布隆伯格哈佛毕业演讲.docx

布隆伯格哈佛毕业演讲.docx

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布隆伯格哈佛毕业演讲

Thankyou,Katie卡地–andthankyoutoPresidentFaust,theFellowsofHarvardCollege哈佛大学研究员,theBoardofOverseers督学委员会成员,andallthefaculty,alumni,andstudentswhohavewelcomedmebacktocampus.

I’mexcitedtobehere,notonlytoaddressthedistinguishedgraduatesandalumniatHarvardUniversity’s363rdcommencementbuttostandintheexactspotwhereOprahstoodlastyear.OMG.

Letmebeginwiththemostimportantorderofbusiness:

Let’shaveabigroundofapplausefortheClassof2014!

They’veearnedit!

Asexcitedasthegraduatesare,theyareprobablyevenmoreexhaustedafterthepastfewweeks.Andparents:

I’mnotreferringtotheirfinalexams.I’mtalkingabouttheSeniorOlympics,theLastChanceDance,andtheBoozeCruise买酒一日游–Imean,themoonlightcruise月光巡游.

Theentireyearhasbeenexcitingoncampus:

HarvardbeatYalefortheseventhstraighttimeinfootball.Themen’sbasketballteamwenttothesecondroundoftheNCAAtournament美国大学生篮球联赛锦标赛forthesecondstraightyear.AndtheMen’sSquashteamwonnationalchampionship.

Who’dathunkit:

Harvard,anathleticpowerhouse!

Prettysoonthey’llbeaskingwhetheryouhaveacademicstogoalongwithyourathleticprograms.

MypersonalconnectiontoHarvardbeganin1964,whenIgraduatedfromJohnsHopkinsUniversityinBaltimoreandmatriculatedhereattheB-School.

You’reprobablyasking:

HowdidIevergetintoHarvardBusinessSchool,givenmystellar一流的academicrecord,whereIalwaysmadethetophalfoftheclasspossible?

Ihavenoidea.Andtheonlypeoplemoresurprisedthanmeweremyprofessors.

Anyway,hereIamagainbackinCambridge坎布里奇.AndIhavenoticedthatafewthingshavechangedsinceIwasastudenthere.Elsie’s艾尔西的店–asandwichspotIusedtoloveneartheSquare–isnowaburrito玉米煎饼shop.TheWursthaus–whichhadgreatbeerandsausage–isnowanartisanalgastro-pub手工艺主题酒吧,whatevertheheckthatis真糟糕.AndtheoldHolyokeCenter霍利约克中心isnownamedtheSmithCampusCenter史密斯校园中心.

Don’tyoujusthateitwhenalumniputtheirnamesallovereverything?

IwasthinkingaboutthatthismorningasIwalkedintotheBloombergCenter布隆伯格中心ontheHarvardBusinessSchoolcampusacrosstheriver.

Butthegoodnewsis,HarvardremainswhatitwaswhenIfirstarrivedoncampus50yearsago:

America’smostprestigiousuniversity.And,likeothergreatuniversities,itliesattheheartoftheAmericanexperimentindemocracy.

Theirpurposeisnotonlytoadvanceknowledge,buttoadvancetheidealsofournation.Greatuniversitiesareplaceswherepeopleofallbackgrounds,holdingallbeliefs,pursuingallquestions,cancometostudyanddebatetheirideas–freelyandopenly.

Today,I’dliketotalkwithyouabouthowimportantitisforthatfreedomtoexistforeveryone,nomatterhowstronglywemaydisagreewithanother’sviewpoint.

Toleranceforotherpeople’sideas,andthefreedomtoexpressyourown,areinseparablevaluesatgreatuniversities.Joinedtogether,theyformasacred神圣的trustthatholdsthebasisofourdemocraticsociety.

Butthattrustisperpetually持久地vulnerabletothetyrannical专横的tendenciesofmonarchs君主,mobs暴徒,andmajorities.Andlately,wehaveseenthosetendenciesmanifestthemselvestoooften,bothoncollegecampusesandinoursociety.

That’sthebadnews–andunfortunately,IthinkbothHarvard,andmyowncityofNewYork,havebeenwitnessestothistrend.

First,forNewYorkCity.Severalyearsago,asyoumayremember,somepeopletriedtostopthedevelopmentofamosque清真寺afewblocksfromtheWorldTradeCentersite.

Itwasanemotionalissue,andpollsshowedthattwo-thirdsofAmericanswereagainstamosquebeingbuiltthere.EventheAnti-DefamationLeague反诽谤联盟–widelyregardedasthecountry’smostardent热心的、激烈的defenderofreligiousfreedom–declareditsoppositiontotheproject.

Theopponentsheldrallies集会anddemonstrations.Theydenounced谴责thedevelopers.Andtheydemandedthatcitygovernmentstopitsconstruction.Thatwastheirright–andweprotectedtheirrighttoprotest抗议.Buttheycouldnothavebeenmorewrong.Andwerefusedtocavein认输totheirdemands.我们拒绝向他们的要求妥协

Theideathatgovernmentwouldsingleout挑出aparticularreligion,andblockitsbelievers–andonlyitsbelievers–frombuildingahouseofworshipinaparticularareaisdiametricallyopposed与…完全相悖tothemoralprinciplesthatgaveriseto导致ourgreatnationandtheconstitutionalprotectionsthathavesustainedit.

Ourunionof50statesrestsontheunionoftwovalues:

freedomandtolerance.AnditisthatunionofvaluesthattheterroristswhoattackedusonSeptember11th,2001–andonApril15th,2013–foundmostthreatening.

Tothem,wewereaGod-lesscountry.

