[Buddha-l] Re: buddha-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 17

[Richard Hayes]

On Thu, 2007-10-18 at 19:38 +0200, Joy Vriens wrote:

> >Although I find Ahmadinejad a bit of a crackpot, I quite like him. He's a  
> >charming crackpot, don't you think? Elihu, you'll probably want to read my  
> >blog in which I extend an apology on behalf of the American people for the  
> >unconscionably shoddy treatment the Iranian president received in New York  
> >and on 60 Minutes. 

> I think he got a proper reception and that all leaders of countries
> where people are executed and who talk and act agressively ought to be
> received in the same manner.

I have never seen any situation improved by rudeness and hostility. If
Ahmadinejad is aggressive (a claim for which I see no evidence
whatsoever, but I'll let that pass), then surely his character is not
going to be improved by being treated rudely. Someone I once heard of
said that hatred is never overcome by hatred; it is overcome only by
love. Suffice it so say that Ahmadinejad's reception at Columbia
University and by the boorish twit who interviewed him on the "60
Minutes" television tabloid was hardly what one would hope for if one
took Buddhist principles at all seriously.


-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico