Well, well, well
- Posted by Martin on September 30th, 2007 filed in General, Islamofascism, Journalism, Martin
Seems that Columbia has some, errrr, form, as far as coddling dictators goes.
In the 1930s, Columbia was run by Nicholas Murray Butler, to whose name a special sort of infamy attaches. Butler was an outspoken admirer of Italian fascism and of its leader, Benito Mussolini. The Columbia president, who also was in the forefront of Ivy League efforts to restrict Jewish enrollment, worked tirelessly to build ties between his school and Italian universities, as well as with the powerful fascist student organizations. At one point, a visiting delegation of 350 ardent young Black Shirts serenaded Butler with the fascist anthem.
What the hell is it with the American academy? They become intoxicated with every tyrant and tinpot thug that comes along, provided always that they are an enemy of America, natch.
Three years later, Butler sent a delegation of Columbia dignitaries to participate in anniversary celebrations at the University of Heidelberg. That was after Heidelberg had purged all the Jewish professors from its faculty, reformed its curriculum according to Nazi educational theories and publicly burned the unapproved books in its libraries.
It would be interesting to know if any consideration of these events — and all that followed a decade of engagement and dialogue with fascism — occurred before Columbia extended a speaking invitation to a man who hopes to see Israel “wiped off the face of the Earth,” has denied the Holocaust and is defying the world community in pursuit of nuclear weapons. Perhaps they did and perhaps that’s part of what motivated Lee Bollinger, Columbia’s president now, to deliver his extraordinarily ill-advised welcoming remarks to Ahmadinejad.
The arrant stupidity of these self-involved narcissists defies belief. It satisfied Bollinger’s vanity to invite this crackpot anti-Semite to speak at his school, and it further satisfied his vanity to rip him a new one before hearing him. I hope there are some Columbia alumni who have offered their reaction to this display of self-adulation, namely removing their ongoing financial support until this infantile posturing ends.
And of course, Bollinger’s showing-off provided a distraction that enabled the media to continue their studied refusal to take this psychopath at his word, and withhold informing the American public about his absolute evil.
As a fundamentally secular institution, the American press always has had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Islamists like the Iranian president mean what they say and that they really do believe what they say they believe.
Read the whole thing and then visit comments; sample:
Funny how you label Ahmadinejad a mass murderer for talking about the downfall of a country when George Bush is actually doing it! Point your outrage to the source of the problems in the world, this administration.
Yes, you will note again the left’s willingness to excuse absolutely anything because the ultimate evil resides at the White House.
The Word-Drum says:
“…remove finacial support until infintle posturing ends”
Done (GSAS 82). So what, they have so many rich Liberal donners it doesn’t matter and they can’t help themselves or see their own foolishness. Many like me have written comments and complained of a basic ignorance of jihad and Marxist profs doing permanent damage to young people. We’ll see if all the scorn will penatrate the refined air they breath. But don’t hold your breath.