Columbia University granted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at their campus. Due to the Ahmadinejad political standing as an anti-Holocaust and anti-freedom believer, Columbia University has faced an extensive amount of criticism to whether their decision was right or not.
In the actual speech given by Ahmadinejad at Columbia University gave his view on much current debates such as nuclear power, education, religious tolerance, and public murder by the government.
The United States was not taken over by Iran terrorist, nor was it insecure, so was Columbia's decision on allowing Ahmadinejad to speech good or bad?
Is Ahmadinejad the new Hitler?
Does Ahmadinejad answer American questions?
Is there another issue that has yet to be resolved?
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9 comments:
I just don't see the point in allowing someone who has spoken out against America to speak at an American University. It is obviously Columbia University's right to do what they want as they are a private school. I just don't see the point.
Allowing people to voice their own opinions is a great idea I believe. This is what freedom means even if the one using it doesn't believe in it. It's pointless to sweat over something so minimal as this.
Ahmadinejad had every right to come to the U.S. and say whatever he wanted( within limits of course)because of freedom of speech. The American people should just know to ignore whatever he says and not take him seriously. Then it won't matter where he goes or what he says because everyone knows not to listen to a crazy person.
It is obvious that a real democracy must allow all sides to state their case.
AS with the leader of Iran, I know very little about him except what the American Media has told us.
As our professor stresses to us about getting the best informed opinion on all subjects, we must get our information from more than one kind of source.
Therefore, it is important to allow anyone the chance to openly express themselves, not by what the media puts on the evening news, but openly, as with Ahmadinejads recent speech at the UN.
I for one believe many countries have corrupt leaders and no one group in this world is striving for real world peace. Some are actually striving for the opposite.
Is it Iran? China? North Korea? or some other country? I know just one thing, killing is wrong, it is against our moral principals, it is against God's Laws and it is against common sense for the survival of the human race.
Therefore, justification for murder is wrong and we should be careful to decide who is guilty just because we are told so.
I watched him speak and was surprised by all aspects of the event. Ahmadinejad made many claims that attempted to parrallel the freedoms of America with those of Iran (or the lack there of).
His most outrageous claim, as I'm sure others heard, was that Iran has no homosexuals as we do here in America. This is coming from the same man who runs a country with a death penalty for homosexuality.
All in all, Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia is all a charade. In my opinion, Ahmadinejad likely believes that his visit to America and speech at Columbia University makes him look like the person most open to diplomacy and America as the unwelcome aggressor. I believe its just a way to polish his image in the International mirror.
I advise not to put much weight on this event.
I think it is a good thing to allow young minds to listen and observe the voice of the enemy. The way we understand and overcome them is to get inside their minds. It is beneficial to understand their view points and the reasoning behind them. It brings awareness to a very real siuation.
I don't think it's right for us to give the guy a soapbox to stand on. He's a murderer. He stands for everything America is for.
AND as for freedom of speech. It's in the constitution, yes. Who is the constitution protecting? American citizens!!!! Not the president of Iran!!!!
Kristen - people aren't as smart as you might think. Not everyone knows to ignore crazy people. Look at Bin Laden and Charles Mansion.
**correction
He stands for everything America is against.
As far as I can tell, Ahmadinejad has never murdered anyone or even ordered the murder of anyone. There is a possibility that Iranian government funds have made it into the hands of anti-Israeli terrorists or possibly Iranian weapons given by some in the government to Iraqi insurgents, but I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that Ahmadinejad did these things or even knew about them.
Also, to say he stands for "everything America is against" is an overstatement. Any time you use the word "everything," you are probably incorrect. For instance, after 9/11 Ahmadinejad offered assistance to the U.S. He did the same after Katrina.
Now he has also called for Israel to be wiped off the map, too. The things he has really said and done are bad enough, there isn't any reason to exaggerate to make him look worse. It undercuts your case and makes people who might agree with you more likely to disagree with you because they see that some of what you are saying is inaccurate. Then they might assume that other things you say are inaccurate as well.
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