Ted Turner provokes and offends in Brown University address

AP, Providence Journal ^ | 2/12/02

[Dane]

Home News Opinion Sports Your Life Weather Classifieds About Us 02.12.2002 10:10 A.M.

Ted Turner provokes and offends in Brown University address

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Speaking to an overflow crowd of about 500 people at his alma mater, Ted Turner called the World Trade Center terrorists "brave," compared President Bush to Julius Caesar and praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

The AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman spoke Monday night at Brown University, which he attended until being dismissed in 1960 for having a girl in his room. It was only 12 years ago, after he'd become a cable TV mogul, that the Ivy League school awarded Turner his undergraduate degree.

In a wide-ranging address, Turner said: "The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life."

Of the 19 men who hijacked the planes that hit the tower, he said: "I think they were brave at the very least." The Providence Journal reported he then asked for a show of hands from those who would act as suicide bombers for their country, but none was raised.

A fewer other highlights from Turner's speech:

- On the 2000 election: "A few more votes in Florida, and we could have had the best environmental president we ever had. Now we've got an oil man. He (President Bush) is like another Julius Caesar. Just what we need."

- On property rights: "You buy it and you can share it," Turner told a student from Montana who asked if he'd allow public access to his vast landholdings in that state. "Can I live in your home with you? We believe in private property in this country."

[Dane]

.

[FreedomPoster]

The Mouth of the South was totally warped leftwards by his time with Hanoi Jane.

[dfwgator]

"The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life."

Oh yeah, that Osama bin Laden is so poor.

[isthisnickcool]

When Turner gives all his money away I'll start listening to him.

[oldvike]

Honestly, I am not offended in the least that comes out of Turner's mouth. He has proven himself so dimwitted in the past that I just laugh at the guy. He's actually quite pathetic.

Stick to business, Ted. Leave the politics to those with common sense.

[seamus]

How's that for irony, the area in ANWR that "Ceasar" wants to approve oil drilling is smaller than the ranch that the Mouth of the South owns in Montana. And this great "environmentalist" wishes his president was Al Gore -- a man who would take away the right for people like "Mr. Property Rights" Turner to buy and use large swaths of land as they see fit.

Then again, logic and good sense are two traits not normally attributed to Turner.

[Phantom Lord]

Ted Turner gave a speech in support of imposing a 1 child limit in the US. After the speech a reporter asked him about his having 5 children. His reply... "To late to kill them now."

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Turner said: "The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life."

First of all that is factually incorrect. Being poor has never translated into crime/hate. Having no moral has. And second, if that's the problem, Ted, why are you perpetuating it by hoarding your money. Can't you survive on, say $1 million? Give the rest to the "people with no hope." Let's see them suddenly turn around.

[Ratatoskr]

And Brown University students were offended by this? Well, that's a step in the right direction.

[ForGod'sSake]

Oh yeah, that Osama bin Laden is so poor.

Right, and Ted Turner is a poor excuse for a human being!

FGS

[Rebelbase]

"When Turner gives all his money away I'll start listening to him. "

Exactly. Turner's hypocracy is like a turd telling a flower something stinks.

[Fintan]

Turner said: "The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life."

Thanks for clearing that up, Ted. I never realized that the way to end world poverty was to hijack four planes and slaughter 4000+ innocents.

See, Ted, I was always one of these idiots who believed that maybe people live in "abject poverty" because they tolerate the totalitarian and/or socialist governments that destroy people's individuality and spirit and overhtrow or undermine private enterprises that create industries and jobs and feed a healthy economy which encourages everyone to participate, make their own decisions and thrive.

Silly me.

[Slip18]

"Ted Turner gave a speech in support of imposing a 1 child limit in the US. After the speech a reporter asked him about his having 5 children. His reply... "To late to kill them now."

Sounds as if he belongs in China to me. Oh, and they do kill children there.

[tracer]

Oh, but don't forget that this Great American gave $1 billion to the UN last year. And we all know that the UN will take good care of the Poor Without Hope, now don't we? /sarcasm>

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

It's obvious that Turner is a life-long drug-user. His brain has been fried for decades.

[NittanyLion]

We believe in private property in this country.

Unless we need to usurp the rights of property owners to protect the environment, right Ted?

What a goofball.

[oldvike]

Well, he DID give $100,000,000 to the United Nations. Of course, that's just as bad as giving your money to terrorists, IMO.

[willieroe]

Additionally, on the Providence Journal website is an article on Turner's speech from a staff reporter:

Turner Urges Students to Save World

• The media mogul tells a packed audience at Brown University that threats of nuclear war, overpopulation and environmental exploitation are putting the world at the brink.

BY GERALD M. CARBONE -- Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- In a speech at Brown University that some students called entertaining, offensive, and "kind of kooky," media mogul Ted Turner last night defended private-property rights and praised communist dictator Fidel Castro; called the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center "brave" men, then decried all violence as "stupid and uncivilized"; and warned students that Earth's environment will probably "collapse" in their lifetimes.

Speaking before an overflow crowd of more than 500 people in Salomon Auditorium, Turner compared himself to a modern Paul Revere, crying out, "To arms, to arms, environmental degredation is coming!"

The world is on the brink of collapse, Turner said, because of the threats of nuclear war, population explosion, and enviornmental exploitation.

In comparing the state of the world to a baseball game, Turner, owner of the Atlanta Braves, said it's like "the seventh inning and we're down by two" runs. "There's still time to avoid catastrophe. . . . We need to get a good closer in there and just shut them down. Not John Rocker," he said, referring to the former Braves pitcher whose comments about gays, minorities, and New Yorkers offended legions.

Turner's talk was titled "Our Common Future," but at times it was tough to discern a common theme. He began with a summary of his undergraduate days at Brown University, leading to his dismissal from campus in 1960 for having a girl in his room. ("It was either that or stay in the snow and she'd freeze to death. And I got caught.")

As Turner grew "more and more successful in business" -- and won the America's Cup off Newport -- Brown made overtures about welcoming him back to the community; eventually former Brown President Vartan Gregorian awarded him an undergraduate degree.

"So I graduated from Brown at 50," said Turner, now a white-haired 62. "Now I can say I'm a college graduate -- something Bill Gates can't do."

Turner segued to 1980, when he was drafting plans for the 24-hour Cable News Network (CNN). That's when he had to "bone up" on global issues and identified nuclear war, population growth, and the environment as mankind's most pressing problems.

He then produced a cartoon called "Captain Planet" to influence children to work for environmental causes. He asked audience members who had seen the cartoon to raise their hands, and he seemed pleased when most of the college-aged students did. "I thought of Captain Planet," Turner said. "In fact, I am Captain Planet."

Turner said that people in developed nations must adopt a global outlook and help those in developing nations. "The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don't have any hope for a better life," he said.

Of the 19 men who hijacked the planes that hit the towers, he said, "I think they were brave at the very least." He asked for a show of hands of people who would act as suicide bombers for their country and got none.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session, Turner revealed that despite the global reach of his media properties, he is something of a technophobe: "To me, a VCR is totally impossible. . . . Now my butler can handle it, but I have to get him up to turn it on.

"I think the Internet's great if you want to talk to somebody thousands of miles away who you don't even know."

Asked how young people can help save the world, Turner replied: "How you vote is important, too. A few more votes in Florida, and we could have had the best environmental president we ever had. Now we've got an oil man. He [President Bush] is another Julius Caesar. Just what we need."

Asked about plans for a "Star Wars" defense system to shoot down ballistic missiles, Turner said, "I think it would be a lot more cost effective to negotiate a treaty" with nations possessing nuclear weapons. "It's just more and more expensive all the time when we need to use the money for education, and health care and improving the human condition. I don't believe people should kill each other or hurt each other. I just think it's stupid and it's not civilized."

A student from Montana asked Turner whether he'd allow public access to his expansive land holdings in that state. "You buy it and you can share it," Turner said. "Can I live in your home with you? We believe in private property in this country."

Brown student Jennifer Edwards, of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, asked, "I want to know if you will help me stop suicide on my reservation."

"I'll tell you," Turner said, "I don't like suicide because my father killed himself. I don't know how to stop suicide. . . . I thought of it myself a number of times, but I decided I wanted to live."

When asked about his "greatest achievement," Turner responded: "My greatest achievement in life? My five children graduated from college and are reasonably successful, and that's the most important thing that can happen to a person is family."

[boomop1]

He didn't offend his audiance.

[wardaddy]

He was far gone before HJ I fear......he's a gutsy risk taking visionary who had his right time at the right place moment but politically and historically.....his knowledge of the facts is that of a college liberal.

I think his documented mental illnesses also contribute as well as a deep seated resentment to the banking classes (or fat cats as the Dems call them) who in his warped mind helped drive his daddy into financial troubles and eventually suicide......plus Ted has little or no morality or religious conviction.

In other words a lucky and sharp first class nut who's got plenty of demons in the closet of his mind.