Horowitz Inflates Number Of Schools Participating In His Divisive ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’
Horowitz Inflates Number Of Schools Participating In His Divisive ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’
On college campuses across America this week, conservatives are gathering together to listen to right-wing luminaries such as Ann Coulter and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) as part of David Horowitz’s Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.
Horowitz is claiming that it will be “the biggest conservative campus protest ever” and “a wake-up call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses” about “the enemy.” But on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this weekend, Kareem Shora, the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, said that Horowitz was dramatically overstating the number of participating schools:
We contacted those institutions, alerting them to the fact that their name was being used, and wondering what exactly was taking place. … It’s important to note though, after we contacted those institutions, most of those institutions indicated that no such events is taking place on those campus. And many contacted the sponsors and told them, “do not use my institution’s name in your campaign,” including some very renowned universities such as Yale and Princeton.
Shora also said that the president of Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by Jerry Falwell, also had their name removed from Horowitz’s list. Watch it:
Horowitz’s efforts have come under fire from critics, who say it will spread “racism and religious hatred” through the use of a loaded political phrase like Islamo-fascism. Others, such as Middle East expert Juan Cole, say that “Fascism is not even a very good description of the ideology of most Muslim fundamentalists.”
Former CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid has said that “even adding the word Islamic” is counterproductive to keeping extremism “from becoming mainstream.”
The tactics encouraged by Horowitz and his followers, however, are intentionally fashioned to stoke negative reactions from moderate Muslims “as evidence that they’re on the side of ‘our terrorist adversaries.’” For instance, Horowitz is distributing a “student guide” that encourages participants to draft offensively-worded petitions in an intentional effort to stir divisiveness on campuses by forcing groups to “declare their allegiances“:
Perhaps most importantly, a petition forces students and faculty to declare their allegiances: either to fighting our terrorist adversaries or failing to take action to stop our enemies. For this reason, we encourage you to make a special effort to bring this petition to those groups who might be least likely to sign it, for example to campus administrators, student government officers, and the Muslim Students’ Association.
As Ali Eteraz notes, “this ‘awareness’ week is not about awareness at all, but using anti-Muslim animus to achieve political ends” by attacking Horowitz’s true “enemy”: “the political left.”
UPDATE: Campus Progress has a crib sheet for debunking conservatives during Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.
UPDATE II: Today’s TPMtv runs down the “clownish” background of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.
UPDATE III: At the conservative blog Blackfive, Uncle Jimbo gives Horowitz’s speech yesterday a very negative review after Horowitz berated the audience by telling them, “I guess you just aren’t able to read” and “I don’t know what to do if you can’t add two and two and get four”
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Will President Bush and Rudy Giuliani be lecturing on the next world war?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:12 pmTypical tactics: lie, distort, inflame.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:15 pmI also notice that this Voldemort (why give him recognition by using his name?) does not include a procedure for signing up for the military for these of-age conservative supporters of the war.
This sounds like one big hate crime to me. Is there anybody left in the Justice Department who will look into it?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pmExcellent point, PLC.
Maybe Horrowitch is using Romney’s practice; campaigning is ’serving our country’ kind of fighting. Yeah, that’s it.
Horrowitch & Coultergeist. Full Moon. Halloween.
BOO!
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pmHate and fear, the answer to all things!
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October 23rd, 2007 at 12:21 pmSeems like the only thing the right is really good at is breeding intolerence.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:24 pmDoes any one know or have a list of the schools that are ACTUALLY participating? That’d be interesting to know.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:26 pmThis sounds like one big hate crime to me. Is there anybody left in the Justice Department who will look into it?
Comment by Shayne — October 23, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
What? Is Horowitz a Democrat?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:26 pm“Divide and Conquer” – The GOP’s continuing MO.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:26 pmDoes any one know or have a list of the schools that are ACTUALLY participating? That’d be interesting to know.
