Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

[Queso]

Who saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speach today given at columbia university, NYC?

 

:esmoking:

 

"We don't have homosexuals in Iran, we don't have this phenomenon like you guys do" (he smiled after he said that just a tiny bit)

 

I'm wondering . .

Is he serious?

Is he mocking the USA?

Is he smarter than that and just screwing with us?

Is he showing the USA that Iran isn't afraid?

 

I can't figure this guys psychology out. What do you think?

Very interesting, nonetheless.

[Queso]

I also wonder why the columbian university (headmaster, is it?)

would invite him to speak?

Novelty?

He also talked smack to his face.

Honesty is the best policy ummmmmmmmmmmm ?

[Buffy]

Who saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speach today given at columbia university, NYC?

I had to stop and watch the whole thing. It was a jaw dropping event, both President Bollinger as well as Ahmadinijad.

 

What was the most fascinating, was that Ahmadinejad basically proved why you don't want to restrict anyone's free speech:

"We don't have homosexuals in Iran, we don't have this phenomenon like you guys do" (he smiled after he said that just a tiny bit)

As Aesop said: better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

 

You give anyone with wacky or evil ideas enough free speech and they will swiftly hang themselves with it.

 

His "stay on message" responses to the straight-forward questions about "do you believe the Holocaust occurred" and "Should Israel have a right to exist" were exactly the kind of performance we see in our own politicians in the US, and even if they required a attitude of "well, both sides kind of distort the facts, and each side has its greivances."

 

But when he said "we don't have homosexuals," whoever was responsible for prepping him probably lost his job. This one didn't even pass the laugh test, and the only real logical mental reaction possible is "well, the reason they don't have any is that they kill them whenever they find them." So that laughter was "black" at best.

 

Note of course that he *had* to say this: to admit that homosexuality exists in Iran would be blasphemy to the religious leaders. He would have lost his job if he either said "we don't discriminate against them" which their leaders tell them they *must*, or he'd have to admit that they throw them in jail or--as claimed--kill them: neither of these would have gone over well when he's trying to show how Iran should be treated as--as he claimed--an open, freedom-loving democracy. He'd be a complete hypocrite.

 

Going into denial and crossing his fingers was the only thing he could do.

 

And heck, Bush does it all the time, so he had every reason to think the US press would just take it at face value.

 

And guess what: it looks like he may have been *right*...

 

Why? because all the stories are about whether or not he should have been allowed to speak at all and whether his "rights" were abridged. All thanks to the flag waving right-wingers who were *indignant* that those liberal lefties at Columbia would provide him a platform.

 

Thanks a lot guys....

 

Let blatherers blather,

Buffy

[LaurieAG]

Why? because all the stories are about whether or not he should have been allowed to speak at all and whether his "rights" were abridged.

 

Hello Buffy,

 

Block your ears, close your eyes and pull the trigger eh, guilty as perceived.

[LaurieAG]

I also wonder why the columbian university (headmaster, is it?)

would invite him to speak?

Novelty?

He also talked smack to his face.

Honesty is the best policy ummmmmmmmmmmm ?

 

Hi Orb,

 

Their Middle Eastern faculty invited him and the university head introduced him as a petty tyrant.

 

That's funny, I thought the original petty tyrant was the Shah of Iran?

[LaurieAG]

I can't figure this guys psychology out. What do you think?

Very interesting, nonetheless.

 

Hey Orb,

 

He's trying to incite the US to do something completely foolish in the eyes of anybody else in the world apart from a US person (and gutless politicians).

 

From my many discussions with US citizens on this forum (and at least 4 others at work) I hope that you USA bound citizens think similar to your citizens over here, on the outside of fortress america, because your current thoughts don't give me too much hope at the moment.

 

How fast do you think the US dollar will drop if you bomb Iran?

[Qfwfq]

Laurie, not all of the ones "inside the fortress" are the same. You're getting a bit too indiscriminately provocative. Especially on these boards, look at the kind of response Jackson got around here from several Americans.

 

"We don't have homosexuals in Iran, we don't have this phenomenon like you guys do" (he smiled after he said that just a tiny bit)

 

I'm wondering . .

Is he serious?

Is he mocking the USA?

Is he smarter than that and just screwing with us?

Is he showing the USA that Iran isn't afraid?

Perhaps he was trying to strike up a tiny bit of appeal with some of the most God-fearing US citizens?

 

:esmoking:

 

I think that man is a shrewd bugger and he knows damn well exactly what he's doing, every single minute.

[C1ay]

It was a jaw dropping event, both President Bollinger as well as Ahmadinijad.

 

I think President Bollinger deserves a standing ovation from the public at large. I think the only thing he left out was a moment of silence for the hostages Iran held for 444 days since Ahmadinejad is alleged to have taken part in that event.

[Zythryn]

With Ahmadinejad's bluster I thought the laughter from the audience was the best possible response. The man just turned himself into a clown in front of the world.

[Cedars]

I didnt get to hear him speak. Here is a transcript of it:

 

washingtonpost.com

 

Added:

 

After reading thru the whole thing once, and several parts a couple of times, I am way too blunt to be a good politician.... There is no way I could speak out of so many sides of my face and not get myself confused....

[InfiniteNow]

I didnt get to hear him speak.

 

Here's the full video:

 

wcbstv.com - Video Library

[robnibg]

You give anyone with wacky or evil ideas enough free speech and they will swiftly hang themselves with it

 

He might not talk perfect sense, but he's smarter and potentialy more dangerous than your president.

[Buffy]

He might not talk perfect sense, but he's smarter and potentialy more dangerous than your president.

"Smarter" is certainly one you might get a lot of agreement on (see the incredibly popular 5217 thread), but I'll betcha LaurieAG and a lot of others would strenuously disagree with "dangerous"... :)

 

"The Lord's our Shepard" says the psalm, but just in case...we'd better get a bomb, :)

Buffy

[Buffy]

Really the way a whole lot of us feel was summed up in this article at Salon (subscription/ad view required) by Alex Koppelman and Tracee Herbaugh:

Ellen Miller, a sophomore at Barnard, a women's college affiliated with the university, carried a sign representative of others who supported Ahmadinejad's presence, albeit in a different way:

"We're glad you're here -- so we can tell you you're an *******,"

the sign read.

 

"You can't have freedom of speech if you don't invite everyone to speak," Miller said, "and I think that it actually -- look at the reaction, it's so much bigger. These groups would not have come together and come out like this and protested if there hadn't been this event on campus. I think the reaction it created was exactly what Columbia University would have hoped for by inviting him."

 

Freedom of speech is beautiful in its ugliness,

Buffy

[Turtle]

Ahmadinejad reminds me of Tom Cruise. If there'd a' been a couch there, he'd a' jumped up on it. :) We he said "we're a cultured society", I would have said "then why don't you act like it?" :)

[Turtle]

Ahmadinejad reminds me of Tom Cruise. If there'd a' been a couch there, he'd a' jumped up on it. :) We he said "we're a cultured society", I would have said "then why don't you act like it?" :eek:

 

President Ahmadinejad is no Tom Cruise; my bad. :) Ahmadinejad can construct a logical argument & on the fly to boot.

 

I just watched an hour-long interview that Charlie Rose did with President Ahmadinejad prior to the Columbia U. presentation. Charlie in fact more or less asked my question and Ahmadinejad directly answered it. Charlie Rose

 

In short, Iran behaves culturally as well as most it seems to me; all the rock throwing by everyone is making the broom and glass companies a treasure. :doh: :)

[Queso]

got a link?