Butinfact,thereisnocountrythatprotectsthecoreofeveryfaithandphilosophy人生观knowntohumankind–freewill–morethantheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Thatprotection,however,restsuponourconstantvigilance警觉.

Weliketothinkthattheprincipleofseparationofchurch消除不同的宗教信仰andstateissettled.Itisnot.Anditneverwillbe.Itisuptoustoguard捍卫itfiercely–andtoensurethatequalityunderthelawmeansequalityunderthelawforeveryone.

Ifyouwantthefreedomtoworshipasyouwish,tospeakasyouwish,andtomarrywhomyouwish,youmusttoleratemyfreedomtodoso–ornotdoso–aswell.

WhatIdomayoffendyou.Youmayfindmyactionsimmoralorunjust.Butattemptingtorestrictmyfreedoms–inwaysthatyouwouldnotrestrictyourown–leadsonlytoinjustice.用不损害自己自由权利的方式去限制他人的自由是不道德的。

Wecannotdenyotherstherightsandprivileges特权thatwedemandforourselves.Andthatistrueincities–anditisnolesstrueatuniversities,wheretheforcesofrepression压制appeartobestrongernowthantheyhavebeensincethe1950s.

WhenIwasgrowingup,U.S.SenatorJoeMcCarthy麦卡锡wasasking:

‘Areyounoworhaveyoueverbeen?

’Hewasattemptingtorepressandcriminalizethosewhosympathizedwithaneconomicsystemthatwas,eventhen,failing.他试图压制那些质疑经济体系的人们，加罪于他们，然而，最终以失败告终。

McCarthy’sRedScare血腥镇压destroyedthousandsoflives,butwhatwashesoafraidof?

Anidea–inthiscase,communism–thatheandothersdeemeddangerous.

Buthewasrightaboutonething:

Ideascanbedangerous.Theycanchangesociety.Theycanupendtraditions颠覆传统观念.Theycanstartrevolutions.That’swhythroughouthistory,thoseinauthorityhavetriedtorepressideasthatthreatentheirpower,theirreligion,theirideology,ortheirreelection再选chances.

ThatwastrueforSocrates苏格拉底andGalileo伽利略,itwastrueforNelsonMandela曼德拉andVáclavHavel瓦茨拉夫哈维尔,andithasbeentrueforAiWeiWei,PussyRiot暴动小猫,andthekidswhomadethe‘Happy’videoinIran.

Repressingfreeexpressionisanaturalhumanweakness,anditisuptoustofightitateveryturn.Intoleranceofideas–whetherliberal自由主义者orconservative保守派–isantithetical相对立的toindividualrightsandfreesocieties,anditisnolessantitheticaltogreatuniversitiesandfirst-ratescholarship学识.

Thereisanideafloatingaroundcollegecampuses–includinghereatHarvard–thatscholarsshouldbefundedonlyiftheirworkconforms符合toaparticularviewofjustice.There’sawordforthatidea:

censorship审查制度.Anditisjustamodern-dayformofMcCarthyism.

Thinkabouttheirony:

Inthe1950s,therightwingwasattemptingtorepressleftwingideas.Today,onmanycollegecampuses,itisliberalstryingtorepressconservativeideas,evenasconservativefacultymembersareatriskofbecominganendangeredspecies面临遭受清扫的风险.AndperhapsnowhereisthatmoretruethanhereintheIvyLeague常春藤联盟.

Inthe2012presidentialrace,accordingtoFederalElectionCommissiondata,96percentofallcampaigncontributionsfromIvyLeaguefacultyandemployeeswenttoBarackObama.

Ninety-sixpercent.TherewasmoredisagreementamongtheoldSovietPolitburothanthereisamongIvyLeaguedonors.

Thatstatisticshouldgiveuspause–andIsaythatassomeonewhoendorsed支持PresidentObamaforreelection–becauseletmetellyou,neitherpartyhasamonopolyontruthorGodonitsside.没有哪个政党可以永远独占真理，没有哪一个政党可以一直受到上帝的青睐。

When96percentofIvyLeaguedonorspreferonecandidatetoanother,youhavetowonderwhetherstudentsarebeingexposedtothediversityofviewsthatagreatuniversityshouldoffer.

Diversityofgender,ethnicity,andorientationisimportant.Butauniversitycannotbegreatifitsfacultyispoliticallyhomogenous政见雷同.Infact,thewholepurposeofgrantingtenure授予终身职位toprofessorsistoensurethattheyfeelfreetoconductresearchonideasthatrunafoul纠缠ofuniversitypoliticsandsocietalnorms.

Whentenurewascreated,itmostlyprotectedliberalswhoseideasranupagainst碰撞conservativenorms.

Today,iftenureisgoingtocontinuetoexist,itmustalsoprotectconservativeswhoseideasrunupagainstliberalnorms.Otherwise,universityresearch–andtheprofessorswhoconductit–willlosecredibility信誉.

Greatuniversitiesmustnotbecomepredictablypartisan事先预谋好的党羽.Andaliberalartseducationmustnotbeaneducationintheartofliberalism.

Theroleofuniversitiesisnottopromote传播anideology.Itistoprovidescholarsandstudentswithaneutralforumforresearchinganddebatingissues–withouttippingthescalesinonedirection不偏不倚,orrepressingunpopularviews非主流的观点.

Requiringscholars–andcommencementspeakers,forthatmatter–toconformtocertainpoliticalstandardsundermines暗中破坏thewholepurposeofauniversity.

Thisspring,ithasbeendisturbingtoseeanumberofcollegecommencementspeakerswithdraw退缩–orhavetheirinvitationsrescinded取消–afterprotestsfromstudentsand–tome,shockingly–fromseniorfacultyandadministrat