Monday, October 01, 2007

Academic freedom and doers vs. talkers

Mark Steyn op/eds today about the Ahmadinejad (aside: I'm hoping that I never get beyond having to looking the proper spelling of his name) appearance at Columbia. ("But Enough about Iran, Let’s Talk about Me!").

There's a lot of good stuff in there (e.g., Steyn invents the term "Hoogivsastan"--Southern Beale will find plenty of uses for that, I'd bet), but the last line (in the context of Liberal academe patting itself on the back for hosting the little fella) is really good:
"The pen is not mightier than the sword if your enemy is confident you will never use anything other than your pen. Sometimes it’s not about “freedom of speech,” but about freedom. Ask an Iranian homosexual. If you can find one."

2 comments:

Litzz11@yahoo.com said...

Steyn invents the term "Hoogivsastan"--Southern Beale will find plenty of uses for that, I'd bet

I don't get it.
Hey, I TOLD you I read your blog!

ned said...

Dang, I was hoping that little jab wouldn't reach your ears :).

What made me think of you (when I read that word) was your comment the other day that we wouldn't have to care about what happened in the middle east if they didn't have oil.

I don't think you really believe that . . . was it an isolationist bone thrown to Conservatives that you perceived would engender support for energy independence?