Ahmadinejad to Speak at Columbia University

[Parkbandit]

So, what do people think about this? Personally, I really don't have a problem with Columbia having this guy speak at their University... if their open forum was open to everyone... but it's not. Their reason of "OMG FR33 SP33CH!" is a bunch of bullshit.

[Gan]

I dont have an issue with him speaking there.

I hope they hand him some tough questions. And I hope the university president follows through with what he says he's going to cover (holocost, human rights, nuclear, etc.).

Edited to add: I hope they ask him about this as well:



TEHERAN - Iran’s judiciary has sealed off the offices of a popular news Web site critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies after journalists continued to update it despite official filtering, the Web site said.

Rights groups and diplomats say there is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is under growing Western pressure over its disputed nuclear programme. The authorities deny such moves, saying they allow free speech.

Blocking access to Baztab.com earlier this year was seen as part of the clampdown. Updates to the Web site, which is published in English and Farsi, were still available to Internet users outside Iran until the offices were sealed.

The last item on the Web site carried the headline: “The wish of the presidential office was realised and Baztab’s offices were sealed off”. The site, when accessed via a link outside Iran, indicated it was last updated on Sept. 23.

“Baztab’s offices were sealed off on Wednesday. The judiciary says that as the Web site has been filtered, its offices should be closed down as well,” Mohammad Javad Barbarian, Baztab’s managing director, was quoted by Etemad-e Melli daily as saying.

Baztab was banned in February on several charges, including ”spreading lies”. It reopened in March and continued to publish articles critical of the government, particularly its economic policies. It was filtered again -- meaning access was blocked -- in April.

Baztab is the second news Web site to be banned in recent months. Iran’s labour news agency, ILNA, which often reported on workers’ protests and arrests of rights activists, was closed by the authorities in July.

In addition, two prominent pro-reform newspapers, Ham Mihan and Sharq, both critical of the government, have been shut down. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/September/middleeast_September313.xml&section=middleeast&col=

[Latrinsorm]

It seems to me that the key issue with having President Ahmadinejad speak especially in NYC is security. It's really not hard to conceive of some fringe group cooking up an assassination attempt. Only a secondary issue would be discerning whether he's communicating something or plain ol' inciting.

The president of the university kind of half-banned Ahmadinejad according to USA Today: http://www.nysun.com/article/40142?page_no=1

[Stanley Burrell]

It seems to me that the key issue with having President Ahmadinejad speak especially in NYC is security. It's really not hard to conceive of some fringe group cooking up an assassination attempt. Only a secondary issue would be discerning whether he's communicating something or plain ol' inciting.

Columbia, nor the surrounding NYC area, will ever make an assassination attempt on Ahmawhooza'.

Lemme see: If I had to assassinate him, though, I'd probably wait alongside the bridge overlooking the Columbia courtyard/H. Hudson waterway used for the kayaking team, since that would be an awesome vantage point, as well as about the most unchecked area you could lurk around in. I'd probably make my way in through the Cloisters. He'd be boomheadshotted Beretta .50-style like ::three snaps and a Z:: if he toured the main green.

Too bad he won't go down to V-Tech for Holocaust denial seminars on AzN Pride day, tho' :(

[Sean of the Thread]

If we're lucky his plane will crash. Who ever's yard his head falls into wins a yellow Hummer.

[Xaerve]

Columbia, nor the surrounding NYC area, will ever make an assassination attempt on Ahmawhooza'.

Lemme see: If I had to assassinate him, though, I'd probably wait alongside the bridge overlooking the Columbia courtyard/H. Hudson waterway used for the kayaking team, since that would be an awesome vantage point, as well as about the most unchecked area you could lurk around in. I'd probably make my way in through the Cloisters. He'd be boomheadshotted Beretta .50-style like ::three snaps and a Z:: if he toured the main green.

Too bad he won't go down to V-Tech for Holocaust denial seminars on AzN Pride day, tho' :(


What happened to you man? I remember you posting normal at some point, and making sense.

[Sean of the Thread]

You have a bad memory then.

rofl.

[Xaerve]

You have a bad memory then.

rofl.

