Scotland's leading university (and one of the oldest in the UK) has awarded Khatami an honorary doctorate of laws, presented by the Chancellor, sir Minging Campbell. Khatami is in St Andrews to open the University's Institute of Iranian Studies, and the award was to honour Khatami's contribution to "inter-faith dialogue". Dean Godson (see link) in The Times is not amused.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Brian Lang announces:
In the current global climate where many tensions arise and are exacerbated by a lack of dialogue, former President Khatami's attempts to nurture communication and understanding between faiths, cultures and civilisations represent an opportunity to address and resolve conflicts by talking, rather than by aggression. Universities and academia have an important role to play in analysing, interpreting and, where appropriate, recognising the value of such work. We cannot always take the comfortable option; our task is to challenge and to stimulate discussion in the search for deeper understanding. In these times of tension and confrontation, I believe Mohammad Khatami's approach offers the prospect of a courageous and refreshing alternative.
Read Dean Godson's piece and ask yourself how Dr Lang can believe this.
6 comments:
IOW, the august ayatollah is the Muslim jihadist Good Cop the academics have been yearning for.
Should we call Khatami's Scottish mentors Khatamites? Seems an appropriate nomenclature, particularly as they are LibDems.
Which reminds me of what Mae West said when an envious friend eyed her new fur coat and asked, "What did you have to do to get another mink?" She replied, "Same as a mink does to get another mink, darling!"
Or was that Zsa Zsa Gabor?
Or maybe some other ga-ga whore?
That's excellent, Frank.
In the current global climate where many tensions arise and are exacerbated by a lack of dialogue, former President Khatami's attempts to nurture communication and understanding between faiths, cultures and civilisations represent an opportunity to address and resolve conflicts by talking, rather than by aggression.
I wonder whether John Paul II was ever so honored by a UK university, and if not . . . why not?
We'll have to ask Sir Mink Campbell to do that, he seems a game girl.
Khatamites is perfect.
Academics should be discouraged from making public statements, it always end in tears. This is akin to giving Rudolf Hess a Nobel Peace Prize. Which come to think of it is probably exactly what the Committee would do if the old fraud hadn't finally gone to hell.
Khatamites, indeed. Frank, you have a fine ear for non-PC puns.
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