided by the dean in question. He welcomes the man to speak with open-arms and against widespread public opposition, then flames him in his opening comments.
Almost as if to make amends for inviting him in the first place.
It was a spectacle made for Hollywood.

Tim

 

tim , i think you have it exactly right ..the dean felt so much heat after his casual invitation to herr madmanajihad that he felt compelled to attack his guest right off the bat to try and show it was all an ambush from the start ...this of course played in his guest speakers favor and made him appear the victem of bad manners and boorish behaviour ...so the dean actually doubled his fubar action while trying to save his own ass...next ,he is going to invite kim il jong ,and then pelt him with rotten eggs as he approaches the podium...

 

oop5 ye5, i 5ee that i 5eem to have mi5takenly 5pelled 5omething wrong.. I wa5 of cour5e referring to 511 for 5etptmber 11, not the number S...

Come on Quillin, you go to university! Haven't you learnt anything from the posters, its Bush, he's the reincarnation of A.H!

 

TIME magazine does it again...

http://www.time.com/time/politics/artic ... 05,00.html

Spot on in their analysis of Ahmadinejad
Just a little man with a big mouth
Not the next Hitler :roll:

 

A similar-ish event - care to comment regarding free speech?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfo ... 114343.stm

 

That's Columbian's for you - must be all that cocaine.