Rice Faces Dissent During Boston College Graduation

Firstly, I think the responsibility rests entirely with the college administration. They were the ones who decided to invite Condi to address the college. Did they really think there would be no dissent?

Secondly, that administration chose to invite Condi Rice. They could have chosen a guest who was just as famous but nothing to do with the spurious war on terror.

Originally posted by Majic
Yes. It's an insult to the nature of the event itself.

Please don't think I'm just being picky by saying it's absurd to contend that "the nature of the event itself" can be insulted. It's an abstract concept and cannot take offence. People can be insulted, not events. This is wooly thinking, I'm afraid.

So who was insulted? a) Condi, for one; b) the University Administrators, arguably; and c) some students and parents at the graduation ceremony who agree with Rice about the War on Terror.

Well, if Condi wants to be a war criminal, she can take her lumps as far as I'm concerned. She's a politician and can look after herself. The Administration are to blame for the whole situation imo, and the only ones who deserve the merest scintilla of sympathy are in category c) above. And they, imo, should blame the University Administration for inviting someone so certain to cause controversy. They set on a course of action which almost guaranteed the disruption of the ceremony. If I drive my car at a wall and don't brake, is the wall to blame for my misfortune?

I'm reasonably sure that everyone present at this ceremony has more than enough opportunities to express their political views elsewhere.

To expect those students and faculty alike who disagree with the war to pass up the opportunity to express their opinions directly to someone as central as Condi Rice is just naive. No-one threw eggs, did they? All they did at the ceremony, as I understand it, was turn their backs on her, and I for one hope it had a profound effect on her. No-one inside shouted - the protesters, whom you said you would applaud, were shouting their slogans OUTSIDE, as your quotation shows. From what I've seen, those inside chose a dignified but nonetheless direct and shocking method of protest.

It is possible that people other than Condi Rice and the University Administration were upset by the demonstrations: they should blame the University for inviting someone they should surely have known was going to cause controversy.

And even if it was obnoxious, thank goodness it's still allowed. Thanks to Blair's brown-nosing attitude in the spurious War on Terror, peaceful protesters in the UK can be arrested for protesting an arms fair. All under the guise of anti-terror legislation.

First Amendment rights allegedly guarantee free speech, even if it is obnoxious.

What is left is a lasting image of intolerance, selfishness and vanity, to the enduring discredit of those exhibiting it.

One might say exactly the same of the Bush cabal.