David Horowitz

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For other persons named David Horowitz, see David Horowitz (disambiguation).

David Joel Horowitz (born January 10, 1939) is an American conservative writer and activist. A prominent supporter of Marxism and a member of the New Left in the 1960s, Horowitz later rejected Leftism and now identifies with the right wing of the political spectrum. He is a founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture), a writer for the conservative magazine NewsMax, and the editor of the popular conservative website FrontPageMag.com. He founded the activist group Students for Academic Freedom and is affiliated with Campus Watch, and frequently appears on the Fox News Channel as an analyst.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

David Horowitz was born in 1939 to a Jewish family in Forest Hills, New York. His parents, Phil and Blanche Horowitz, were school-teachers in Sunnyside Gardens, in the borough of Queens in New York City. Horowitz attended Columbia University and later the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a master's degree in English literature.

His parents were long-standing members of the Communist Party. While still identifying as a Marxist, Horowitz, along with many other left wing figures of his generation, sought to distance itself from totalitarian regimes such as Soviet Union. Horowitz was employed during the 1960s as a political aide to Bertrand Russell.[1] Horowitz at this time was a close friend and associate of the Marxist historian, Isaac Deutscher. Horowitz wrote a biography of Deutscher in 1971.

After returning to the U.S. in 1968, he authored several books that were influential in New Left critiques of American society and particularly its foreign policy, including The Free World Colossus: A Critique of American Foreign Policy in the Cold War. Horowitz was an editor at the influential New Left magazine, Ramparts.

Horowitz was a confidant of Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton, and provided legal and financial assistance to the black revolutionary organization. He would later cite experiences with his involvement in the Panthers as the primary catalyst for reassessing his views. In December of 1974, his close friend Betty Van Patter, a bookkeeper for the Panthers, was murdered. While the case officially went unsolved, Horowitz has maintained that the Panthers were responsible for her murder, committed in order to silence Van Patter from revealing the organization's financial corruption, and thereafter covered up the killing.

Other events that Horowitz cites as being influential in his political realignment were the impacts of the US loss in the Vietnam War on the peoples of Indochina, and particularly Cambodia, which under the leadership of the Khmer Rouge experienced mass terror and famine, leading to millions of deaths. Horowitz believes that the far left turned a blind eye to such atrocities because the ideological vision of the Communists was one which they shared. The reactions ranged from disinterest to apologia, exemplified by George Hildebrand and Gareth Porter's Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution, which presented a much more favorable depiction of life under the Khmer Rouge than later came to be accepted.

Along with close associate Peter Collier, Horowitz hosted a 1987 "Second Thoughts Conference" in Washington, D.C., described by left-wing figure Sidney Blumenthal in The Washington Post as his "coming out" as a supporter of the right. His gradual shift to the right has been recounted in a series of memoirs and retrospectives, culminating in Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey, published in 1996.

[edit] Activism on the right

Growing out of their increasing "second thoughts," Horowitz and Collier committed to a new cause; opposing the baby boomer new left status quo in academia. Peter Collier wrote that, "there was only one antidote for the new orthodoxy: Heterodoxy."[2] In 1992, the same year as the election of President Bill Clinton, Heterodoxy magazine was founded.

He became a staunch opponent of affirmative action policies, as well as reparations for slavery.[3] Horowitz also supported the proactive, interventionist foreign policy associated with the "neoconservatives", a label that Horowitz rejects as a smear. FrontPageMag.com, his right-leaning website, carries editorials from many authors who were and are strongly pro-Israel, anti-Islam, supportive of the war on terror and the war in Iraq. However, Horowitz personally opposed American intervention in the Kosovo War, arguing that it was unnecessary and harmful to US interests.[4]

Viewing the political atmosphere of many universities as intolerant of such ideas, he went so far as to purchase, or attempt to purchase, advertising space in school publications in order to get his views and arguments across. Many of these offers were refused and at some schools papers which carried the ads were confiscated or destroyed by protesting campus groups.[3][5][6]

In 2004, Horowitz launched Discover the Networks, a conservative watchdog project that monitors funding for, and various ties among, individuals and organizations supportive of leftist causes. Part of the motivation for Discover the Networks is Horowitz's view that leftist individuals and groups support, whether consciously or not, Islamic terrorism, and thus require ongoing scrutiny. This theme is explored in Horowitz's 2004 book, Unholy Alliance.

An agnostic Jew, Horowitz has rejected the tendency of social conservatives to support laws that discriminate against homosexuals. He criticized the Republican Party for being unwilling to gear itself towards the civil rights of homosexuals, noting that more homosexuals voted for George W. Bush in 2000 than did blacks or Jews. While Horowitz disagrees with gay marriage, he believes homosexuals have a fundamental right to privacy and that the term "homosexual agenda", common among right-wing pundits, is an "intolerant" one.[7]

[edit] Academic Bill of Rights

The issue of "political abuse" of the university is currently Horowitz's main focus. In 2004 he, Eli Lehrer and Andrew Jones did a study titled "Political Bias in the Administrations and Faculties of 32 Elite Colleges and Universities." The overall ratio of Democrats to Republicans they were able to identify at the 32 schools was more than 10 to 1 (1,397 Democrats, 134 Republicans, 1891 unidentified). As to administrators, "[i]n the entire Ivy League, we identified only three Republican administrators." [31][32][33]

Horowitz's 2006 book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, criticizes individual professors for their professorial conduct. Much of his criticism is aimed at those who are critical of the State of Israel. According to Horowitz, these professors engage in indoctrination rather than a disinterested pursuit of knowledge.[8]

Horowitz and others promote his Academic Bill of Rights (ABR), an eight-point manifesto that seeks to eliminate what they see as political bias in university hiring and grading. Horowitz claims that bias in universities amounts to indoctrination, and charges that conservatives and particularly Republicans are "systematically excluded" from faculties, citing statistical studies on faculty party affiliation.[9] Critics of the proposed policy, such as Stanley Fish, have argued that "academic diversity," as Horowitz describes it, is not a legitimate academic value, and that no endorsement of "diversity" can be absolute.[10]

In 2004 a version of the ABR was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly on a 41-5 vote.[34][35]

In Pennsylvania, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives created a special legislative committee to investigate the state of academic freedom and whether students who hold unpopular views need more protection. In November 2006 it reported that it couldn’t find evidence of problems with students’ rights.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

[edit] Criticisms questioning Horowitz's 'liberal bias on campuses' evidence

Some stories Horowitz has used as evidence that U.S. colleges and universities are bastions of liberal indoctrination have been disputed.[17] For example, Horowitz told the story of a University of Northern Colorado student who received a failing grade on a final exam for refusing to write an essay arguing that George W. Bush is a war criminal.[18][19] A spokeswoman for the university said that the test question was not as described by Horowitz and that there were non-political reasons for the grade, which was not an F.[20] Horowitz responded that the student had indeed received an "F" on the exam but had appealed her grade on the course and been awarded a "B", and that the questions as supplied by UNC were evidence of indoctrination, not education, as claimed.[21][22]

Horowitz also claimed that a Pennsylvania State University biology professor showed his students the film Fahrenheit 9/11 just before the 2004 election in an attempt to influence their votes.[23][24] Horowitz later acknowledged that he had not been able to confirm this story.[25][26]

Finally, Horowitz has referred to the case of a student named Ahmad al-Qloushi, whose professor allegedly responded to an "irrational[ly]" "pro-American" essay by failing him and threatening to visit the Dean of International Admissions (who had the power to take away student visas) to make sure he received regular psychological treatment.[27][28] His professor admits suggesting al-Qloushi visit a counselor, but for anxiety resulting from events that had happened to al-Qloushi in Kuwait ten years before rather than for his politics, and denies mentioning the Dean.[29][30][31][32]

Horowitz has also come under fire for material in his books, particularly The Professors.[33][34] For example, Media Matters for America claims that only 48 of the 100 (not 101) professors listed were criticized for in-class behavior and activities,[35] despite Horowitz's claim that he makes "a very clear distinction between what's done in the classroom" and "what professors say as citizens."[36] The group Free Exchange on Campus issued a 50-page report in May of 2006 in which they take issue with many of Horowitz's assertions in the book and describe what they see as factual errors, unsubstantiated assertions, and quotations which appear to be either misquoted or taken out of context.[37][38][39]

