Useful Fools

The sad state of elite academia is indicated by the statement of Columbia’s acting Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs regarding Iranian terrorist leader Ahmadinejad’s visit.

Dean John Coatsworth seems unaware of 20th century history.

From The New York Sun:

[He] told [us] that if the Nazi leader had agreed to speak and answer questions at Columbia University in 1939, the event could have helped changed Hitler’s views of America and this country’s understanding of the intentions of the Hitler’s regime.

Obviously Dean Coatsworth doesn’t know his history:

• Hitler was an intelligent sociopath who could almost hypnotically mesmerize his audiences. A stunningly effective speaker, he crafted his speeches to his targets, just as Ahmadinejah targeted the left with his assertions that the US is seeking a pretext to attack Iran.
• Americans would have “learned” how good Nazi Germany was from a speech by the charming monster.
• Hitler would have “learned” how soft and easily mislead were Americans.
• The Nazi’s had significant support within the US - the German-American Bund and others.
• By 1940, the isolationist 800,000 America First Committee had Charles Lindbergh on its executive board and its views were prevalent among Americans. These and other isolationists wanted nothing to do with a “European War,” and would have seized upon Hitler’s statements (some no doubt aimed at them) to buttress their position.
• Reports of Nazi oppression of Jews were often greeted with skepticism, with anti-Semitism, perceived Jewish influence in media, and the sheer excess of the Nazi brutality leading many to disbelieve the accounts.

It would appear that, just as Columbia’s School of Journalism will issue a Masters Degree to students who have not taken one hard (math-based) science course, the Dean of International and Public Affairs is ignorant of history.

Would you want your kid to go there?