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Monkey on a Leash

NYT: “Mr. Ahmadinejad”* invited to speak at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. President Lee C. Bollinger univited him before, but says the monkey will be on a leash this time:   

In order to have such a University-wide forum, we have insisted that a number of conditions be met, first and foremost that President Ahmadinejad agree to divide his time evenly between delivering remarks and responding to audience questions. I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the President on issues including:

• the Iranian President’s denial of the Holocaust;
• his public call for the destruction of the state of Israel;
• his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
• Iran’s pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;
• his government’s widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women’s rights; and
• his government’s imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.

I would like to add a few comments on the principles that underlie this event. Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas­ to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most, or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialogue and reason.

I would also like to invoke a major theme in the development of freedom of speech as a central value in our society. It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas, or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible.

Obviously he doesn’t take this lightly.  I’m sure he’d apply the same rigorous standards were he hosting Pol Pot, Ted Kaczynski or some other mass murderer. 

But a podium in the halls of one of our nation’s most august institutions of learning, before a packed crowd of earnest, rosy-cheeked young scholars and sage graybeards really isn’t the right place. 

I think the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or maybe the Simon Wiesenthal Center should invite Ahmadinejad to speak.  Pack the hall with Auschwitz survivors … a lot of them were kids when they were granted new life. There are still some out there young enough to heft a tomato.  Encourage them to show up in stripes and shaved heads. Entitle the forum, “This Is What We’re Talking About.”  

Michelle wants to throw an Ahmadinejad welcoming party.  So does Mitt Romney. With an indictment under the Genocide Convention. I have no idea what that is, but sounds like established international law to me!

* Every morning I get down on my knees and thank Allah I don’t work at the New York Times, and don’t have to call terrorists and murderers “Mr.” Supposedly the pinnacle of my profession.  Never mind the shoddy reporting and shameful editorial positions. It’s hard to pinpoint any one thing, but all the ass-kissing kowtowing to convention has to really suck the brains and the soul right out of you. Instead, I am blessed to work at one of the last great American newspapers.  Every day, we fight for our very existence in shoddy digs.  We don’t have the resources to do the things we used to do. Never got much respect when we did, and still don’t though we routinely kick our broadsheet Times-wannabe competition’s ass around the block with a quarter of their bloated staff.  They call us hacks and sneer at our sensational headlines.  That’s OK.  Let them.  At least we’re honest. 

Topics: Holodenial, Iran, media

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:35 am on Thursday, September 20, 2007

24 Responses to “Monkey on a Leash”

1. RebeccaH Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 10:57 am

   Several scenarios ran through my head when I read that this arrogant bastard dwarf wanted to visit Ground Zero, none of them pleasant, and most of them recipes for unacceptable international repercussions. So I finally settled on a mental image of a huge crowd blocking his way in total silence with their backs to him. Whatever happens, I hope and pray it strikes the murderous little cur right where his heart should be.

2. Jim Treacher Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 11:15 am

   He wants to go to Ground Zero so he can look for his keys.

3. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 11:59 am

   Think of it this way. Columbia U. School of International and Public Affairs is finally allowing a moderate voice to be heard!

   Heh.

4. AW1 Tim Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pm

   Jules,

   I applaud the Herald for it’s work. It really is a refreshing news outlet compared to the Gray-Lady lite. Especially with both you and Howie there.

   Having said that, your sports department needs to give the boot to Tomase, who is rapidly turning Felgeresque and basically being a snotty-little brown nosing shmuck. He showed up at one of the Bill Belichick news conferences with a picture of Nixon displayed on the outside of his notebook for everyone to see, and basically tries to play “gotcha” journalism.

   Regardless, getting back to the subject at hand, ol’ beady eyes ought to be denied a VISA plain and simple. Inviting him herem regardless of it being a UN sponsored event, is shameful. It’s no better than having Hitler give a talk to the Deutches-American Bund.

