Letters, we get letters, we get lots and lots of letters!
We got this letter from Stephen D. in Iran about the article on the Iranian President.
First off, he is not a dictator. You apparently don't realize the Iranian government is structured in a way that makes that statement unfounded. (Yes we do, Bollingers statement compared him to a petty Dictator. He didn't say he was one!- ED.)
Bollinger's extension of an invitation to talk, if honest, that is, in the spirit of intellectual curiosity, an attempt to hear all sides on an issue, he should have been honorable and allowed the man to speak without the insults and recriminations. If the invitation was something other than honest, he should never had made it. He could have remained as closed minded and zenophobic as many of you commentors.
I don't think the Iranian regime is humane, just like most people. I think the hangings, the repression, the adherance to Shria law backward, but if you invite someone into your place, treat them with respect. If you have no respect for them, don't invite them.
But it is the regime that is backward.
Do you realize there is a culturly rich middle class in Iran (YES!)that dresses exactly like the most stylish people in ANY American city, that have intellectual pursuits as deep and meaningful as any Stanford, Princeton, Yale academic?
The majority of the population of Iran is under 30 years old, would prefer to have dealings with the West, does not support the backward ways of the regime and were it not for the repression would trade in the West's commodities, study in the same universities, perform Mozart, Bach, and Rachmaninoff on world stages, dance in Martha Graham choreographies, contribute to the academic pursuits of the world's leading physicists, physicians, philosophers, historians... Screwballs that would just as soon drop nuclear weapons on their heads as not may as well be killing people that look at and think about the world in a way no different than themselves....minus the zenphobia.
Your moralistic, nationalistic, mindless arrogance is frightening and very, very ugly.
Stephen D., Sep 29, 2007, 6:24pm EDT
(Again, no comment......... take it or leave it for what it's worth. - Allan)
Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
First off, he is not a dictator. You apparently don't realize the Iranian government is structured in a way that makes that statement unfounded. (Yes we do, Bollingers statement compared him to a petty Dictator. He didn't say he was one!- ED.)
Bollinger's extension of an invitation to talk, if honest, that is, in the spirit of intellectual curiosity, an attempt to hear all sides on an issue, he should have been honorable and allowed the man to speak without the insults and recriminations. If the invitation was something other than honest, he should never had made it. He could have remained as closed minded and zenophobic as many of you commentors.
I don't think the Iranian regime is humane, just like most people. I think the hangings, the repression, the adherance to Shria law backward, but if you invite someone into your place, treat them with respect. If you have no respect for them, don't invite them.
But it is the regime that is backward.
Do you realize there is a culturly rich middle class in Iran (YES!)that dresses exactly like the most stylish people in ANY American city, that have intellectual pursuits as deep and meaningful as any Stanford, Princeton, Yale academic?
The majority of the population of Iran is under 30 years old, would prefer to have dealings with the West, does not support the backward ways of the regime and were it not for the repression would trade in the West's commodities, study in the same universities, perform Mozart, Bach, and Rachmaninoff on world stages, dance in Martha Graham choreographies, contribute to the academic pursuits of the world's leading physicists, physicians, philosophers, historians... Screwballs that would just as soon drop nuclear weapons on their heads as not may as well be killing people that look at and think about the world in a way no different than themselves....minus the zenphobia.
Your moralistic, nationalistic, mindless arrogance is frightening and very, very ugly.
Stephen D., Sep 29, 2007, 6:24pm EDT
(Again, no comment......... take it or leave it for what it's worth. - Allan)
Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
Labels: columbia university, Iran, lee bollinger, president of iran
posted by Allan W Janssen | 6:39 p.m.
1 Comments:
I have to agree with Stephen D. to a large degree.
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