Horowitz takes own the radical left
<http://www.townhall.com/columnists/lindabowles/lb20010320.shtml>
by Linda Bowles
March 20, 2001
David Horowitz's parents were both dedicated communists. It was not
surprising that he became a liberal activist, joined the Black Panthers,
and led raucous protests against the Vietnam war while he was a student at
the University of California, Berkeley. Later in life, Horowitz reasoned
his way out of the ideological thicket in which his mind had been ensnared.
He wrote a book, "Radical Son," which details why and how he freed himself.
What once was said of ex-communist Whittaker Chambers is also true of
Horowitz: "He did not return from hell empty-handed."
The point is that Horowitz understands the radical left and has become a
warrior fighting against it. Recently he attempted to place an ad in a
number of college newspapers, presenting "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for
Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks, and Racist Too."
Although the ad is well reasoned and factually based, most college papers
would not print it, and several of the few who did were harassed and
threatened into apologizing for doing so. However, Horowitz succeeded in
making his point that free speech is not alive and well on most American
campuses. The First Amendment right to free speech does not apply to talk
liberal intellectuals do not wish to hear.
In today's America, college campuses are the most dangerous places to
express contrary opinions. Even professors had better watch their mouths to
be sure they do not utter conservative blasphemy. And they can forget about
doing research which might prove some liberal tenet is not factually
correct. Liberal doctrine does not permit scientific challenge of liberal
creeds about race, religion, sexual orientation and politics.
What is true on campus is also true throughout our society. You are free to
say whatever you want, only so long as it is "politically correct" and
passes muster with the liberal establishment.
For example, the institution of homosexuality may not be challenged. If you
dare suggest that a male lusting after another male might not be as
American as apple pie, or as natural as springtime, you are a homophobe.
The issue is not open for discussion.
Race, quotas and affirmative action are also off-limits. If you politely
offer the opinion that merit rather than color or sex should be the basis
for decisions on employment, pay, promotion and admission to universities,
you have immediately identified yourself as a white-sheeted, racist bigot.
And if some man scratches his head, and wonders out loud that maybe
husbands have some rights where abortion is concerned, he is a chauvinist
brute who doesn't understand what it means to be a woman. Until I heard so
many of my gender take that position, I never dreamed so many women
believed in Immaculate Conception.
Just between you and me, I have some reservations about sending a child to
a government school, a place arrogant enough to tell the Creator of the
universe to keep out, but I would not say so out loud for fear of being
labeled an ignorant, religious fanatic.
Then, there is welfare reform, which liberals assert is a code term used to
attack minorities and foster racial hatred. Liberal politicians don't want
anyone messing around with the system they have perfected for keeping poor
people poor, dependent and Democrats.
Finally, if you mention immigration policies, you are obviously a
compassionless racist. Never mind that we have lost control of our borders,
and that millions of unskilled and destitute illegals in states like
California have swamped and degraded the schools, jails, hospitals and
welfare system.
The massive campaign of indoctrination and intimidation has been largely
successful. The voices of dissent are silent. If you say something liberals
do not like, you are guilty of hate speech. People live in dread that
liberal inquisitors will hound them into submission, and ruin their
reputations and careers if they utter a forbidden word or express an
ideologically incorrect idea.
This is classic censorship, when individuals are taught to flagellate
themselves, on cue, for the sin of ideological trespass. Pavlov's dogs were
free agents by comparison.
Horowitz exposed the cowardice of liberal leaders. He told a truth they are
too craven to tell, the truth that the call for slavery reparations is
founded upon the fraudulent idea of group guilt and group victimhood based
on skin color, which is the ultimate form of stereotyping and, dare I say,
racial profiling.
Free speech is under assault in America, and liberals are leading the attack.
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