Touché. I guess he at least used to have some central point to his posts. Now he just writes his own chose-your-own adventure shit most of the time. :(

[Parkbandit]

What happened to you man? I remember you posting normal at some point, and making sense.

Huh? When the fuck was that? I think I can count one or maybe two posts where Stanley actually contributed SOMETHING to a thread that the reader could decipher as making some sense.

Let this be a lesson to the kids out there.. do drugs and you'll end up a Stanley.

[Goretawn]

If anyone is not watching the speach, When asked by the president of Columbia if he actually wished for the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad actually just said that "We (Iranians) are friends of the Jewish People." I am still chuckling inside. Worst part about it is that someone is actually going to believe him.

[Gan]

I want to find a recording of this so I can watch it later on this evening.

If anything it will go a long way towards my theory that Iran will use propaganda, the media, and any other avenue to tell others what they want to hear, not whats really going to happen.

Actions Ahmadinejad, actions speak louder than words.

[Stanley Burrell]

What happened to you man? I remember you posting normal at some point, and making sense.

This, my good Xaerve, is the Players' Corner Forum: Insanity is our standard. Normalcy is shunned by General Zod and his hierarchy.

And I suppose that somewhere, out there in the infinite cosmos, my posts make all the sense in the galaxy to some race of intergalactic Psychlos and/or Zerglings existing on an inter-dimensional plane.

Oh yes.

.

I save normal for non-internet relations, usually.

P.S. Choose Your Own Adventure F-MF'ing-W, man.

[Sean of the Thread]

He always says what people want to hear every time he's on stage.

[Goretawn]

Yeah, but you should have heard the thunderous applause from the crowd. It was very disturbing. I think they only let residents of Iran in to listen to him. It really was disturbing.

[Bobmuhthol]

<<Personally, I really don't have a problem with Columbia having this guy speak at their University... if their open forum was open to everyone... but it's not. Their reason of "OMG FR33 SP33CH!" is a bunch of bullshit.>>

Their open forum is open to everyone, but that doesn't mean they're going to service 6 billion people; they don't have the resources. People asked why they didn't outright deny someone the opportunity to speak, and the answer is because they embrace free speech. Columbia University didn't let me speak, either, but that's because it would be a stupid idea rather than because I'm black.

[chillmonster]

He holds some misguided views. Only a religious fanatic would call the way they treat women respectful - and you can tell he actually believed that. He also said that homosexuality doesn't exist in his country when asked about their policy of executions for homosexuals. That was a bit bizarre. Throughout the speech, he stopped short of some of his most inflamitory language about Israel and the Holocaust.

You'd also have to be blind not to see some of the paralells between the religious language he uses and some of the same used in this country. This guy is definitely smart and charismatic, obviously a talented politician. After such a disrespectful introduction, to someone without knowledge of his history and that of his country , he would likely come off pretty likeable. If he were an American and a Christian, he'd probably be the Republican front runner.

The introdution was very disrespectful to both the audience and the guest speaker. There's no reason to color the perception of the audience before the guest as even spoken. I thought it was insulting to the students.

All in all, not very infomative about Iranian policy or politics, but a good way to see Ahmadinejad public persona.

[Sean of the Thread]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/432045296_77741ad308.jpg

[Parkbandit]

<<Personally, I really don't have a problem with Columbia having this guy speak at their University... if their open forum was open to everyone... but it's not. Their reason of "OMG FR33 SP33CH!" is a bunch of bullshit.>>

Their open forum is open to everyone, but that doesn't mean they're going to service 6 billion people; they don't have the resources. People asked why they didn't outright deny someone the opportunity to speak, and the answer is because they embrace free speech. Columbia University didn't let me speak, either, but that's because it would be a stupid idea rather than because I'm black.

So this open forum is available to anyone, except ROTC, the Minutemen program's founder.. or any other speaker that doesn't follow the Columbia University's President ideals... gotcha.

It's only free speech if it's offered to anyone.. even those individuals with opposing positions.

[Sean]

I don't know anything about the ROTC incident you're alluding to but Columbia did invite the Minutemen founder to come and speak but the students however protested during the event. If you want to hold student conduct against the university thats understandable but they certainly gave him the invite to come and express his views.

