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| The Right To Listen! Oct. 5, 2007 The fact that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak to 600 students at Columbia University created a firestorm of debate about “free speech.” It appears that some people believe that the only people who should have that right are those with whom they agree. If “they” don’t like someone “they” think that nobody should hear what that person has to say. Our Rights under the First Amendment are not just to allow people to speak or the press to write, it is to make sure that nobody conceals information from all of the people - it is the people’s Right to Know that the First Amendment really protects! We don’t agree with what we heard of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech and positions, and we certainly don’t like the idea that he might be supplying arms to Iranian insurgents to use against American troops - but we have to listen to the other side, also. There is an old saying about “know your enemy” - and it would have been nice if the people in charge knew something about the enemy BEFORE we invaded Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam. And let’s keep the facts straight - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak by the School of International Relations at Columbia University. Those are graduate students (over 21) who are supposed to be learning how to deal with foreign countries, governments and leaders. To tell them they should not hear the beliefs and attitudes of the President of a major country would be akin to telling a research scientist that he (or she) should never listen to the thoughts of a research scientist from an unfriendly country.
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