In response to Horowitz's criticisms of professors at the University of Arizona the campus newspaper and student government had varying opinions. Many on campus saw validity in the claims made by Horowitz and after a few weeks of discussion the student body Senate passed a resolution supporting the free exchange of ideas in academia. While the resolution came short of all out support for Horowitz, the resolution did support many similar issues hailed by Horowitz.[36]

Jacob Laksin has since issued a lengthy, three-part response to this report on FrontPageMag.com.[40][41][42][43] which, among other things, claims that Free Exchange on Campus misrepresents itself as being "disinterested observers". According to Laskin, "The groups comprising the Free Exchange coalition are chiefly distinguished by their partisan commitment to left-wing political causes and their support for the politicized and one-sided academic status quo." Laskin cites member organizations, Campus Progress (which Laskin claims is funded by George Soros), the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way as examples. Laskin also claims the report "misrepresents and distorts the arguments of The Professors in order to attack the book and its author, and is not above fabricating evidence to make its case," and that while the report does identify some errors in Horowitz's book, they are trivial and "in no way affect the substantive arguments of the book or the conclusions drawn in the individual profiles of the professors included."[44]

[edit] Other Criticism

[edit] Allegations of bigotry

Chip Berlet, writing for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), identified Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture as one of 17 "right-wing foundations and think tanks support[ing] efforts to make bigoted and discredited ideas respectable." Berlet accused Horowitz of blaming slavery on "'black Africans ... abetted by dark-skinned Arabs'" and of "attack[ing] minority 'demands for special treatment' as 'only necessary because some blacks can't seem to locate the ladder of opportunity within reach of others,' rejecting the idea that they could be the victims of lingering racism."[45] Responding with an open letter to Morris Dees, president of the SPLC, Horowitz stated that his reminder that the slaves transported to America were bought from African and Arab slavers was a response to demands that only whites pay blacks reparations, not to hold Africans and Arabs solely responsible for slavery, and that the statement that he had denied lingering racism was "a calculated and carefully constructed lie." The letter said that Berlet's work was "so tendentious, so filled with transparent misrepresentations and smears that if you continue to post the report you will create for your Southern Poverty Law Center a well-earned reputation as a hate group itself."[46] The SPLC refused,[37] and subsequent critical pieces on Berlet and the SPLC have been featured on Horowitz's website and personal blog.[47][48]

Tim Wise, self-described "anti-racist essayist, lecturer and activist" criticized[49] Horowitz in the left-wing publication, Znet for associating with alleged racists, pointing to his acceptance of funding from the Bradley Foundation, which supported the publication of The Bell Curve, as well for running a modified piece by white nationalist Jared Taylor on the media treatment of black-on-white murders. When Horowitz ran the piece, he admitted that the decision to do so would be controversial, but denied that Taylor was a racist, instead arguing that his "racialism" was an example of identity politics precipitated by an intellectual surrender to multiculturalism; Horowitz denied that he and his publication share the agendas of Taylor.[50]

[edit] Books and other Publications

[edit] Histories co-authored with Peter Collier

  • The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty (1976)
  • The Kennedys: An American Drama (1985)
  • The Fords: An American Epic (1987)
  • The Roosevelts: An American Saga (1994)

