AHMADINEJAD AND BOLLINGER

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (10/1/07)

While Columbia University showed admirable courage by inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, to speak at the University recently, Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University, did a serious disservice to academic integrity and free speech with his rant against Mr. Ahmadinejad. While agreeing with nearly everything Mr. Bollinger said, an attack on Mr. Ahmadinejad’s character was out of order. Better that he had disputed things that Mr. Ahmadinjead has said and done, rather than calling him ignorant and stupid. As abhorrent as Mr. Ahmadinejad may be, he was an invited guest. Guests are not attacked. Also, Mr. Bollinger committed the fundamental logical fallacy of the argumentum ad hominem. He attacked the man rather than his argument, thereby vitiating his own point.

The purpose of the invitation was enhancing free speech. The invitation furthered that purpose. Mr. Bollinger set it back. The fact is that Mr. Ahmadinejad made such a fool of himself by his statements and arguments that he did not need to be publicly ridiculed. He is more than ignorant and stupid; he’s either deluded or hallucinatory.

Finally, Mr. Bollinger may have set back American foreign policy. His rant against Mr. Ahmadinejad may have made him more popular in Iran where his popularity is already marginal. An American academic bully boy would not play well in Iran. Clearly, the United States will be better off if Mr. Ahmaninejad disappears. Mr. Bollinger may have lengthened his tenure and, consequently, endangered all of us with his anally explosive self-righteousness.