David Horowitz, Champion of Open Debate
David Horowitz, Champion of Open Debate
Conservatives in the Ohio State Senate are considering a bill that would prohibit public and private college professors from introducing “controversial matter” into the classroom and shift oversight of college course content to state governments and courts. The language of the bill comes from right-wing activist David Horowitz’s “Academic Bill of Rights,” which recommends states adopt rules to “restrict what university professors could say in their classrooms” and halt liberal “pollution” on campus.
Horowitz, who is the driving force behind the movement for “academic freedom” in Ohio and other states, has a distinguished history of intellectual defamation, historical inaccuracy and political bullying. He has freely compared American liberals to Islamic terrorists, slandered the Democratic Party and John Kerry for criticizing the war in Iraq and made a habit out of accusing his detractors of racism. Most recently, when African-American historian John Hope Franklin questioned Horowitz’s 2001 claim that black people benefited from slavery and owed a “debt” to white America, Horowitz responded by calling the eminent historian “a racial ideologue rather than a historian” and “almost pathological.” Horowitz has no academic credentials and routinely distorts facts — exactly the crime he accuses “liberal” professors of committing — to fit his political bias.
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Let us begin a list of topics that once were considered controversial: a round world, flying machines, self-rule, education, education for girls, vacinations for common diseases —- okay someone elses turn!
February 16th, 2005 at 10:53 amMaybe Horowitz and his ranting Republican conservatives will fall victim to their own excess. The latest effort to prohibit college professors from free speech, and teaching only the conservative view of (what he believes are the parents’) is so far over the top, they all may crash on the other side. Free speech apparently applies only to them and what they believe. I hope all those students have read 1984 recently.
February 16th, 2005 at 11:54 amLet’s just continue to stand by and observe as one by one our individual rights are stripped! Am wondering just what in this world must happen before something is done…… it’s as if people have been lulled into a comatose state!
February 16th, 2005 at 11:55 amHorowitz has forgotten that the world is not flat..He and his mindless minions are , next to our president, the most dangerous forces operating in this country..
February 16th, 2005 at 12:12 pmTo paraphrase a famous quote..Absolute power corrupts, absolutely…
We must not allow these people to gain the power they desire…Our freedom and our childrens freedoms,depend upon our not letting the fanatics gain the upper hand
The attitudes of Horowitz c.s. with regard to academic freedom, state oversight of campuses and whether or not to teach subjects our parents may not agree with can be summed up in one word: FASCISM
February 16th, 2005 at 12:17 pmIt was only a matter of time before conservatives went after higher education – it’s the last stronghold of free thought and a place of access to facts that often destroy conservative “ideas.” Radical conservatives are winning in every other public arena because they distort the truth; college campuses will be the last stand.
February 16th, 2005 at 12:19 pmYou have to be kidding with this limit on free speech in colleges.
Don’t you find it interesting that you are disallowing free speech. What kind of person restricts speech?
Have you read the US Constitution?
February 16th, 2005 at 12:33 pmMake no mistake: the neocon revolution is a fascist revolution, made possible by an under-educated and misled electorate. When and if these ranting religious idealogues actually succeed, the US will have arrived: at ‘banana republic’ status.
February 16th, 2005 at 12:34 pmGuess…you were around during the 60s?
You don’t want college students voicing opinions when they lose their future and might be drafted or join for lack of jobs?
Freedom of speech is still a democratic ideal.
Go to another college if you don’t like “liberal” professors (who know the Constitution and rights). Bob Jones Univeristy would be glad to “mold you mind to hate and war”.
Government run on “faith and secrecy” is not acceptable. It is our government and we have a right to question and debate.
February 16th, 2005 at 12:47 pmOne’s gotta ponder this point a bit more…..
“State Sen. Larry Mumper (R), who says it is necessary because “80 percent” of college professors “are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists” who attempt to indoctrinate students.”
OK – Anyone wonder why their aren’t more conservatives making it into the ranks of teachers of “higher learing”. I’m reminded of Bill O’Reilly’s comments to President Bush during his interview saying “You went to Harvard and Yale – they’re all pinheads there – right?” when the President laughed it off, O’Reilly added “you were just like me – I just wanted to get out of class too.”
Al Franken sums it up best in one term – “Intellectual Sloth”
February 16th, 2005 at 1:16 pmI’ll bet Larry Mumper’s parents disagree with what he is doing and wish he had made better use of the “education” they paid for.