   Respects,

5. Robert Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

   Before the long war is over we shall have to dismantle the universities like Henry VIII dismantled the monasteries. The useful pieces like the med schools and engine schools can be spun off. But the anthropologists, philosophers, and other parasites will have to learn about the really important questions in life, like: “Do you want fries with that?”

6. corndog Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

   Yes, Robert, and then the intellectuals must all be marched out into the fields for re-education.

7. tanstaafl Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

   Ahmadinejhad and Hugo love to come to the UN and say rotten things about America and American politicians.

   It’s their favorite venue for bombast.

   His “request” to visit Ground Zero falls into the same category of stirring up the pot and then acting shocked or offended if/when refused.

   After becoming Iran’s President in 2005, Ahmadinejhad spoke at the UN, in Farsi.

   He said (among other things) “America will cease to exist when our holy hatred wells up within us.”

   (not to mention Israel)

   Iranian made explosively formed penetrators (EFP’s) kill American soldiers in Iraq as well as other Iranian made armaments.

   Columbia University can ask him any damn thing it wants in the name of “free speech”

   It’s still a giant charade. The man should be arrested, not applauded for any utterances.

8. tanstaafl Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 6:12 pm

   Ahmadinejhad is speaking at the UN again on Monday.

   During his first visit, recall his transcendent moment as the UN Chamber filled with light, time stopped, and Allah Himself gave the boy a thumbs up.

   Undoubtedly, he’d like to repeat that “peak” experience.

9. tanstaafl Says:
   September 20th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

   “America will cease to exist when our holy hatred wells up within us.”

   I looked over the translations of his ‘05 and ‘06 UN speeches and did not find that particular line in either of those speeches.

   So it’s from sometime else.

   If anybody cares.

10. Dave Surls Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 6:35 pm

    If they put a leash on the guy and make him eat a bowl of Purina Dog Chow on network t.v., then I’m o.k. with him being allowed in the U.S.

    Otherwise, forget it.

11. Dave Surls Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    “Supposedly the pinnacle of my profession.”

    The NYT? Are you joking me? That’s Walter Duranty’s newspaper.

12. saltydog Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    As today’s Best of the Web pointed out, Columbia doesn’t allow ROTC on its campus, the latest excuse being “don’t ask don’t tell”. But they are fine with Ahmamadman on their campus–a man who represents a country that hangs homosexuals as a matter of law. That’s just one in a long list of objections, of course, but I’m not sure I understand their rationale, for either course. The question for me is: Does the fact that the Iranians are killing our troops matter at all?

13. tell us how you really feel — infotainment rules Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    [...] Jules Crittenden unloads on Columbia University’s Lee Bollinger for inviting the monkey to ape some words. Then he comes up with a brilliant idea: I think the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum or maybe the Simon Wiesenthal Center should invite Ahmadinejad to speak.  Pack the hall with Auschwitz survivors … Encourage them to show up in stripes and shaved heads. Entitle the forum, “This Is What We’re Talking About.” [...]

14. MikeH Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

    Re-education, that sounds familiar, I thought some guy named sKerry said that that didn’t happen? Weren’t there other re-education camps in some place called Cambodia? Along with some kind of fields? All of those things that didn’t happen when Bush referenced them before Petraeus (betray-us) testified, in front of those guys who had to suspend disbelief when they were listening to him. Funny that you should bring that up.

15. saltydog Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 12:45 am

    Of course, no one said anything about re-education. All that was proposed was that they lose their jobs. I’d be satisfied if they got rid of tenure. That way, the first time some humanities teacher told his or her students that there was no such thing as objective reality, that there was no way for man to know it if there was an objective reality even if there was one, and that there is therefore no way to know what is right or wrong, true or false, good or evil, they’d be canned. When men have been to the moon and back, there is no excuse for this crap, journalists notwithstanding.

16. snelson134 Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 1:59 pm

    The category isn’t intellectuals. It’s Copperheads. Like you.

17. MentalFloss Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 10:42 pm

    Say, can anyone give me any good reason the FBI shouldn’t walk on up to Columbia’s Guest Speaker, Ahmadinejad, and arrest him for Kidnapping?

