i know it’s been several weeks since Iranian President Ahmadinejad visited Columbia University, but i have been too busy to fully write this post.  now i have a moment, and would like to share my thoughts on his visit and some things i’ve read “recently” (recently = a couple of weeks ago).

while i have mixed feelings about Ahmadinejad speaking at columbia, i don’t think that’s worth talking about. what is worth talking about is the result of him speaking at columbia.  everyone knew that he would push his religious agenda (like most religious-minded political leaders), but to introduce him as crudely as columbia’s president, lee bollinger, did was uncalled for.  i think Bollinger’s remarks, while true, were unnecessarily blunt.  tact is extremely important when dealing with the leader like Ahmadinejad (remember: strained relationship!). 

i agree with this article in the LA Times that concludes that Ahmadinejad got the points for showing up and taking a beating in a public forum.  i think we need to be careful about being so “in your face” about our stances, and learn that you can’t fight extremists with extremism.  it’s the same in kung fu.  you cannot fight a strong opponent with strength–whomever is bigger will win (whether right or wrong).  you must fight him by not being there when he strikes and using his strength against him.  sometimes, you have to do the opposite of what you’ve been socially trained to do.

something else the article points out is that this isn’t the first time columbia has had a controversial visitor at the college to speak.  nicholas butler, president of Columbia 1902-1944, invited hans luther, hitler’s ambassador to give a lecture.  that tidbit is fairly interesting piece of history.  i don’t think one can say that it’s right or wrong to invite a controversial leader to a college.  isn’t that part ofcollege?  presenting a variety of ideas and then discussing and evolving based on the results?

perhaps, but i think people lose site of that because they feel threatened.  if we were more confident in being open-minded about such visits, perhaps we could turn the results around as Ahmadinejad did.