February 16th, 2005 at 1:20 pmIn this front of the culture war, it is imperative for those who espouse extreme conservative views, to silence the voices of rational thought, reasoned meditations, and logical processes of critical thinking. In the last few months progressive media have identified and described a number of these fascist efforts to silence intelligent thought and use of science, at all levels in education. Mandates exist now for: HeadStart pre-school programs, NCLB standards, restriction of scientific critical thinking, revisionist US history, discussion of human sexuality, etc. This latest effort, supported by funding from very conservative groups, takes the battle to its core, the university and college academic environment. If they can silence the teachers of teachers, then they will burn all the books.
February 16th, 2005 at 1:51 pmComing from the educational background of many of those in the Bush administration it is not surprising to see them attacking free speech, or rather attempting to further model education as they desire. Many in this administration are Straussians or influenced by one of his most influential students Allen Bloom. Although they are situated in the administration better to affect foreign affairs, this is a reasonable step in their views to begin meeting their Straussian goals.
February 16th, 2005 at 2:52 pmAny way, their goal of limiting what can and cannot be taught in school is little more than the peasant who becomes emperor only to make it illegal for others to do the same: hypocrisy.
What will it take to wake this country up?! People like Mr. Horowitz snuck in while someone was asleep at the wheel. He’s attacking the last bastion of intellectual and open debate — our institutions of higher learning. It’s appalling and disgusting.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:01 pmRegarding Horoshitz, if you’re going to go this far, why not just take school away all together and just wire all the homes with closed circuit tv and you could just brainwash people as you see fit. what a moron.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:05 pmThis fellow Horowitz (and several others of his ilk) are quick to equate “liberals” to “Islamic terrorists”. All the while more and more evidence is accumulating to make a valid comparison of George W. Bush to Hitler or Stalin or Saddam Hussein.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:23 pmWatching this administration in action keeps reminding me of Niemoller’s poem, and not just because Our Leader is a fuhror in the making, but due to the whittling away of freedom. Anyway, does this story sound familiar:
February 16th, 2005 at 3:37 pmWhen Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church — and there was nobody left to be concerned.
Someone once told me a conservative is a liberal who got beat up or traumatized. I don’t know if that’s always true LOL. However….
In David Brock’s The Republican Noise Machine, there is an interesting section on Mr. Horowitz and his work with the Black Panther Party.
It would seem Mr. Horowitz used to be a liberal who was traumatized during the Black Panther movement and has been on the darkside ever since.
If i’ve misinterpreted what David Brock said about Mr. Horrowitz in The Republican Noise Machine please let me know.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:45 pmDid anyone notice in the C-Span segments; David Horowitz on Academic Freedom, aired after a forum by Ward Churchill. Where the former used the term “storm-troopers” in regard to professors at most universities.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:50 pmYou know, I’m tired of being polite with moronic donkeys like this; they don’t get it. He’s a pompous gasbag and needs to be deflated.
February 16th, 2005 at 4:00 pmPaul – in response to “You know, I’m tired of being polite with moronic donkeys like this….”
Regardless how you feel about Horowitz or even Ward Churchill (from the other extreme), I think Keith Olberman got it right……
“You gotta live with this guy (just as you gotta live with Lieutenant General Mattis, also known as “The Way Too Happy Warriorâ€?) and hope that students stand up and scream at him in class, or boycott him, or respond in the way you’re supposed to respond to free speech – with more free speech, not less.” (Olberman was talking about Churchill – but it applies just the same.)
Don’t deflate the “donkey”. Let him show everyone what a real ass he is (any chance you get). That’s what WE’RE all about.
February 16th, 2005 at 4:33 pmIs this the same David Horowitz who was a draft dodger and war protester during the Viet Nam War and also hooked up with the Black Panthers during the same period? If it is and I’m pretty sure it is he’s nothing but a coward. Boy it’s sure funny how these cowards change their way of thinking when they don’t have to fight the wars. I guess their ideologies change when it suits the times.
February 16th, 2005 at 4:39 pmIs this guy for real?!? I thought college campuses were to be used for exactly that- voicing and debating exciting new ideas! If they don’t want to allow free, open debate why don’t they just close these places of higher learning and tell all the sheep what and when they can think. That way there will never be any political discord.