[Bobmuhthol]

<<So this open forum is available to anyone, except ROTC, the Minutemen program's founder.. or any other speaker that doesn't follow the Columbia University's President ideals... gotcha.>>

If it was such a huge issue, don't you think it would get a little more attention than someone on a GS forum? Also, I can name billions of people who were not given the opportunity to speak at Columbia U.

<<It's only free speech if it's offered to anyone.. even those individuals with opposing positions.>>

Are you insinuating that the President of Columbia University has the same agenda as the President of Iran???

[Parkbandit]

I don't know anything about the ROTC incident you're alluding to but Columbia did invite the Minutemen founder to come and speak but the students however protested during the event. If you want to hold student conduct against the university thats understandable but they certainly gave him the invite to come and express his views.

Ah... so there was no protests today. Well that explains it.

[Parkbandit]

<<So this open forum is available to anyone, except ROTC, the Minutemen program's founder.. or any other speaker that doesn't follow the Columbia University's President ideals... gotcha.>>

If it was such a huge issue, don't you think it would get a little more attention than someone on a GS forum? Also, I can name billions of people who were not given the opportunity to speak at Columbia U.

<<It's only free speech if it's offered to anyone.. even those individuals with opposing positions.>>

Are you insinuating that the President of Columbia University has the same agenda as the President of Iran???


Your argument of 'not everyone speaks at Columbia' is a 3rd grade debate tactic at best. Please, show some intelligence for crying out loud.

[Bobmuhthol]

I wrote 3 sentences. Choosing 1 to respond to, which happened to be the only sentence that wasn't a question, shows something about you more than me.

[Parkbandit]

I wrote 3 sentences. Choosing 1 to respond to, which happened to be the only sentence that wasn't a question, shows something about you more than me.

You used the same, stupid argument in 2 different posts. First, using yourself as an example of someone who was not asked to speak at Columbia.. then again stated that you could name a billion people who also were not used. It's a dumb argument.

Sorry to bruise your fragile ego... but you asked for it not once, but twice.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by ParkBandit
Ah... so there was no protests today. Well that explains it.

I'm sure there were. They just weren't stupid enough to storm the stage. I'm guessing because they didn't want to get shot.

[chillmonster]

Ah... so there was no protests today. Well that explains it.

This is what happenes when you get your news from Hannity and Colmes.

The Minutemen rep was allowed to speak. The students got so riled up that he didn't.

They actually stormed the stage (http://www.nysun.com/article/41020)

The ROTC matter is completely different. They weren't stopped from speaking at the school. The university disallowed them use of school facilities and barred the organization from recruiting because of discrimination against gays.

[DeV]

I'm sure there were. They just weren't stupid enough to storm the stage. I'm guessing because they didn't want to get shot.
Gotta love logic.

[Sean of the Thread]

<---ROTC

Ever since Animal House we've had a bad rep.

[Apathy]

This thread sucks.

28 posts and no one mentions how alive freedom of speech is? You people disappoint me.

[ViridianAsp]

This thread sucks.

28 posts and no one mentions how alive freedom of speech is? You people disappoint me.


Yeah, freedom of speech is the greatest. So much so, a man who wants to see all jews dead, our country fall and is creating weapons to insure this fate can come on our soil lie to our faces about his intentions; then go back home and wish death on all of us!

I'd say Freedom of Speech is alive and well. No one is stopping this, why?

Because that's what our country is founded on, Freedom. Maybe he should take some of it back to his own people, seeing as he doesn't seem to have enough to go around.

[TheRoseLady]

This was part of an ongoing series at Columbia called World Leaders Forum. They have had all sorts of world leaders speak. As repugnant as I might find this guy, I firmly believe in debate and discussion.

-TRL

[Gan]

Just watched the intro, and I thought Lee Bollinger (Columbia Univ. President) was spot on. Actually I wouldnt call it an introduction, I would call it opening remarks or even a brief synopsis of the current actions of the regime that the President of Iran represents.

Sad part is, with most of the filtering and censorship of the internet in Iran, few of their populace will see his performance.