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Boortz Calls UGA Columnist a Coward

by Josh Cagliani
11/08/2007

A storm was brewing heading into the speech by Neal Boortz in the Georgia Hall at the Tate Student Center on Monday night after Boortz was blasted in an article in The Red and Black earlier in the day.

Zaid Jilani, a University of Georgia sophomore from Kennesaw who wrote the article, was called out by Boortz at the speech. Boortz wanted Jilani to explain his views and offered Jilani the opportunity to speak to the entire audience.

Jilani was nowhere to be found and that led to Boortz calling him a “coward,” which received loud applause from the crowd.

This leads to the question, can anyone take Jilani seriously? First, he says he is a “huge defender of free speech” and then complains because the speaker the University Union has chosen to speak does not see eye-to-eye with him.

“I thank them for inviting diverse voices on the campus, even if I personally think some of them are embarrassingly wrong in their point of view,” Jilani said in his article on the guests the College Republicans often invite to speak on campus. “But this is different."

I fail to see how this is any different. Jilani’s arguments in his article were not backed up by real evidence demonstrating why Boortz was different than some of the left-wing speakers that have come to campus. This is also coming from the same guy who has defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Boortz isn’t trying to make friends with anyone. His main concern is his listeners, not pleasing the left. On his radio show, Boortz tells all his listeners to not take him at his word, but research the issues themselves.

Secondly, Jilani did not show up to the event to defend his positions. Boortz gave him several chances to speak throughout the night and was looking forward to having a discussion with Jilani.

Boortz is not afraid of confrontation. Anyone who has ever listened to his show would know that he will let people speak their mind. However, in many cases, the guests may seem uneducated to Boortz.

At the speech, Boortz discussed the people’s ability to vote, in which he said there should be a “criterion” for voters to be eligible. For him, many voters do not know enough about the issues to make a sound decision.

“Mr. Boortz doesn't have to actually research what he says, or make logical arguments, or maintain academic decorum - you know, the kind of stuff we students have to do in freshman English 1101 classes,” Jilani said in his article.

That statement is contradicted by a trip to Boortz’s website. He posts links to stories and information that support his so-called “brand of hate-radio extremism” everyday.

Boortz, who has the fifth-most listened to talk show in America, according to Talkers Magazine, generally doesn't make unsupported arguments. With nearly four million listeners, you are going to have a hard time convincing me that he is fooling that many people.

“He's just a bully who sets his sights on a defenseless target,” Jilani said in his article. This is yet another hole in the long list of complaints Jilani has of Boortz.

Boortz wanted Jilani to defend himself for the article he had written. Jilani is not defenseless, like those he claims Boortz picks on. In fact, Jilani has an avenue through The Red and Black to actively defend himself. He even had the opportunity to defend himself in person.

Jilani was mad because Boortz called minimum wage workers "pathetic." When Boortz called minimum wage workers “pathetic,” he was referring to those who have spent an entire lifetime and never picked up a job skill that could improve their economic status, not students who are working a minimum wage job just to get through school.

Jilani is upset that his student fees are being used to bring people like Boortz to speak on campus. I, for one, am more than happy to have that money used on people like Boortz. The high attendance at the speech showed me others were not upset of the use of student fees either.

Perhaps Jilani had an emergency or deadline and was unable to attend. Perhaps to express his opposition, he chose to not attend. Whatever the reason, it is a shame that Jilani was not in attendance to have responded to Boortz. It would have made for an even more interesting event.