Ahmadinejad & the Ivy League

For over a decade, the Web has produced a litany of weasel words that infantilize an otherwise vital, democratizing medium (think of the wackiness of Google, emoticon and wiki, for example). The Columbia Spectator, the daily newspaper of Columbia University, falls into a similar – and, in many ways, understandable – trap. While offering exceptional insights into the impending speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Spectator chose “Ahmadineblog” for the name of its site devoted to the controversial speaking engagement. Other New York media outlets – the ever-reliable NY1, for example – have gone a more neutral route… On a related note, click here to view Ahmadinejad’s appearance on 60 Minutes, where he worked correspondent Scott Pelley like a can opener. (The 2006 interview by Mike Wallace, another 60 Minutes reporter whose pursed lips cracked into a smile while Ahmadinejad deflected hard-hitting questions, can be viewed here.)