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Which famous people should I suggest to speak at my school?

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Every year my university has a distinguished lecturer come to speak to the school. The school takes suggestions from students and faculty, and I'd like to make a few. Before I do, do you guys have any suggestions? Here are people who have come in the past:

"Previous speakers for these lectures include John Edwards, Doris Kearns Goodwin, George H.W. Bush, David Kay, Jose Maria Aznar, Queen Noor, John Glenn, Lord George Robertson, Benazir Bhutto, Lech Walesa, Madeleine Albright, Thomas Kean, Brit Hume, Barbara Bush, Rudolph Guiliani, Michael Beschloss, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, Colin Powell, Lawrence Eagleburger, Mario Cuomo, William Bennett, Margaret Thatcher, Jimmy Carter, Juan Williams, Pierre Salinger, Tom Brokaw, Sam Nunn, and Dan Rather."

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I highly recommend trying to get one of the speakers from the Ayn Rand Institute. Both Dr. Yaron Brook and Dr. Andrew Bernstein have done wonderful jobs for the multiple occasions that we have invited each to speak at my university.

Otherwise, it is difficult to think of what speakers to recommend given that I am not sure who is going around to deliver talks at universities. Lately I have been admiring Garry Kasparov's heroic activism. Someone like him is probably has larger matters to attend to now than to deliver a lecture though. Some others to consider might include Richard Dawkins, Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Mark Warner, Thomas Friedman, Robert Samuelson, Charles Krauthammer, Anne Applebaum or Sam Harris (hopefully he will not talk about eastern mysticism). Bill Gates might even be willing to speak at a university now that he stepped down as CEO of Microsoft, but he is probably still incredibly busy.

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Out of the list presented by DarkWaters, I will second Garry Kasparov. Actually, I bet he would be flattered to give the speech. He was the youngest World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1985 to 1993, which should qualify him as someone famous. This includes his epic battle against IBM's "Big Blue" chess computer, which he first won and then lost. He contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal where he is an insightful commentator on global events, including the war against terrorism. I especially like his commentary on the state of affairs in Russia, where he stands as one of few principled opponents of Putin's authoritarianism. He is not just another armchair commentator, either. He has led demonstrations inside Russia, at considerable risk to his physical safety. He is not an Objectivist, but is a highly intelligent, principled commentator. Hell, I would love to hear him give a talk! :)

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I agree with the other posters, the only thing I would add is perhaps one of the controversial "secular muslim" women (why is it that the female muslims are the only ones with the balls to stand up to Islamofascism?) would make a good speaker and draw a large crowd.

The first is Wafa Sultana. If you haven't seen the video that brought her into the public spotlight, it's pretty amazing.

The other one is a Dutch emigre from Somalia who is now in the US named Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Her friend and film collaborator Theo Van Gogh was shot by an Islamic thug in Amsterdam in broad daylight; a note stabbed to his chest calling Ali his next victim. Here is one of my favorite quotes from her (sounds like it could almost be inspired by an objectivist):

From Speigel magazine: 'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'.

SPIEGEL: But Muslims, like any religious community, should also be able to protect themselves against slander and insult.

HIRSI ALI: That's exactly the reflex I was just talking about: offering the other cheek. Not a day passes, in Europe and elsewhere, when radical imams aren't preaching hatred in their mosques. They call Jews and Christians inferior, and we say they're just exercising their freedom of speech. When will the Europeans realize that the Islamists don't allow their critics the same right? After the West prostrates itself, they'll be more than happy to say that Allah has made the infidels spineless.

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I agree with the other posters, the only thing I would add is perhaps one of the controversial "secular muslim" women.

This is a great idea! Another fantastic choice is Irshad Manji. She is the Muslim female author of The Trouble With Islam. Lately, she has been lecturing at various universities and would probably be more than happy to continue to do so.

A friend of mine, who is generally pretty rational (but has not really been exposed to Ayn Rand) once recommended Walid Shoebat. I know little about him but he is a male muslim (and former extremist) who is speaking out against Islamofascism. If anybody knows more about Mr. Shoebat, I would be interested in hearing opinions. Of course, I recommend getting a better understanding of his reasoning before inviting him.

Edited by DarkWaters
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