Letters to the Editor
-
Cowards and Power
"Mr. President, I doubt that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions" - Bollinger
Well I wonder what would happen if an Iranian university invited Bollinger to speak. Would he accept or take his own intellectual courage, tuck it between his legs and run?
Bollinger had some good questions but Columbia invited the Iranian leader to speak, not to debate Bollinger. A debate sets different expectations and is understood to be adversarial by nature. Bollingers confrontation was a cheap shot and thus my conclusion of him as a coward and a boor.
As far as "speaking truth to power". Maybe Bollinger giving a simliar speech confronting Bush is speaking truth to power, but Bollinger is a citizen of the USA, which is the POWER, the power to wipe Iran off the map, the power to dismantle and destroy their infrastructure. What power does Iran have? The power to limit the amount of SUVs sold in the USA?
There is a larger context here, which is the script being pushed by neo-cons, and suckled on by the uncritical media, that has Iran being the next "new" evil country that needs to be toppled for freedom, Mom and apple pie. Oh and control of the oil is nice to.