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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a speech at Columbia University on Monday, September 24th in which he speculated on:
1.) The possibility of the Holocaust having not occurred.
2.) Iranian women being "the freest in the world."3.) Gay people not existing in Iran.
4.) Why scientists should consider the possibility that the moon is actually made not actually of blue cheese, but feta. (Okay, this claim I made up but compared to the other shit coming out of this guy's mouth this statement would've fit right in.)
His appearance at the school was a sort of primer for the speech he gave on Tuesday to the United Nations in which he declared the issue of Iran's nuclear research "closed".
Sure, everyone can agree that freedom of speech is a good thing. It's great! But when people think that they're being forced to extend this right to dictators with well documented pasts of committing crimes against humanity, their feelings can quickly change.The college president, Lee Bollinger prefaced Ahmadinejad by saying, "It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices." He also cited the quotable expression about how free speech is "an experiment, as all life is an experiment." and apologized in advance for any suffering that giving this speaker a public forum would cause.
He finished on this subject, "In the moment, the arguments for free speech will never seem to match the power of the arguments against, but what we must remember is that this is precisely because free speech asks us to exercise extraordinary self-restraint against the very natural but often counterproductive impulses that lead us to retreat from engagement with ideas we dislike and fear. In this lies the genius of the American idea of free speech."
Bollinger furthered the introduction by condemning the government of Iran for unjust imprisonment, public executions, and other violations of human rights.
I think free speech can transcend politics. I think that debate in all forms is usually a good thing and I really think Columbia's prez eloquently expressed this--His thoughts on freedom of speech were the best I've ever heard in my life.
The University of Florida hosted Senator John Kerry in a speaking forum Monday which went according to planned until a UF student took over the microphone and began to ramble on like... Well... He sounded off like a left-wing political pundit after ingesting a few hits of strong ecstasy.
His line of half-serious, half-loaded questioning was abruptly ended when he was seized by police.
The chaos that follows is disturbing. The student is wrestled to the floor and then tazered by police.
I know that this video will be politicized like hell over the following days as an argument platform for both liberals and conservatives. It will most likely be taken out of context and replayed in the light that fits the agenda of whoever it is that's showing it. Here is the next day's article by the Associated Press.
I've personally witnessed crazy conspiracy-theorists go apeshit at UF's speaking engagements in the past. They are usually wearing sweatpants; eyes as red as stoplights they slur out how they found this obscure internet site that can prove direct correlation between IBM and George Bush's cooperation with Nazi Germany.
These people are usually sad, tragic figures that get out their question with a mental eye roll from the speaker and a spattering of snickers from the audience.
I have seen people ushered off by the event staff, but never like this...
I guess my take on the whole fiasco is that while I admire the kid's tenacity, he was kind of a moron. Sure he made everyone feel a little uncomfortable, but sometimes that's what it takes to get an "honest" answer out of politicians. But it's like, "Hey kid! Dude, if you're going to get yourself arrested AND tazed, make sure it's for something other than looking like a huge crybaby."
Literary agent blogger Nathan Bransford and author Anne Dayton recently judged over 500 online entries to determine what makes a great opening hook. The "Stupendously Ultimate First Line Challenge", as it was formally named saw sentences ranging from transgressive splatterpunk imagery to purple-prose, literary aims to heavy-fisted schlock, but also some very solid writing. Most of the contestants realized the intrinsic spirit of fun that was the goal of the SUFLC, but within hours of announcing the finalists Bransford resigned to switch the voting to write-ins only because of "irregular activity", i.e. skulduggery.
And now... In no particular order, my top nine favorite first-liners **with comments.**
1.)lafreya said...
Here is the question the people of my hometown of Vigilant, Michigan want answered: Why did I, Grace Johnson, an African-American high school senior, an honor student, take two bullets to protect the life of the white supremacist jackass Jonathan Gilmore?
**The character Grace juxtaposed by jackass Jonathon really grabs my attention.**
2.)Conduit said...
His hands just looked dirty to casual eyes, a slight darkening on the knuckles, a shadow on his palm.
**This is a pretty good line. You can read into it a variety of ways and it's honest.**
3.) Church Lady said...
I was unaware of being watched.
**Although to me there's a disjunct of the narrator being 'unaware' while simultaneously 'watched', it grabbed my attention. I would even dare to call it a one sentence suspense story.**
4.)James Bailey said...
I had a professor my junior year in college who told us that one day we'd each wake up and realize we hated our lives, and that this knowledge would set us free. From my novel, THE GREATEST SHOW ON DIRT.
**I read your response to Amused Lurker that Nathan had already passed on your query for this work. But imagine the irony if this sentence would have won. It's good. I like it.**
5.)eric hill said...
