Lee Bollinger rips Ahmadinejad a new one.

[Dr Adequate]

Wow, the chancellors of 7 universities in Iran think Bollinger is a member of the US government...

I wonder why they didn't say so, and by what means other than reading their statement you found out what they were thinking. Did the process involve making stuff up?

 

[JoeEllison]

I wonder why they didn't say so, and by what means other than reading their statement you found out what they were thinking. Did the process involve making stuff up?

There might be a Magic 8-Ball involved.

 

[strathmeyer]

You've completely missed the point, and I must assume that it was intentional.

Pick your favorite person. Would it have been ok for Bollinger to use that moment to insult your mom?

Yes.

What now?

 

[JoeEllison]

Yes.

What now?

Now, I give up. I recognize that certain differences in viewpoint are insurmountable.

 

[plumjam]

Bollinger has a right to free speech, so I'm glad that Big Mah's bodyguards didn't tase him and drag him off.

Do I think it was rude? Absolutely, and it made Bollinger look silly and non-academic.
Imagine how it would look if Bush went to Iran, was invited to speak at a University, accepted, and the Uni president introduced him by insulting him.
It would be fine for the Iranian students to ask Bush awkward questions, heckle him, show him disrespect... but his host? That would be similarly rude.

Well, that's free speech for you. Gotta take the rough with the smooth.

 

[WildCat]

I wonder why they didn't say so, and by what means other than reading their statement you found out what they were thinking. Did the process involve making stuff up?

No, it is inferred by them asking Bollinger questions like:

Why did the U.S. support the bloodthirsty dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran? Why has the U.S. military failed to find al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden even with all its advanced equipment?

Of course, since they answer directly to their govenment's thought police they may well think the same holds true in the US.

 

[Dr Adequate]

The reality is Ahmadinejad thought he could score a propaganda coup by going to an American university campus to speak, where all the Bush-hating students and faculty would cheer him on and embarrass Bush in his own country. Didn't quite work out according to the script.

But that would have happened anyway. It's not like people in the audience were saying to each other: "Petty dictator eh? Well I was going to clap, but I came here under the impression that he coached the New York Mets."

Thanks to Bollinger, Amadjihadi gets to look all martyred. (I wonder how many virgins you get for cutting remarks?) This is good propaganda for him, that's why it's on state radio.

 

[WildCat]

Bollinger has a right to free speech, so I'm glad that Big Mah's bodyguards didn't tase him and drag him off.

Ain't gonna happen, his house his rules. "Big Mah" did have the option of running out of the room crying for his favorite mullah to comfort him though.

Do I think it was rude? Absolutely, and it made Bollinger look silly and non-academic.
Imagine how it would look if Bush went to Iran, was invited to speak at a University, accepted, and the Uni president introduced him by insulting him.

That would never happen! University presidents never criticize Bush!

It would be fine for the Iranian students to ask Bush awkward questions, heckle him, show him disrespect... but his host? That would be similarly rude.

Poor Big Mah, how hurt he must have been! Perhaps hanging a few more homosexuals will make him feel better, I'm sure they can find a few the last sweep missed to string up.

 

[Dr Adequate]

No, it is inferred ...

I prefer my inferences logical.

 

[JoeEllison]

But that would have happened anyway. It's not like people in the audience were saying to each other: "Petty dictator eh? Well I was going to clap, but I came here under the impression that he coached the New York Mets."

That's based on the delusion that "college liberals" love Iran, since they disagree with Bush... and, in that same delusional version of reality, it is impossible to disagree with both.

 

[WildCat]

But that would have happened anyway. It's not like people in the audience were saying to each other: "Petty dictator eh? Well I was going to clap, but I came here under the impression that he coached the New York Mets."

Thanks to Bollinger, Amadjihadi gets to look all martyred. (I wonder how many virgins you get for cutting remarks?) This is good propaganda for him, that's why it's on state radio.

Ahmadinejad was going to play the martyr anyway, why should Bollinger have to forgo his chance to "speak truth to power"?

 

[ponderingturtle]

I prefer my inferences logical.

But they are so much less amusing when they make sense.

Such as my inferring from your preference for logical inferences, that you are a time traveler from the year 256,756 CE, and are a uplifted form of the black footed ferret.

 

[WildCat]

That's based on the delusion that "college liberals" love Iran, since they disagree with Bush... and, in that same delusional version of reality, it is impossible to disagree with both.

Not my delusion, it was Ahmadinejad's. He miscalculated, should have learned something from Chavez's UN rant last year.

 

[WildCat]

I prefer my inferences logical.

It's logical that they were asking him questions they thought he was in a position to answer. Unless he's a representative of the US government, it makes no sense to ask him about gov't policy.

Similarly, I was once asked about the location of mechandise inside a home improvement store. I inferred that the person asking me the question thought I worked there, and it turned out I was right. He then found an actual employee to ask. Funny how that works, isn't it?

 

[Dr Adequate]

It's logical that they were asking him questions they thought he was in a position to answer. Unless he's a representative of the US government, it makes no sense to ask him about gov't policy.

Could I suggest that since your "logic" has led you to a false conclusion, there may have been a slip or two along the way?

In particular, I should point out that we here on these very boards often ask one another questions about this or that policy without believing that our interlocutors are members of the legislature or executive.

This has little or nothing to do with the point I was actually making, which is that the result of Bollinger's remarks is a propaganda score for someone of whom we both thoroughly disapprove.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Does anyone know if Bollinger's remarks were even broadcast in Iran, or reported in the media?

Do you think that we work for the Tehran Times?

 

[Darth Rotor]

Ahmadinejad was going to play the martyr anyway, why should Bollinger have to forgo his chance to "speak truth to power"?

He played into Mahmoud's hands by being a rude host. It really is that simple.

DR

 

[Dr Adequate]

Ahmadinejad was going to play the martyr anyway ...

It's harder to do that with no cards.

If it wasn't for Bollinger, what would they be broadcasting on state radio "anyway"? Would they "anyway" be portraying the US as a bully because the students didn't clap loud enough? Would the seven chancellors have written to Bollinger "anyway", and if so, what about?

I've seen this "Anyway Doctrine" used before, by you and others, about other subjects --- for example, about torture in Iraq. It seems to me a very dangerous doctrine. At bottom, it assumes that the amount of anti-American sentiment is fixed, and that therefore Americans can do what they like without any prudential considerations of whether they might increase or reduce it. But this is not the case.

 

[Dr Adequate]

He played into Mahmoud's hands by being a rude host. It really is that simple.

You are now officially a liberal, and I can claim my toaster oven.

 

[Darth Rotor]

You are now officially a liberal, and I can claim my toaster oven.

One need not be liberal, nor conservative, to appreciate good manners, as well as the ancient and venerable customs of hospitality. I hope you enjoy your first slice of Bollinger, with marmalade, Bollinger being the a new slang term for "toast" in the battle of media message effectiveness.

He thought he was being oh so clever, but ended up becoming toast, warmed to medium in his own rhetorical toaster. Hmmm, some joke about toasted buns is appropriate here, but I can't get one that scans.

DR