First, I would like to thank Mr. David Horowitz for coming to campus and calling me a radical leftist"" who is ""racist,"" ""ignorant"" and ""can't read.""
Although he did not specifically direct those comments at me, Horowitz showed quite a bit of disdain for his audience Monday night, making broad generalizations when faced with some tough questions from those who attended.
As part of his ""Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,"" Horowitz brought up some very important issues regarding radical Islam in our world today. The fact that 130 million Muslim girls have their genitals mutilated is a huge problem, as are other forms of discrimination that occur in many Muslim countries. He and the audience could agree that the perversion of Islam by radicals such as Osama bin
Laden poses a serious threat to the religion and the world.
Horowitz claims he came to campus to start a discussion - to open up a dialogue about problems in the Muslim world.
Unfortunately, his confrontational remarks to the audience during the question and answer session succeeded in drowning out all the valid points he made and closing off any opportunity to start that discussion.
The audience, for the most part (ahem, Kevin Barrett), remained civil during his speech and waited for their turn to ask questions. Keeping with Horowitz's thread of starting a dialogue on a real problem facing Islam, the audience mostly asked specific questions regarding Horowitz's facts and disputed statements. That is when the attacks started.
Repeatedly referring to those in attendance as the ""radical left,"" Horowitz made statements such as, ""The stupidity here is mind-boggling,"" ""This is just another example of a person who can't see that two plus two equals four,"" and, ""As a leftist, your principle is that everything that has gone wrong in the world America did.""
When one student asked about a statement on Horowitz's website, he denied it was ever there and told the student he could not read.
Responding in such a way to legitimate questions from an audience that had respected his right to speak is the height of hypocrisy. If Horowitz wants to hold his political opponents to such a high standard and ""start a discussion"" about the problems with Islam, then he must hold himself to the same standard.
Instead, he constantly belittled and demonized those who did not agree with him.
The several student organizations in attendance, including the Muslim Students' Association, Black Student Union and College Democrats, protested outside the event and did not disrupt the speech. In fact, one conservative in attendance, a blogger who goes by ""Uncle Jimbo"" at blackfive.net, said that even though he was ""predisposed to agree with most of what Horowitz was saying,"" the opposition groups ""maintained more decorum than Mr. Horowitz.""
The audience held up their end of the bargain only to be called ignorant and accused of being unpatriotic and un-American, all because they wished to engage Horowitz in the debate he claimed he wanted.
By resorting to name-calling, Horowitz shut off discussion of the real problem and instead refocused the event onto disrespect for the left, which then turned into disrespect for everyone. This seems to be a common ploy for those who do not really want to discuss the issues.
In September, instead of having an honest discussion about our failed policy in Iraq, we got riled up over a stupid ad in a newspaper. A few weeks ago, after President Bush vetoed SCHIP, rather than discussing the problems with the health care industry. The focus instead shifted to attacking a
12-year-old and his family. When someone opposes the Iraq War, rather than asking why, people like Rush Limbaugh attack their patriotism, even referring to soldiers who oppose the war as ""phony.""
Not until we get past the rhetoric, the name-calling and the overall disrespect in the political process will we ever have a civil discussion on the issues.
David Horowitz and the others who participated in closing off the dialogue proved that on Monday night.
I'm sure there are many who agree with me and, likewise, many who disagree with me. But, unlike Horowitz, I'm not going to call you ignorant for disagreeing with me, I just hope you'll show me the same respect.
Erik Opsal is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com
