Last week, the President of Iran was in New York for a United Nations summit. However while he was in New York, Columbia University invited him to be a guest speaker for the world leaders conferences they will be holding all year.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been a world leader of some infamy in the years since he became president of Iran. He was elected on the premise that he would solve Iran’s economic woes, and as of yet has done little to do so. However, he has held a two-day conference about the Holocaust of World War II being a myth and has been attempting to make Iran a nuclear power.
The nuclear power subject is one that does not concern me seeing as the United States has a very prolific nuclear arms system, one of the most powerful in the world. However the idea of a leader of a country being a Holocaust denier is a problem I have. What’s more is that someone that spreads propaganda that is wrong, being allowed to speak before a college campus is even worse.I understand that the United States has a very strong tradition of freedom of speech, and its citizens are allowed to speak about anything they want without being persecuted for their beliefs. However if someone is to speak at a conference on a college campus, a place of learning, the person should always be speaking of something factually based. And for someone to go and deny something that is known to have existed, by both eye witness account, recorded information, and actual human testimony from both prisoners and wardens, does not deserve the privilege no the right to speak on a campus of higher learning or any campus of learning for that matter.
The fact that Columbia did this is especially ironic because Columbia, which is located in New York City, is the home to the largest population of Jews in the world. This not only sends out a negative message to the campus but also one to the residents of the city.
It worries and perplexes me that a college of such standing and prestige would allow someone as fanatical as Ahmadinejad a platform to speak on, simply because he is famous and controversial. It also makes me think about how many people there are in the Bay Area that are similar in the respect that they have some political or public standing about something that is either morally objectionable or blatantly wrong. Would Skyline grant them clearance to speak simply because it would stir emotion or garner notice? I really think that they would, because of the old saying that even bad publicity is still publicity. I realize that every side of an argument should be heard, and that even a poor argument can start a constructive debate, but to have someone who’s major belief is in fact wrong speak in front of people is a bad idea.
In this case it is particularly dangerous because, Ahmadinejad is such a powerful speaker and in many ways a charismatic person. He is a leader and speaker very similar to that of Adolf Hitler and in my mind he is the first leader to have such sway with the people since Hitler. That is why it is so dangerous to have him on campus.
After all the Cultural Revolution in China started on college campuses and once that happened people started dying. I am not saying that this will necessarily happen but college campuses do need to be more cautious when inviting people to speak, because even though the school will get publicity, the minds of their students are far more important.