This week President Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke to students at Columbia University. The university among many in the media have declared this a victory for free speech and point out that this guy is a nut job. Less heard but still out there is the opinion that Columbia's decision to allow him to speak only gave him a pulpit in which he gets to use as propaganda back home. The fact that he actually got applause from the students only helps this cause.
The danger of this guy speaking is not that he looks like an idiot to us, that's the view of most Americans already. Remember, these guys don't go home and show the entire tape, they show the bits they want shown. What sounds like crude interpretation to us is elequent Farsi in Iran. He will be able to use this as spin back home to show how he went to America and "showed them the truth". Do you really think the challenging questions will even be shown? The "answers" sure will be and you can bet the farm the applause will be also. The effect in America, Zero. The effect in the Islamic world, priceless.
School of the Absurd - Victor Davis Hansen
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