[edit] Quotations

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • Liberation is no longer, and can be no longer, merely a national concern. The dimension of the struggle, as Lenin and the Bolsheviks so clearly saw, is international: its road is the socialist revolution. - from the 1969 book "Empire and Revolution".
  • For the sake of the poorest peasants in this godforsaken country, I can't wait for the Contras to march into this town and liberate it from these fucking Sandinistas! - In the dining room of the Managua Intercontinental Hotel in Nicaragua, during the fall of 1987.
  • If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus? - from the 1999 Salon.com article, "Guns don't kill black people, other blacks do".
  • The black middle-class in America is a prosperous community that is now larger in absolute terms than the black underclass. Does its existence not suggest that economic adversity is the result of failures of individual character rather than the lingering after-effects of racial discrimination and a slave system that ceased to exist well over a century ago? - From "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks and Racist Too".
  • Republicans like art, so people who are genuine artists shouldn't worry." - from a sidebar in an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about cutbacks in the NEA.
  • More than ever before, for humanity to live under capitalism, is to live on borrowed time. - from the 1969 book "Empire and Revolution".
  • For the continuing worldwide oppression of class, nation and race, the incalculable waste and untold misery, the unending destruction and preparation for destruction and the permanent threat to democratic order that characterize the rule of capitalism in this, its most technically advanced, most "enlightened" and most materially wealthy era now threaten human survival itself. In the age of atomic weapons and intercontinental missiles, the predatory system of imperialist rivalry and global exploitation, of military intervention and counterrevolutionary war, faces mankind with the prospect of the ultimate barbarism.- from the 1969 book "Imperialism and Revolution".
  • Commodity fetishism is the key to the prosperity and efficiency of the capitalist economy and to the relative peace of capitalist states. It is what makes us work together.- Debate with Michael Albert 2001
  • Baghdad is liberated. In the days to come let us not forget that if it was not for one man, and one man alone—George Bush—the people of Iraq would not be celebrating in the streets and pulling down Saddam's statues today... We have entered the era of a new civil war between the forces of freedom and the powers of Islamo-fascist and communist darkness, and once again the left is clearly detemined to take its stand on the other side. The good news is that America is back. Our military has performed superlatively. Our leadership has stood tall. We ourselves can celebrate over this and look confidently towards what lies ahead.—FrontPageMagazine.com | April 9, 2003

[edit] References

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  1. ^ Horowitz, David (1997-10-07). Spies Like Us. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  2. ^ Issues: Heterodoxy. Discoverthenetworks.org. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  3. ^ a b Horowitz, David (2001-01-03). Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  4. ^ Horowitz, David (1999-05-11). Stop This War. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  5. ^ Walsh, Joan (2001-03-09). Who's afraid of the big, bad Horowitz?. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  6. ^ Rosenbaum, Si (2001-03-18). Embattled editors get Herald out at Brown. The Providence Journal Company. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  7. ^ Horowitz, David (2003-05-20). Pride Before a Fall. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  8. ^ About Students for Academic Freedom. Students For Academic Freedom. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  9. ^ Tierney, John (2005-10-11). Where Cronies Dwell. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
  10. ^ Fish, Stanley (2004-02-13). 'Intellectual Diversity': the Trojan Horse of a Dark Design. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  11. ^ Jaschik, Scott (2006-11-16). Who Won the Battle of Pennsylvania?. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  12. ^ Jaschik, Scott (2006-11-22). From Bad to Worse for David Horowitz. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  13. ^ Dogan, Sara (2006-12-08). Victory in Pennsylvania. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  14. ^ Horowitz, David (2006-11-21). What We're Up Against—The Lying Pennsylvania Press. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  15. ^ Dogan, Sara (2006-11-16). Pennsylvania Legislative Committee Advocates Sweeping Reforms to Campus Academic Freedom Policies. Students For Academic Freedom. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  16. ^ Horowitz, David (2006-12-06). Pennsylvania’s Academic Freedom Reforms. Students For Academic Freedom. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  17. ^ [1]
  18. ^ [2]
  19. ^ [3]
  20. ^ [4]
  21. ^ [5]
  22. ^ [6]
  23. ^ The Students for Academic Freedom report "The Campaign for Academic Freedom," p. 38
  24. ^ [7]
  25. ^ [8]
  26. ^ [9]
  27. ^ [10]
  28. ^ [11]
  29. ^ [12]
  30. ^ [13]
  31. ^ [14]
  32. ^ [15]
  33. ^ [16]
  34. ^ [17]
  35. ^ [18]
  36. ^ [19]
  37. ^ [20]
  38. ^ [21]
  39. ^ [22]
  40. ^ [23]
  41. ^ [24]
  42. ^ [25]
  43. ^ [26]
  44. ^ [27]
  45. ^ Berlet, Chip (2003). Into the Mainstream. Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved on 2006-04-23.
  46. ^ Horowitz, David (2003). An Open Letter To Morris Dees. FrontPageMagazine.com. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2006-04-23.
  47. ^ [28]
  48. ^ Arabia, Chris (2003). Chip Berlet: Leftist Lie Factory. FrontPageMagazine.com. FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved on 2006-04-23.
  49. ^ [29]
  50. ^ [30]

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