Thursday, December 07, 2006

Free speech for all some at Columbia

Here’s the quote of the day from Iranian ambassador Javad Zarif in “Iranian ambassador makes inflammatory remarks about Holocaust, Fox News at Columbia University”:

A number of students attending his talk, hosted Wednesday evening on campus by a Columbia University international studies group called Toward Reconciliation, loudly voiced their disagreement with his statements.

"Do I have a right to freedom of expression?" Zarif challenged. "I'm answering. If you want to stifle the right of people to freedom of expression, that's your problem, not mine."
Ha-ha! But of course Holocaust deniers will always have a place at Columbia. It’s these guys who don’t have the right to free speech, dagnabbit.

Extra – Free speech guy Nat Hentoff on Columbia’s disgrace:

On October 4, at a Columbia University event sponsored by the College Republicans, Jim Gilchrist, leader of the anti-immigration Minutemen—as has been reported far and wide—was physically and furiously prevented from speaking by a mob of righteous gauleiters, some of whom were roaring, "He has no right to speak!"

To again bring into the conversation Mr. Orwell—who did not benefit from a Columbia University education—he had the heretical belief that "if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
There’s some irony for you: students at the premiere journalism school in America were lectured on free expression by Ahmadinejad’s puppet.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is with these mainstream lefties and their fear of free speech? Why can't they be open-minded and tolerant, like everyone on the right?

P.S. Don't read this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/27/ap/national/mainD8LL49880.shtml

Eric said...

Yep, exactly the same. A wreath (complaint dropped) vs. an Ivy league college stifling those awful Minutemen.

Anonymous said...

Nothing is exactly the same, not even the ingredients in those various cream pies of fascism. But if we're on to spotting differences, there are small differences between self-validating pockets of 20-year-old loudmouth a-holes, and official organizations of reputedly mature grownups.

But rock on. If we ever acknowledged that there is no mass movement to silence the free speech of the right, MichelleMalkin.com would have to go dark.

We do agree, however, that those Columbia radicals were wrong to lock Jim Gilchrist in a chokehold and slam him to the floor just for speaking his mind..... oh.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061031/D8L3SP200.html

Eric said...

Hey, that reminds me of this classic moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-m-MOh0VcI

Well, while you may see small differences between caffeinated students and Colorado homeowners, I see institutions of "higher learning" drowning out free speech while cowardly college officials shrug their shoulders.

Whattayagonna do? Crazy kids!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah? The 0.000000000100700002% most embarrassingly assholish of YOUR side's partisans are MUCH worse for America than the 0.000000000100700002% obnoxious jerks on MY side!

YOUR jerks must be stopped!