    I understand it’s one of the few crimes for which there exists no Statute of Limitations, and the crime was committed on American soil.

    There are surviving eyewitness (victims, really) of the 1979 Embassy Seizure that can finger Little Squint as one of the perps…

    As a hypothetical, it would be a rather interesting sequence of events that might follow, eh?

    To those who say we should honour the long-standing principal of international law that diplomats are immune from arrest, I say indeed, we should honour it exactly as did those who took “arrested” 63 U.S. diplomats and three other U.S. citizens and for 444 days held them hostage for ransom, extortion and blackmail in Tehran, 1979.

    I know it’s a silly question, I am more interested in what the “usual suspects” around here might extrapolate from such an arrest at Columbia and remark thereon.

18. MentalFloss Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 10:58 pm

    Oh, and how have you been cH’lsh K’rt^ndn?

19. Jules Crittenden Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    Floss, I can’t begin to tell you how the plaque has built up in your absence. Thanks for dislodging that particular nugget from between the pre-molars. Take him downtown and book him! There’s gotta be a precinct house near Ground Zero they could use.

20. saltydog Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 am

    Mental Floss! Hello. Long time no read! I’m so glad to see you! How the hell have you been? Where the hell have you been? Did they speak Kurdish?

    I like your idea. Makes sense. It’s the law, and everyone keeps saying terrorism is a law enforcement problem.

21. MentalFloss Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 2:13 am

    saltydog, dear lady, for you a Kurdish proverb:

    “ew la-m tat-U em la-m tat, wey bab-e cIq-im der-hat”

    “on this my side, a stone; on this my (other) side, a stone — I scream for my Father”

    Broke my back October last. Only now sitting upright for short spells. Been missing you all. Only brief spells of lucidity, so bear with me.

22. saltydog Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 am

    Oh hell, Mental Floss. Life just teems with quiet fun.

    I found that a good cigar and a snifter of outrageously priced brandy, sent by friends in far-flung places, takes the edge off. Perhaps that can come a little further down the road.

    Thanks for the proverb. Did you know that patiently chiseling away turns stone to little pebbles (which are marginally easier to deal with)?

23. streamline Says:
    September 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 pm

    Hi,

    Just some FYI:

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Friday

    Freedom’s Watch President Bradley A. Blakeman released a statement and a copy of the print advertisement it has requested to be run in the Monday edition of the New York Times.

    “Freedom’s Watch could not sit back and allow a terrorist to come to
    America masquerading as a world leader. We have an obligation to warn the
    world of the dangers of a nuclear Iran and to uncover the true intent, that
    being, the destruction of the United States and the State of Israel.

    Let’s be clear, Iran today kills American soldiers in Iraq and they will not stop
    there,” said Bradley A. Blakeman, President of Freedom’s Watch.

    The text of the advertisement follows:

    Ahmadinejad Is A Terrorist

    Columbia University is wrong to give him a platform.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens our nation and the
    freedoms we value. He has supported attacks on our soldiers and our allies.
    He should be treated as the terrorist that he is.

    Yet, while Columbia gives a terrorist like Ahmadinejad a platform to
    speak, they refuse to allow the ROTC on campus.

    What has happened to this prestigious university?

    People who support killing Americans are welcome. But the military that
    defends them is not.

    Columbia should be ashamed of its actions.

    Freedom’s Watch knows that America and the forces of freedom are right.
    We know the threat of terrorism is real. And we know Democracy must
    prevail.

    The terrorists and their appeasers are wrong.

    “And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon
    experience a world without the United States and Zionism.”
    — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
    (CNN, 10/27/05)

    ______

    Thank You Freedom’s Watch For Taking A Stand For OUR Country And Troops!

    ____

    Peace!
    Dan
    General David Betray Us

24. Burkean Reflections Says:
    September 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 am

    Focus on the Iranian Threat

    Let America and the world hear what Ahmadinejad has to say…All the while, no one should take their eyes off the big picture…His rants will bolster the already compelling case for a preventive war to remove the Iranian threat…

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