Rice Speaks to Mich. Grads Amid Protests

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040507/ap_on_go_pr_wh/rice_speech_1

Rice Speaks to Mich. Grads Amid Protests

By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer

EAST LANSING, Mich. - As dozens of people protested outside, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) urged Michigan State University graduates not to let "history's failures and cruelties" dampen their optimism.

Rice's visit on Friday came amid a growing prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq (news - web sites) and drew about 100 protesters outside the basketball arena where she spoke.

"The first obligation of the educated person is to be optimistic," she said during the commencement address. "The more we learn about history's failures and cruelties, the more our minds are tempted to despair.

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Way to go, Michigan!

"Condoleezza Rice has a lot of influence on how we are perceived by the world," Aaron Stuttman, 46, of Lansing. "That perception does not foster unity or humanitarianism."

Love that quote!

Especially with the Bush cabal running things. It is harder to be optimistic when you understand the poverty, despair and environmental destruction going on. What a waste of a good education you are.

It's disgusting and disgraceful for them to show up on a campus to spew their sickening propaganda.

It shows an amazing arrogance and disrespect to the entire student body and faculty! Who invites them to speak, anyway?

:puke:

Peter McPherson

If this Administration had any inkling of History things may have been different.

She was to teach * about world affairs!

The clueless leading the stupid!

http://www.lsj.com/news/local/040508_web_ricespeech.html

Sounds awefully contradictory and inconsistent with she and her
colleagues' behavior.

<snip>

Third, the educated have an obligation to work to close the cultural gaps that divide our nation and our world. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, it would have been easy, in our grief and our anger, to retreat behind a wall of defeatism and discrimination. But that is not the American way. We did not close our borders to the tens of thousands of students from Muslim countries seeking to study here. Even as we have done the necessary and important work of improving our visa screening, we have continued to welcome people from other nations and we need to do more to let people know that they are indeed welcome. This response says a lot about our Nation. At a fundamental level, it underscores our faith in diversity and individual rights.

The intellectual foundation of terrorism - just like that of slavery and segregation - rests on arbitrarily dividing the human race into friends and enemies, even human and non-human. The perpetrators of 9/11 were people who believed that differences are a license to kill. One of the great benefits of the years you have spent on this campus is the extraordinary diversity you have been exposed to. You know better than most of the world that differences should not be a source of fear, but an opportunity to learn.

Whatever field or profession you choose for your life’s work, you will continue to meet people from different areas, different backgrounds, different cultures, and different religions. Because of what you have learned here, you will always carry with you the obligation to help bridge divides in culture and understanding.

Fourth, you have an obligation not to let your education and good luck lead you into false pride or condescension. All people are bound together by several common desires. Never make the mistake of assuming that some people do not share your desire to live freely ... to think and believe as they see fit ... to raise a family and educate their children. Never make the mistake of assuming that some people do not desire the freedom to chart their own courses in life.

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I read recently that the number of foreign students enrolling in colleges here has dropped dramatically since 9/11. She is f***ing clueless as usual.

"The intellectual foundation of terrorism - just like that of slavery and segregation - rests on arbitrarily dividing the human race into friends and enemies, even human and non-human."

Gee, this sounds an awful lot like "You're either with us or agin us.."

isn't that what BUSH was saying?

stupid gap toothed cow fascist..

She speaks through a credibility gap! :kick:

:kick:

i think she saw all the cartoons with writing and
objects and such stuffed in the gap between her
teeth.

Gosh the irony ...

Yes, Cunnilingus Rice, the more we learn about YOUR failures and YOUR cruelties, the better off we're all gonna be.

What a piece of shit. I can't believe they didn't just throw rotten meat at her.

"The first obligation of the educated person is to be optimistic,"

No,your first obligation is to do your job and use your mind.

Something you have proven yourself incapable of.

When reading the one excerpted quote:

"The more we learn about history's failures and cruelties...."

I *totally* expected her to finish with:

"... the more effective we can be at oppressing other countries and covering up the associated atrocities for which we are responsible."

this story is well over 12 hours old, in violation of Late Breaking News posting rules.