David Horowitz (Nov 2005)

David Horowitz, a staunchly conservative speaker and editor of Front Page Magazine, spoke on behalf of the College Republicans at the University of Rhode Island last night. If you don't know who Horowitz is, he is a very controversial speaker whose "platform" is non-indoctrination by college professors in their classrooms. If any one ever gets a chance to listen to him speak, or better yet ask him a question, do it. You will not regret it (well maybe you'll regret going, but not verbally chastising him)

He used to be a very, very radical Leninist. I'm very careful not to say Marxist or Communist, because at this point in time, I don't believe he ever was a true Communist. He also did a lot of work for the Black Panther movement, apparently very 'shady' work with the Black Panthers. One day, his friend was murdered, he believes by the Black Panthers, and magically his views change. That should freak people out right there, because its one thing to gradually change over time, but its a completely different animal to go from one extreme to another. From a radical leftist to a radical neocon.

I went to the speech with a fairly open mind. Trying to stay neutral throughout the entire thing. Apparently, that is a very hard thing to do especially if you could here some of the red herrings he through out there. Some of the stuff he said was simply unbelievable. The original audience was fairly small, a group of locals (mostly elderly and very particular with their "view"), the college Republicans (about 25), some professors probably 4 or 5, some of the college Democrats (low profile), about thirty or so semi-neutral people, you know reporters, cops, some college kids, and 2 black people. 2. One I knew was a member of the NAACP and the other was a well known African American Studies Professor. He starts off the speech without much fan fare, simply rehashing the fact that students shouldn't be pressured in classrooms to defend their beliefs or chastised for it, which in all fairness is a valid point and sure you shouldn't get a bad grade just because you disagree with your teacher. Right after about the 4th or 5th time he said this, using the term "liberal teachers" once or twice, the fun began.

A group of about 120 NAACP and Uhuru SaSa students quietly walk into the back of the room. When I mean quietly, I'm not trying to downplay their dramatic entrance, its just that honestly I didn't know there were even walking in until Horowitz, later I will refer to him as Fulloshitz, but for know Horowitz stopped speaking and said, "Stop! Is this a demonstration? This is why I cannot come to a University like this. I'm not recognizing you." After about five minutes the crosstalk settled down and he continued with the speech adding, "I'll talk, but only if you guys behave." The complete demeanor of his speech and the content changed as well. He went off on many tangents including Iraq, Kerry, Inner city schools, Katrina (several times), slavery (several times), and immigration.

I guess when your up speaking lets say from the hip, you may have the tendency to word things a little off, and if somebody doesn't see your speech or hear your inflection they may misconstrue things. So when you read something that somebody has said, you should give them the benefit of the doubt, like he could easily mean this or this; people don't do that and thats why clips and sound bites can be deceptive, but when you see him speak or you read a dialogue (cause they have the innate ability to truly depict how a conversation is going) you usually don't misconstrue anything.

Horowitz is a liar and a shameful man, who should not be in charge of any policy, anywhere. To his credit, he loves this country. But he shouldn't defend it to the point that he does. His arguments were so circular and so self-fulfilling, it was nauseating. It was the kind of thing you couldn't debate with him about because by the third minute you'll be like "What the fuck?" and probably want to punch the living shit out of him. He'll make a valid point here, and then surround it with bullshit. In a sense, just because the words in your sentence are spelled correctly it doesn't make your sentence true.

A list of stuff that he said:

• "Democrats and Progressives are the cause of all that is wrong with the inner cities."
• In a response to a question regarding women making 76 on the dollar to men, "That is feminist balogna, if women made 76 percent of what a man did, then smart capitalists would fire all men and hire women to increase their income." Which actually received huge applause from all of the locals and College Republicans, but has to be one of the most retarded statements I have heard an "educated" person
• "What are the WMDs of the Civil War? The firing on Fort Sumter. If I uncovered a document that said Lincoln dressed up Union soldiers as Confederates and ordered them to shoot at Fort Sumter. Would anyone in this room" at this point motioning to NAACP crowd in the back "say that we shouldn't have fought the Civil War. Alright. Then why is the liberal media hopping on Bush about WMDs?"
• Just an extra bullet to let the above quote sink inYou leave a forum like that with such a bad taste in your mouth. People like Horowitz are in charge in this country. Their opinion is giving just as much weight as yours, but in the end their just crackheads who use peoples emotions and ignorance to be successful.