Wait a minute, didn’t that guy Hitler try that in the ’30’s and ’40’s when he was burning books in Germany? Is this where we are headed? I imagine that guys like Horowitz have a right to their opinions (as misguided as they may be), but it becomes truly scary when elected officials actually believe this pap.
February 16th, 2005 at 5:11 pmIt would appear that in the context of Mr. Horowitz’s plan to restrict college curriculum that “conservative” would indicate someone who wants to be sure no one learns anything new. Liberal, then would be anyone who is open to learning at all. Therefore, all students are liberal and all idiots (avowed non-learners) are conservatives. I think he needs to think this through.
February 16th, 2005 at 5:38 pmIt all flies under the radar in this country so consumed with itself. With one lie after another spilling out of a party that stands for nothing less than complete control. To stop them can, is and must be the goal of every American loving countrymen. To lose inch by inch until we are miles from Independence is criminal and must be stopped, “by any means necessary.”
February 16th, 2005 at 6:01 pmHe sounds like a real asshole.
February 16th, 2005 at 6:01 pmIf we are not going to introduce students to anything controversial perhaps we should consider ending schooling after 6th grade. After all, the whole purpose of higher education is to expand the student’s mind.
February 16th, 2005 at 6:22 pmSay, i’m glad to see you’re jumping on this, and you’re doing a good job – i’m learning. I guess you’ve probably been working it up for some time, but i can’t help but feel a wee bit proprietary since i requested it just yesterday in the Ward Churchill entry. :)
Just want to reiterate what i think is the central point: the new Republican vision of academic freedom is exactly the inverse of what it has always meant. Instead of meaning freedom of information, they mean control of information – the ‘freedom’ is of those who would control others.
February 16th, 2005 at 7:00 pmIf they put this in place, they will use these tribunals to purge faculties after tenure is outlawed. Colleges will be stripped of permanent faculty who don’t drink kool aid, the teaching shifted onto inexperienced and easily frightened adjuncts. This is fascism.
(Opinion by a Faculty Husband)
February 16th, 2005 at 7:05 pmYes, FASCISTS, FASCISTS, FASCISTS! It has always been the way of fascists in government to eliminate or silence academes and the intelligentsia first, so the less educated and less intellectually curious have no voice in the wilderness to lead them to the waters of enlightenment. If you think this represents the ravings of just one lunatic, think again. $38 mil/year from the RNC or its sympathetic entities to promote organized conservative student groups on college campuses is a methodical and calculated investment. This needs to be countered in kind from Liberal camps or the battle is lost. Many lifelong ideologies and political philosophies are formed in young adulthood. The fact that a recent study found nearly 40% of high school students favor more government control and screening of the media tells me that the battle for young minds is being won.
February 16th, 2005 at 8:15 pmIs David Horowitz the same nitwit who was on PBS some years ago as a self-described “Consumer Advocate”? If so, his “tests” of products were pseudo science, produced no useful information, and invariably “played at” challenging manufactures with a lot of “huffing and puffing” but with zero credibility. Am I recognizing the same incompetent style or do I have the (far) right one?
February 16th, 2005 at 9:24 pmDavid Horowitz and his ilk are loud mouthed cowards who feel threatened by ideas other than those they hold. They have to try to intimidate the rest of us with negative charged language spouted at 200 decubels. It is good that so many are standing up to him and his kind. They have a place but they have no right to try to take away our places and we won’t stand for it.
February 17th, 2005 at 12:19 amI had a professor that this Horowitz would definitely consider “Liberal” and probably try to tell everyone that she had brainwashed us… But what she really did was get everyone interested in the big issues, write papers on them, and offer our own opinions. She encouraged everybody to disagree with one another, and she’d actually give points to people with different opinions just for having the guts to open their mouths in a class where most of the students would probably disagree. I absolutely LOVED this class, because we got to go back and forth in a casual debates. I honestly think she got a whole lot of people interested in the current issues who wouldn’t have cared otherwise. A Bill like this would Shut Up a whole lot of professors (and students) who have interesting viewpoints, and can often offer a new way of looking at things. The “Controversial” SHOULD be discussed, because its usually (a) Current, (b) In the News, and (c) almost everyone has some sort of opinion on it. Besides, I’m pretty sure most professors would be happy just to have students participating in a class discussion, no matter their opinion.
February 17th, 2005 at 1:11 amIf we are leading by example in this country, it is absolutely no wonder that people like David H. are coming to the forefront now. George Bush is a bully, and he promotes “intellectualessness”……so therefore, every “hole in the wall” wacko gets to crawl out from under the rock right now for a little light. It is our job as the majority of Americans who are reasonable and moderate, to keep shining the light of day on the sewage they spew so that reason shall win. Because the alternative is fascism-and I for one can’t live with that.
February 17th, 2005 at 8:35 amfascism-a one party system of government marked by a centralized dictatorship, stringent socioeconomic controls and often belligerent nationalism. A bigger threat than terrorism. We better stand up to the right wing nazis or we’ll see book burnings on campuses.
February 17th, 2005 at 8:56 amIf conservatives really wanted a diversity of ideas on campus, they’d get PhDs, take a pay cut, and BECOME that diversity. But that would involve (gasp!) intellectual work and perhaps thinking about something other than the talking points of the day. Easier to just pass a law.
February 17th, 2005 at 9:46 amI think many on here are missing the point, honestly. Everyone knows that Horowitz is just a loud-mouthed blowhard with likely psychological damage. He first came to my attention when I was in college and he wrote the horrid article about slave reparations. He’s a bona fide idiot, and should be left to stew on his own vitriol.
No, the scary part of this in reality is that it is being DEBATED in the Ohio State Senate. The fact that this tripe is being taken seriously by anyone at all, much less people in legislature, is what really scares me. I grew up in Ohio, and if this law goes through, I’m certain I won’t be sending MY kids to college there.
February 17th, 2005 at 2:13 pmhow can I contact David Horowitz. I’d like to respond to some of his comments under the guise of “Academic Freedom”????
February 17th, 2005 at 3:10 pmI think it’s a bit of a stretch to call it an “Academic Bill of Rights” when the basic premise directly contradicts the United States Bill of Rights. An academic Bill of Rights is important, provided that it affords the same protections outlined in the US Bill of Rights, namely, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religious choice (including the right NOT to believe), freedom to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances. These are the ideas upon which this country was founded and the bedrock of our society for over 200 years. A TRUE conservative would support these ideals. However, I can understand why the so-called “conservativesâ€? like Horowitz don’t like what transpires on our nation’s campuses. The free exchange of information and ideas, the examination and debate of both sides of an issue, and a valuation of facts over beliefs must scare the bejeezes out of them. Imagine if this trend spilled out into the rest of the country. Imagine if everyone started questioning what went on, looked at both sides of issues, and demanded accountability. This country would be far different, and much closer to the idea of what America is supposed to be.
Our colleges and universities are supposed to be a marketplace of ideas. I always thought that conservatives valued free markets. How does one reconcile restricting the content of that marketplace with the free market ideals conservatives hold dear?
If you think something is a bad idea, it is your right, and indeed your duty to question it. However, you cannot defeat a bad idea by suppressing it. You can only defeat a bad idea with a better idea. I would submit that if you do not have a better idea, leave the thinking to those of us that can. As soon as I wrote that, I realized the real issue at stake – Horowitz and his ilk don’t want us to think.
February 17th, 2005 at 3:12 pmIt is my fervent prayer that Mr. Horowitz is not suggesting that only those professors who are reqistered republicans are fit to teach those who will eventually teach. Wouldn’t that constitute hiring discrimination. Or lying on their applications for employment.
February 17th, 2005 at 3:36 pmThere have been so many excellent comments written before me that I just agree with them all and hope and pray there is a way to stop Mr. Horowitz, Karl Rove and the administration before they completely ruin this country.
DH sounds like an idiot. The best wasy to deal with such persons is to let them blather on and overexpose themselves for what they are. That will silence them because no one will listen to them very long.
February 19th, 2005 at 11:40 pmIsn’t it interesting that the R. speaking out against anything said by anyone that doesn’t repeat their point of view is accused of being anti american, communist (I thought their great leader RR. had single handedly ended the C. why would anyone want to carry a card for a party that doesn’t exist anymore?!), idiologs, or terrorists? Frankly, I’ve never felt so afraid of or for myself and my country than I have since “W” was first elected and it’s gotten even worse since he was elected the second time. Our men and women are being injured and killed to give freedom to the world while at the same time freedoms that A. have enjoyed for years are being threatened to be taken away because they don’t conform with these loud mouthed, angry, constipated zealots. We know they won! Are they going to have to kill the 48%+, who don’t agree with them before they can accept the fact that they won and start acting normal? There was a time when you were expected to be able to speak up and debat issues so that a consensus could be reached. If these people spoke in the same language and dressed the same as the extreamists in the middle east, I doubt that you could pick them out of a line up!!!
February 21st, 2005 at 4:19 pmIt is time for a True American Revolution, these morons got to go, they have no morals values and there are all liers. They all follow the biggest lier of all Bush.
February 22nd, 2005 at 11:42 amIs this site sponsored by PBS and NPR? It sure smells like it…
May 13th, 2005 at 11:29 amI’m sorry, you guys are just wrong. You’re not hearing what Horowitz is saying. All he’s trying to do is get a balance back in the colleges and universities. You’re way over the top when you talk about fascism here. And you have to be careful when you make a god out of education and stop having regard for people who work every day, are quirky, go to church, are soldiers who believe in the goodness of this country. You can’t forget that these are the folks that keep these institutions going.
There is an arrogance that Horowitz is addressing and at some point you’ll have to recognize that all of this hatred of David is because there are principles of truth he’s exspousing and when you are immature, that tends to piss you off. But he’s right, the professors are generally manipulating that immaturity by making students feel like they are part of special task force to wrest this country out of the hands of ignoramuses and bumpkins. Sorry, but that’s not where the frontline battle is in this day.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a good day.
Mitch White
May 13th, 2005 at 12:36 pmSounds like the dishonest censors are the authors of this attack on Horowitz. All Horowitz wants is Professors to check their politics at the classroom door and teach the subject matter and grade fairly. ANyone who accuses him of conducting some witch hunt based solely on a victims’ belief is a lying, hypocritical leftist, you know the kind who calls Bush a fascist while fawning over mass murdering Communist tyrants!
May 13th, 2005 at 1:25 pmCan any of you hypocritical, hysterical “liberals” name me one instance of Horowitz suppressing your freedom of speech? I guess freedom of speech to you admirers of Communist and cannibal cultures means that you can dump on America and conservatives all you want without one shred of proof. But when someone criticizes the garbage you are spewing, you scream, “Censorhip, this fascist is making fun of me!”
May 13th, 2005 at 1:37 pmYep… some of you are all bent out of shape when you don’t need to be. Horowitz scares the beegeebers out of psuedo-intellectuals… and MANY of them are eggheads…. Horowitz is “yanking their chain!”
Take a deep breath and chant, “All together now…” just like they do in the mainland…
Yep, imagine how silly it sounds to get all lathered up about wanting Professors to come clean with their students by ’splainin’ that they are ashamed of the country that provides them with the teeth to eat their young.
Yep… you can find me at a university & my students know I’m NOT a collectivist and believe most of them can learn to make up their own minds…. (imagine that, too!!!)
I don’t propagandize— I try to stimulate thinking and that usually means that different points of view are presented. And, more importantly, I don’t require them to agree with my particular slant.
Keep it up, Horowitz!!!!! Hahahahahahaha
May 13th, 2005 at 4:02 pm[...] From today’s Progress Report: Progress Report, 3/24/05 – American Progress Action Fund EDUCATION – FLORIDA BILL TARGETS “DICTATOR PROFESSORS”: Conservative Florida legislators are pushing a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities. The so-called “Academic Freedom Bill of Rights” legislation is yet another state spin-off of right-wing activist David Horowitz’s campus crusade to prohibit public and private college professors from introducing “controversial matter” into the classroom and shift oversight of college course content to state governments and courts. “According to a legislative staff analysis of the bill, the law would give students who think their beliefs are not being respected legal standing to sue professors and universities,” the University of Florida’s student newspaper reports. Students would also have the right to sue if they believe their professor is “singling them out for ‘public ridicule’ – for instance, when professors use the Socratic method to force students to explain their theories in class.” The bill has two more committees to pass before it can be considered by the full House. [...]
July 31st, 2006 at 10:29 amI dont know a whole lot about the debate or the issue…but what I have gathered is this: he mentions that “teachers need to teach how to think, not what to think.” Whether professors or educators force upon their own views or not i see nothing wrong with an academic freedom bill of rights. It protects the student and to be honest there shouldn’t be debate unless that educator does preach their own views only. Otherwise this issue should not be a problem to them. that qoute alone that i heard him say tells me a lot…he knows the truth of true education…students know how to think…particularly thinking critically!
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