erosion of language Re: [xmca] Columbia events

From: Tony Whitson <twhitson who-is-at UDel.Edu>
Date: Tue Sep 25 2007 - 09:23:18 PDT

First, a quick correction: MARTY (not Mary) Moss-Coane (I think she's also
the producer for Terry Gross' Fresh Air, which more listeners might be
familiar with).
I was hoping that "Radio Times" transcripts are on Lexis/Nexis, but
apparently they'r not. (Other NPR programs like Morning Edition & All
Things Considered are transcribed there. Looks like Philadelphia WHYY
produced-shows are not).

To my topic for this post:
This affair illustrates concretely the consequences of eroding language.
Bollinger, following Bush and others, have taken to calling Ahmadinejad a
"dictator." While a case can be made for calling, say, Hugo Chavez a
dictator, Ahmadinejad is anything but that -- although we could be helping
him along.

Unless the word has lost its meaning, a dictator is somebody with
dictatorial power, as when Julius Caesar became "dictator for life." North
Korea's Kim would qualify for that, but Ahmadinejad actually has very
little power to decide or "dictate" the policy positions of Iran. By all
accounts, there has been substantial and growing criticism and opposition
to his political leadership within Iran. Most people I've heard since the
Columbia event yesterday predict that it will only strengthen him, and his
political position, within his own country. A bit more informed clarity,
and verbal & conceptual precision, might help avoid playing into this sort
of development, IMHO.

You can call him all kinds of things (demagogue, hate-monger, villan ...),
including maybe "would-be" or "wannabe" dictator; but an actual dictator
he is not, at least not for now.

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007, Ana Marjanovic-Shane wrote:

> There was a very interesting talk on the Public Radio "Radio Times" by Mary
> Moss-Coane with TRITA PARSI is President of the National Iranian-American
> Coalition and with HAMID DABASHI, a professor of Iranian Studies and
> Comparative Literature at Columbia University. If you care to listen to it,
> you can download the pod-cast here (probably tomorrow or later today when
> they give a link to it: http://www.whyy.org/cgi-bin/newwebRTlookup.cgi
> It will most probably become a pod-cast in a few hours.
>
> Both speakers agreed that the Columbia's President Bolinger did not handle
> this occasion well, because by blatantly attacking Ahmadinejad in his own
> school he made him (Ahmadinejad) look like a victim. There were many
> interesting points both had to say, and they did not always agree with each
-> other.
> Ana
>
> ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:
>> David:
>>
>> Providing a stage for a polarizing figure such as Ahmadinejad is exactly
>> how colleges have faired over the years. How does this preclude not
>> asking
>> difficult questions?
>>
>> eric
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> David
>> Preiss
>> <davidpreiss@uc. To: Activity Mind Culture eXtended
>> <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> cl>
>> cc:
>> Sent by: Subject: [xmca] Columbia events
>> xmca-bounces@web
>> er.ucsd.edu
>> 09/24/2007 09:36
>> PM
>> Please respond
>> to "eXtended
>> Mind, Culture,
>> Activity"
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear XMCArs,
>>
>> I followed from Chile the strange sequence of events at Columbia at
>> the international press. I was wondering if somebody wants to comment
>> the issues raised by the occasion. At least, for me, it is hard to
>> understand the final move made by L. Bollinger: to invite the iranian
>> president, and then to attack him verbally. What was that? If he
>> really thinks what he says, he should have not invited him, first
>> place. But if he made that, to excoriate the guy his institution was
>> inviting as a result of context pressure, then he is acting
>> hypocritically and using the hate the iranian president raises to
>> gain publicity. Too contradictory for me and anything but the way
>> academic life and free speech should be handled, in my opinion.
>>
>>
>> David Preiss, Ph.D.
>> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
>> Escuela de Psicología
>> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
>> Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
>> Macul, Santiago
>> Chile
>>
>> Fono: 3544605
>> Fax: 3544844
>> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
>> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
>> web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
> --
> //
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> /Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Ph.D./
> /151 W. Tulpehocken St./
>
> /Philadelphia//, PA 19144///
>
> /(h) 215-843-2909/
>
> /ana@zmajcenter.org <mailto:ana@zmajcenter.org>/
>
> /http://www.speakeasy.org/~anamshane <http://www.speakeasy.org/%7Eanamshane>/
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Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716

twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________

"those who fail to reread
  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
                   -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)

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Received on Tue Sep 25 09:31 PDT 2007

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