Horowitz is a real piece of work, a total moral, absolutely irresponsible. I think it is worth debating the right to discredit them. I saw Chomsky turn Richard Perle into dogfood over the cold war in the 1980s; it was lovely. I have debated Pentagon hacks and even the Horowitz-like Michael Levin (a racist philosopher) myself. But I did not set up the Levin debate; I just participated in it. I would think carefully about giving H a stage, and I would make sure that his opponent could hammer him. Remember, H will say anything, use every sleazy trick, lie and insult; he has no regard for truth or decency, as the exchanges you quote exemplify. --jks
>From: berlin at socrates.Berkeley.EDU
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists1.panix.com
>Subject: David Horowitz/reparations for slavery
>Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2001 12:38:30 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Have any of you noticed Horowitz' latest campaign for publicity? The past
>week, and this next week he has been putting paid ads in college
>newspapers arguing against reparations for slavery. The ad is really
>screwed up, because he defines the other side's viewpoint for them, and he
>says that black people owe a debt to america because white people here
>liberated them, and they are wealthier than any black people in africa.
>He's a big ole hypocrite because he's playing his usual game where he
>plays the victim, saying that his critics are trying to censor him.
>
>a copy of the ad and also letters by a bunch of wingnutty racists to
>Horowitz are at http://www.frontpagemag.com
>
>Here is the controversy at UC Berkeley http://www.dailycal.org The 20
>year old head editor got kind of flumoxed and apologized for letting the
>ad run when people criticized him.
> I'm trying to get Horowitz to debate Tim Wise at UC Berkeley. Do you
>think that is a good idea. I think I can get the campus conservatives to
>fund it, because they are funded by outside organizations. On one level,
>you should just ignore him and then people won't notice, but he's going on
>this campaign this week, and he's going to be on the o'reilly factor on
>March 6th, and I can't stand this game where he defines the parameters of
>debate, and always acts like people are out to silence him. When I was at
>his book talk, he called my friend a totalitarian idealist potential
>stalinist because we questioned his assertion that all liberals of every
>stripe would be potential gulag guards if transplanted in time and
>location - and my friend brought up right wing atrocities, but he said we
>must be the campus thought police to have come to his talk.
>
>Christine
>
>
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