It was a time of Miles,Coltrain,and Warhol; a time when the answer was blowing in the wind and we were all Dharma bums howling on the Coney Island of the Mind while the English were reinventing Rock-n-Roll and men eighteen to thirty-five were looking for some way out of the draft.
**This sentence conjures up the ghost whisperings of a favorite author. I enjoy zeitgeist pieces. You dig?**
6.)derek said...
I'd only been in love with her for ten minutes when everything turned to shit.
**A wedding in Las Vegas. It's all playing out before me in my mind.**
7.)dramabird said...
The gates of the Emerald City were rotting.
**I like the metaphor of a doomed city--Steven King did it in 'Hearts in Atlantis'. Excellent**
8.)trenchgold said...
The sky was a sloppy Picasso.
**Made me thing of a drunk looking at, but maybe not really 'seeing' the starry night. Very evocative of a perfection soured. Anyone who uses the word sloppy and Picasso in the same sentence gets a nod from me.**
9.)Matt said...
They came from the east, devastating the crops and leaving tiaras and cloak-pins in their wake.
**The British are coming! This is surreal and would I hope to find something in it akin to the work of Tom Robbins.**
Everybody's joining in on the hoopla, throwing in their two cents about how this lady is (to quote Steely Dan Jethro Tull), "thick as a brick." Now I enjoy watching beautiful people making complete idiots out of themselves as much as the next guy, but if I had to throw an alternate theory out there it would be that Miss South Carolina's a genius, or at least advanced in the knowledge of how to prolong that 15 minutes of fame. She did the shit on purpose.
I think:
1.) She realizes that she probably won't win the damn competition anyway.
2.) She realizes that in terms of media exposure, sheer stupidity trumps intelligence nine out of oh... nine times.
3.) Dunkin Donuts has got great coffee.
I can't say I blame her. You know those "person on the street" interviews that Jay Leno does where he asks questions like, "Who was the first president of the US". The people who answer George Washington Carver, or Abraham Lincoln, these are the people who "get it". I'll bet dollars to donuts (or cups of java from dunkin donuts) that she's on a reality t.v. show in six months. If not, then in a year (just as the last person in the country is forgetting about her) she'll take the Paris Hilton route a la "One Night in South Carolina".
Hangovers are funny little buggers. I woke up this morning feeling a bit woozy after a few Red Stripes too many (courtesy of The Traveling Monkey) that we had at the little tiki bar, or "Hemingway Bar" here in Bluewater.
After a long day of looking for used cars in the little shit box dearerships around FWB we decided it was time for a well deserved beer or two... or three, four, five...arg. I forgot to ask the bartender which Muzak or Sirius channel she had it on, but they were playing some really good music--Counting Crows, Nirvana, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, that kind of stuff which was a welcome change from the honky tonk, country music that droned in every office of every used car salesman we talked to all day.
This place really is great. It's got a view of the harbor and the boats and for anyone who's reading this that knows of LJ Schooner's I dare you to describe it as anything other than "picturesque". For bonus points, the only bartenders I guess this place hires are attractive females. In the words of Mr. Burns.... Excellent Smithers...
Last night there was an eclectic mix of people hanging around sucking on their bottles like hungry infants. Some kid that goes to school in Orlando and is supposedly something of a golfing phenom was drinking with his dad. He explained to me in great detail that the key to golf when taking a shot is to think of a ham sandwhich. There you go, a ham sandwich. I'm pretty sure you can substitute lunchmeats or even wheat for rye, but the point is to let your mind relax without overthinking your swing. Sounds good to me.
There was this hilarious drunk redheaded girl that had the most infectious giggle; a cool dog too, I think it was a lab and pitbull mix. Other characters included: three Air Force guys obviously recovering from a long weekend, weird/creepy pipe smoking mp3-player-listening-to-guy, a babyfaced biker kid that was somehow connected to the hilarious redhead, a couple of bleary-eyed old boat captains, and of course the bartender.
It was all pretty standard happenings I guess. The golfing guy's dad fell down the steps and onto the floor, but other than a bruised ego I think he was OK. The bartender gave us a crash course on the enigma which is the fake/polite female laugh. The creepy guy continued to be creepy and the biker guy turned out to be the roommate of the hilarious drunk redheaded girl, although as of this blogging they are "just friends". Poor guy, I have the feeling that I'll be seeing him there more often than I want to.
The TM and I finished the night off with a bite at the Awful Waffle. The bartender and the roomates asked us to meet them for drinks at the only bar that was close by and open but it was already late and the day had been long.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a speech at Columbia University on Monday, September 24th in which he speculated on:
