{"id":1777,"date":"2007-10-24T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2007-10-24T19:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2007\/10\/24\/david-horowitz-and-islamo-fascism-awareness-week\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T21:23:39","modified_gmt":"2007-10-31T01:23:39","slug":"david-horowitz-and-islamo-fascism-awareness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virushead.net\/vhrandom\/2007\/10\/david-horowitz-and-islamo-fascism-awareness-week\/","title":{"rendered":"David Horowitz and “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week”"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an important post today at The Progress Report<\/a> about the “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” program run by David Horowitz at college campuses this week. <\/p>\n

The whole crusade is counter-productive in a number of ways, but it’s cleverly planned. <\/p>\n

Of course, mislabeling<\/a> international terrorism is not a great idea. What we are dealing with bears little resemblance to definitions of fascism, and tying it to Islam<\/a> as a religion rather than toward the violent radicals of any religion (or none) is misleading and just mean. Terrorism is a method, not a religion. <\/p>\n

The real intent of Horowitz’s program is to attack the political left – he really must have had an amazing conversion experience.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, voices like his move the entire discourse more toward the right. Fox News starts to look centrist… Oh yeah, other speakers scheduled for campus appearances: Ann Coulter, Robert Spencer, Rick Santorum. It’s about academic freedom….riiiiiight.<\/p>\n

I’m glad Bertrand Russell<\/a> isn’t alive to see his formerly Marxist aide<\/a> turned into this…<\/p>\n

Bertrand Russell, a longtime hero of mine, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 – “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.”<\/p>\n

But Russell was an amazing character; maybe he would be more sanguine about it…<\/p>\n

It is a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that won’t go. – Bertrand Russell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Horowitz has claimed such things as that there are 50,000 American professors who are “anti-American” and “identify with the terrorists,” that John Kerry was happy to see Communists win in Vietnam, that the Senate Intelligence Committee “exonerated<\/a>” President Bush’s claim in the 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, and the like. His backers<\/a> are interesting, too.<\/p>\n

Horowitz’s ability to co-opt the language of oppression and turn a supposedly theoretical manifesto into his personal soapbox would put even the most emo slam poet on your campus to shame. –Amy Schiller, “Indoctrinating You<\/a>?” CampusProgress.org.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sad to say, he’ll be spewing at Emory today. No-one can claim it’s not a place for open debate, right? Sigh. I’m not fooled by the framing. I’ll take a cue from Bertrand Russell; since Horowitz’s aims and methods are repugnant to me, I simply won’t be participating in these events. Sometimes it’s a time to protest, sometimes it’s a time to vote with your feet. I’m hoping for a lot of no-shows.<\/p>\n

More information:<\/p>\n