Comment by DennisRaines
Absolutely, anyone have an idea?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pmWill these “forums” have tables for military recruiters? I’m sure the attendees will be so stoked with the fervor to engage in the decisive struggle of their generation, that they will sign up in droves.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pmdoe these nuts come in unsalted as well?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pmright-wing luminaries?!?!?
right-wing loonies is more like it.
well, at least sanitorium found a job.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pmGood grief. Horowitz is just plain bugsh*t crazy.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:29 pm‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’ aka the 10,080 Minute Hate.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:31 pmHorowitz was going to have Timothy McVeigh attend his awareness week events, but, alas, Mr. McVeigh had a prior engagement.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 pmThe “If you ain’t for us, you’re agin’ us” Tour
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 pmWell I’d believe Pepperdine which is on the list might actually host this Hate Fest, only problem is it’s being evacuated due to wildfires. Maybe Jeebus doesn’t like hate being spread in his name.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 pmIn the interests of being “fair and balanced”, colleges should also hold a neo-con Nazi awareness week. With noted speakers Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Jane Fonda, Jim Hightower, Al Franken, Tom Hayden, and others.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pmI submit a ‘NeoNut Awareness YEAR’ would be good for my Country.
2 word phrases. Hit & run journalism. Bleeding our Country dry. Borrowing our Country dry. Bleating while our Country dies. Spying on our own. And,
the finale…Retroactive Immunity!
Retroactive government, perhaps, but no immunity for you! Back of the line.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pmfrak fair and balanced.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 pmthe finale…Retroactive Immunity!
I always wondered how even the most staunch neocon didnt have sirens going off in his head when his government begins to make itself immune to justice.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:38 pmIn the interests of being “fair and balancedâ€, colleges should also hold a neo-con Nazi awareness week. With noted speakers Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Jane Fonda, Jim Hightower, Al Franken, Tom Hayden, and others.
Comment by Uncle Ho — October 23, 2007 @ 12:36
Great ideal Uncle Ho, and it would give us all a reason to go back to college to show our support.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:41 pmAwkward!
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:41 pmHere’s a list of participating schools:
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-fascism-awareness-week/49/a-students-guide-to-hosting-islamo-fascism-awareness-week/
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:46 pmComment by erock — October 23, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
Also there’s a link in the TP summary.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pmright-wing luminaries?!?!?
Sure, hell is pretty well lit, I’ve been told, what with all its fire.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:49 pmHorowitz is a raving lunatic. I’m sure this hare-brained idea is getting no traction anywhere except perhaps a small number of small religious colleges.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:49 pmWhy do Jews support Neoturds?
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:50 pmerock; thanks for the link. Glad to see my alma mater-Ferris State U. is not on that list.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:50 pmI notice that U. Texas-Austin is on that list. Well I live in Austin and if UT is participating it must be super secret. Perhaps the Young Chicken Hawks Republican club is having a closed door Christian prayer meeting or something but it is not listed on any of the usual campus activity sites or being covered by local news. I am guessing that if one student expressed an interest on the website, they call that a participating university.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 pmGlad to see my alma mater-Ferris State U. is not on that list.
Comment by Uncle Ho — October 23, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
I’m a little surprised but thoroughly pleased that neither of mine showed up on the list.
It’s a shame that the open-mindedness and thought that universities should foster cannot overcome the bigotry and fear that are instilled in our nation’s children in their youth.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 pmI’d like to know how my local community college, the one I have to pay taxes to, is on that list. While this unfortunately is a strong Republican county there are lots of muslims paying taxes too. Anybody have any idea who I would call at the college to complain.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:02 pmThis is worth a mention:
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/7259.html
The original flyer for Horowitz’s Islamo-blah blah blah used a picture of a girl being stoned in Iran. (Except the picture was from a Dutch film)
In respect of the FUBAR with the flyer, I attach a picture of Horowitz hard at work with photoshop:
http://www.ssqq.com/romance/images/fat%20guy.jpg
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pmThe Voldemorts of the world should not get to excited that there are universities in which this “awareness week” is being held. There are simply allowing the event, not necessarily endorsing it. The list of universities endorsing or otherwise supporting it would be more interesting to see – it’s probably an extremely short list.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:04 pmWhere is michael, didn’t he go to Pepperdine? The campus in Malibu must be going up in smoke because of all the hate being espoused. See, once you start thinking like a neoturd it’s easy to come up with psychotic justifications.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:04 pmExcuse the typos in 35 – fingers getting old!
