Folks,
I was dumbfounded to discover the 55 messages, almost all from 60s-l,
this morning. I have to say that I empathize with Joe McDonald's
frustration and agree with Stew Albert' read. List folks should realize
there's no real enlightenment to be gained by an "exchange" with David
Horowitz on this one. There has certainly been --substantiated by
different sources-- thuggishness, violence, and criminality among the
ranks of the Panthers and/or their followers. For Horowitz, that
apparently defines the Panthers. For others on this list, myself
included, it doesn't. But equally clearly, Horowitz goes well beyond an
insistence that "the Left" (which he sees as universally embracing
everything about the Panthers) acknowledge this fact, into arenas of
sweeping selective generalization, ad hominem attack, and blatant
inaccuracy regarding people on the Left. [David, perhaps you can
appreciate the irony of your situation; no one on the Left is likely to
take your word for the "facts" about the Panthers, because the
additional 'baggage' of your attacks undermines your credibility.]
Arguments about this would seem to go nowhere, so it would seem prudent
to let it go or at least not get 'hooked' into the same kind of
denunciation. If necessary, perhaps the moderator could be a little
more pro-active in screening ad hominem attacks, at an earlier point in
the discussion. But, don't go, Joe; hopefully, this, too will pass!
Ted Morgan
P.S. Good post, Marty!
PP.S. So, who the hell is this Richard Poe that every single one of
David's responses is copied to?
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