Defending the Indefensible
In this news story, Kennedy School Dean defends the school's invitation to former Iranian president Khatami.
"Do we listen to those that we disagree with, and vigorously challenge them, or do we close our ears completely?"
This is the kind of superficial moral reasoning that's designed to sound good, but really means nothing. The question isn't whether we "listen" to those with whom we disagree -- we can hardly "close our ears" when Khatami roams the country with a visa, speaks at the UN, and has access to the world media. The question is whether it was right for Harvard to honor a representative of America's enemy by extending to him an invitation to speak.
Would Harvard have extended an invitation to Adolf Hitler to speak? If so, there's nothing more to be said. But if not, then it shows that, in fact, there are people to whom Harvard would close its gates. And if that's the case, it's all a matter of judgment . . . and it makes it clear Harvard's dean simply doesn't believe that a terrorist and a thug, from an Islamofascist regime that's clearly shown its hostility to the U.S., should be barred from Harvard's podium.
Sometimes, it's not enough to strike a pose of "vigorous challenge" to evil. Opening a dialogue with it becomes a de facto defeat, as it offers pernicious ideas a forum and dignifies them with attention. That's why, presumably, Harvard wouldn't offer a podium to a representative of the KKK.
What we will tolerate speaks loudly about who we are. Amazing that the nation's oldest university would attempt to bar the military from its campus, while opening its arms to an enemy of the nation.
"Do we listen to those that we disagree with, and vigorously challenge them, or do we close our ears completely?"
This is the kind of superficial moral reasoning that's designed to sound good, but really means nothing. The question isn't whether we "listen" to those with whom we disagree -- we can hardly "close our ears" when Khatami roams the country with a visa, speaks at the UN, and has access to the world media. The question is whether it was right for Harvard to honor a representative of America's enemy by extending to him an invitation to speak.
Would Harvard have extended an invitation to Adolf Hitler to speak? If so, there's nothing more to be said. But if not, then it shows that, in fact, there are people to whom Harvard would close its gates. And if that's the case, it's all a matter of judgment . . . and it makes it clear Harvard's dean simply doesn't believe that a terrorist and a thug, from an Islamofascist regime that's clearly shown its hostility to the U.S., should be barred from Harvard's podium.
Sometimes, it's not enough to strike a pose of "vigorous challenge" to evil. Opening a dialogue with it becomes a de facto defeat, as it offers pernicious ideas a forum and dignifies them with attention. That's why, presumably, Harvard wouldn't offer a podium to a representative of the KKK.
What we will tolerate speaks loudly about who we are. Amazing that the nation's oldest university would attempt to bar the military from its campus, while opening its arms to an enemy of the nation.
posted by LadybugUSA at 6:34 PM
1 Comments:
Would Harvard have extended an invitation to Adolf Hitler to speak?
If not Hitler himself, certainly high-profile NAZIs did come to Harvard during the 1930s:
CITE
The Harvard University administration during the 1930s, led by President James Bryant Conant, ignored numerous opportunities to take a principled stand against the Hitler regime and its antisemitic outrages, and contributed to Nazi Germany's efforts to improve its image in the West. Its lack of concern about Nazi antisemitism was shared by many influential Harvard alumni and student leaders. In warmly welcoming Nazi leaders to the Harvard campus, inviting them to prestigious, high-profile social events, and striving to build friendly relations with thoroughly Nazified universities in Germany, while denouncing those who protested against these actions, Harvard's administration and many of its student leaders offered important encouragement to the Hitler regime as it intensified its persecution of Jews and expanded its military strength.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...
Post a Comment
<< Home