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:04 pmOh great. A noisy demonstration against a straw man — and using a term that is 1) inaccurate, and 2) prejudicial.
This is just an excuse for Horowitz to push forth his fantasy that our “enemy” is a billion Muslim people instead of a relatively small number of crackpots perverting the Muslim faith toward some horrible twisted end.
And terrorism by Islamic extremists isn’t even our biggest threat in this country. About 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001. Compare this to 17,448 — the number of fatalities due to drunk driving in the year 2001, the same year as the terrorist attacks.
Drunk drivers are a bigger “enemy” to us than violent Muslim crackpots. But Horowitz can’t ramp up our fear of them as much — he can get far more political mileage and support for his particular brand of bigotry by going for the terrorist boogeymen, and conflating their actions with Islam in general.
Kudos to the schools who saw through this insanity and refused to be part of it.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:09 pm.
They may not have an open registration/recruitment for refilling the troops at these events, but you can order your Brown, one size fits all, made in China, and have it delivered, for free, T-Shirt!
.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:09 pmWhat would Islamo-Fascism week be like if there was a military draft? The “the biggest conservative campus protest ever†will turn into the biggest peace rally ever.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 pmI noticed that Princeton was still on the list but the College I attended wasn’t. Whew!
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:30 pmWhat I find disturbing is that Muslims constantly have to be on the defensive against such antics, and how rhetoric like this drives down the legitimate discourse on terrorism that needs to take place. Not only have Muslims condemned terror a ton, but I think its quite problematic that they are expected to years after 9/11. I think this piece by Ali Eteraz says quite well what I’m trying to say:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-eteraz/the-myth-of-muslim-condem_b_67904.html
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 pmFor the record:
fascism: n. a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
I realize they need some neat little word that will automatically frighten people, but it’d be nice if they used a word that actually meant the right thing.
As it stands, that definition is much, much, MUCH more fitting to the current U.S. government than an unorganized group of a few thousand radicals scattered throughout the world.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pmExcellent point.
Although I would add that McDonald’s has led to more deaths (via heart disease) than any terrorist ever has or will.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 pmIs there a rightard more completely insane than Horowitz? Not that I’ve seen. Lock him up; he’s a danger to himself and America.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 pmI just did a quick scan of the list of schools participating. University of South Florida -Tampa” is listed twice.
And it lists a “University of Southern Indiana – South Bend”, which I don’t think even exists. (South Bend is about 10 miles from the Michigan border. if it were any further north, it wouldn’t be in Indiana anymore.)
Leads me to think that, yes, the number of schools participating just might be a little inflated.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:45 pmThis idea behind this “IslamoFascism Awareness Week” is the same as the one behind the “War on Christmas”: In both cases the ringleaders know very well that the best way to keep the followers in line, is to look for a scapegoat, a common enemy, and make the followers feel under constant threat.
If they don’t have one, they will fabricate one. Heathens and atheists in one case, Muslims in the other.
Both the “awareness week” and the “war on Christmas” capitalise on fear, prejudice, ignorance of the general public. The very trading stock of the authoritarian types.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pmI tell ya… This has Kyle Bristow written aaaaallllll over it…
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:57 pm‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’?
if they really cared they’d have an ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Month’.
ps – when does the “rocking” part start? are there any youtube clips of campuses being “rocked”?
