I'm your private dancer
A dancer for money
Ill do what you want me to do
I'm your private dancer
A dancer for money
Any old music will do.
On Monday Ahmadinejad, the powerless representative and spokesman of the Islamic regime was invited to the Columbia University to address the students and answer some questions put to him. Lee Bollinger, Columbia’s president, introduced Ahmadinejad to the audience and put some questions to the Mullahs' spokesman about the treatment of women, homosexuals and the hanging of children and some other questions. He then told Ahmadinejad: “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.”
Lee Bollinger did wrong by providing Ahmadinejad the platform to spew his crazy ideas wrapped up in popular rhetoric of justice, peace and all that and his calling him an uneducated petty dictator does not put that right.
As with most good things, there are a few problems with democracy. In our free and democratic societies, and no matter how advanced and sophisticated as a whole we may be, there are many, millions rather than thousands, citizens who are gullible and vulnerable. These people have a right to vote and they do vote. They are often exploited by the home side politicians but to expose them to a known culprit terrorists such as Ahmadinejad is irresponsible.
Media in our free societies is one of the most important sources of information for the public. The media is the public forum for political, social and economic discussions and discourse. The free media therefore has heavy responsibilities. Some responsibilities are absolute and uncompromising and others are found on a balance. As the media is liable if it disseminates false financial and social information upon which the public rely and thereby suffer loss, so should the media be liable with regards to political misinformation. I do realise this is in fact impossible to enact. As it stands a media outlet could misinform the public about political issues and not be accountable to anyone. Disinformation comes in many shapes and forms. They are often subtle and undetectable and no media would risk losing face by outrightly misinforming its customers. However subtle diversions take place all the time and the public attention is deliberately diverted away from the real issues. A simple diversion from the real issues in hand that should be addressed is not a disinformation per se and perhaps would go totally unnoticed and unchallenged, but is dishonest and misleading in that the public are unable to make informed decisions about what they should think or how they should respond to the situation. Whilst it is the case that there are many points of view about many issues, there is a definite line that should be observed when it comes to the matters that involve the public interests and more importantly, safety and security. This line defines the boundaries within which the media bears its burdens and responsibilities as I mentioned above and all we can do is hope they abide!
On Tuesday, the day after Ahmadinejad had his uneasy reception at the Columbia University, He held a reception and invited over 50 journalists and reporters from the mainstream media to a lavish dinner at a New York hotel. What was the purpose behind it? Why should a president of a regime that is supporting terrorism in the Middle East including insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq to drive the forces of democracy away, invite 50 of the top American journalists to a dinner party? Apart from food, soft drink and Ahmadinejad smile, what else was on offer?
Ahmadinejad and the Islamic regime need good write ups, or at least diversions of the international focus from their misdeeds. They need the support of the Public in order to advance their agendas. Who can defeat the Bush Administration better than the American people?
Update: 1 Oct 2007
"Painting Iran prez as madman is counterproductive" This is a write up by Sheryl McCarthy. Was she invited to Ahmadinejad's dinner party?! I wonder!
On Wednesday, the day after the lavish dinner at the hotel, Christiane Amanpour interviewed Ahmadinejad and gave him further platform to put right what went wrong at the Columbia University and all that is available on that interview is this. (I cannot add the link but you can check it out on cnn.com)
If the CNN and indeed other media outlets do not like the president of the United States because they support the other party, they should still remember their duties and responsibilities to the people and country and not support or provide platforms to the terrorists to spew their crazy ideas. Remember, gullible's about and don't dance with the terrorists!