![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keshertalk.com/nav-commenters.gif)
« Reliquary of Technology: IBM-Compatible | Home | NYT's Handy Talking Points for Ahmadinejad »
September 23, 2007
Academia too smart for its own good
UPDATE: Glenn suggests a guerilla action for creating the kind of discrediting which "tough questions" won't accomplish.
In case you were wondering how his Columbia U visit was going to be spun by Ahmadinejad:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that the American people are eager for different opinions about the world, and he is looking forward to providing them with "correct and clear information," state media reported.You would think a university president would be smart enough to forsee how he would be manipulated. Oh I forgot - this is academia we are talking about.. . . . "The United States is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions," Ahmadinejad was quoted by IRNA as saying.
More mind-messing from the Dinner Jacket:
His request to lay a wreath at ground zero, site of the World Trade Center 2001 terror attacks, was denied by city officials and condemned by politicians. . . . In an interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes," Ahmadinejad indicated he would not press the issue but expressed disbelief that the visit would offend Americans. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini also appeared dismayed that the request was rejected.I'm sure if Bollinger were mayor of NYC he would move with alacrity to avoid any damage to what Ahmadinejad is telling him is the US' standing among the community of nations. Ahmadinajad speaks for the community of nations, doesn't he? (He doesn't speak for Iranian-Americans.)"What kind of damage will the U.S. face" by Ahmadinejad visiting the site, Hosseini asked at his weekly press conference Sunday.
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger has resisted requests to cancel the event but promised to introduce the talk himself with a series of tough questions on topics including Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust, his call for the destruction of the state of Israel and his government's alleged support of terrorism.The same tough questions numerous people have been asking in the global mass media for the past 3 years. Ahmadinajad has his canned responses to those, which I expect we will hear on Monday. He has had a global pulpit from which to expound his views. Is Bollinger so naive and deluded about his own importance that he thinks his "tough questions" are going to surprise Ahmadinajad in any way, or make him rethink his positions?
Oh I forgot - this is academia we are talking about.
UPDATE: See, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about:
Ahmadinejad, who was due to arrive in New York on Sunday for the U.N. General Assembly, reiterated Iran's position that its nuclear program is purely peaceful."Our plan and program is very transparent," he said. "In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use. If it was useful, it would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union. If it was useful, it would resolved the problem the Americans have in Iraq. The time of the bomb is passed."
You think he's not going to get up in front of an audience of wide-eyed students and world-wide media and say the same sort of thing? Then where is Bollinger? With egg on his face. Useful idiot.
Judith | 09/23/07 at 02:20 PM | Categories: - Wackademia
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.keshertalk.com/cgi-bin/mtb.cgi/6634