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:17 pmMy brother and I have created a short music video in observance of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2nzIQ1eWMg
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:22 pmThe ReighWingers are trying to start a civil war here in the USA, this is one of many propaganda tools they are using. Divide the public, make everyone hate everyone else who is not exactly like them. If you notice some of the posts on Hate Sites like REDHATE, you will find some that call for the murdering of liberals. They are pure HATE.
Isn’t this like a organized hate crime?
Buck Fush
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:47 pmSomeone needs to serve Horowitz a cup of STFU.
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pmDumb_Fox; about that link.
EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
I’m gonna have nightmares for years because of that.
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:09 pmislamo fascism week. as oppose to world history of study the constitution week…this country is going down the toilet.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:43 pmHorowitz was going to have Timothy McVeigh attend his awareness week events, but, alas, Mr. McVeigh had a prior engagement.
Comment by dim wit —
Well, dim wit, Horowitz could always have a seance to summon up McVeigh’s presence. I’m sure Ann-thrax Coulter would be delighted to have him back to blow up the NY Times building.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:44 pmEither you are with us or you are against us?
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:38 pmWhen does Fat-Ass Christofascism Awareness Week start?
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:04 pmThere is ample evidence that Fox News is actually detrimental to our society and is contributing to the downfall of freedom and liberty in the United States. I was never interested in politics until I started reading the alternative news and my father’s blog – and now that I see the truth, I too am concerned about the future of our country, and whether we will be able to survive the Presidency of George Bush.
Are Fox News and Right-Wing Pundits Illegally Supporting Blatant Lies and Propaganda
He isn’t sure of the answer, and neither am I, but how can passing off propaganda and lies be legally called news when there is ample evidence of their constant right-wing leanings and issues they have misrepresented and caught red-handed by Media Matters. We have to do something to bring back accountability to the news media, otherwise a huge portion of the country will never be told of the danger they are in – and without knowing that our country is on the brink of total dictatorship, they will never rise-up in anger and demand change. How can our Congress tolerate this? Why won’t they intervene and help their constituents?
If millions of people are unaware of the danger we face, the news media only skirts the issue, and Congress refuses to do anything of substance – exactly how are we to have any chance of saving our Democracy?
October 24th, 2007 at 5:31 pmRupert Murdoch’s other news channels in the UK (Sky News) and its affiliates in Australia and India are pretty much doing what Fox does here although the dynamics outside the US are a bit different.
The guy is a menace. From a journalist’s perspective, this type of media is everything that journalism is NOT.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:05 amLet’s bring more perspective to this issue. It is important to understand that Islamo fascism is indeed a problem, just as crime is a problem — but it is definitely not a substantial threat to national security. It is being used by conservatives to manipulate the gullible, whip up fear, and keep the conflict going and the tax dollars flowing to the Military Industrial Complex which funds Congressional campaigns.
These conservative bigots can be countered by pointing out that religious fascism of any kind is indeed a problem for civilized societies here and around the world — but here at home, an even more substantial threat to American values is Christian fascism, which is found in the likes of the Ku Kluz Klan, (still very active in the southeast, especially) the Michegan Militia and other militia organizations, the Minutemen, Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of the Oklahoma federal building (which was the first terrorist attack specifically targeting the U.S. government in U.S. history).
The KKK has been a Christian terrorist organization, murdering and terrorizing American citizens for well over a century. Our government has done very little to erradicate this and other criminal, terrorist pro-fascist organizations, and indeed, the FBI has a long and storied history of very cozy and cordial relations with the KKK, as Greensboro, N.C. well knows. (Check the News & Record for its multimedia report on on the “The Klansman and the G-man” in which two retired members of both organizations discuss their friendly professional relationship over the years. In many respects, our government has harbored the KKK, much as the Taliban harbored Al Queda in Afganistan.
So lets agree that religious fascism is real and needs to be addressed, but that the way to battle Christian and Islamo fascism is to use law enforcement in the one case, and international intellegence and law enforcement in the other, which requires cooperation in a civilized manner. Not the military.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:36 am