Horowitz Gets Another Pie In The Face

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Horowitz Gets Another Pie In The Face Metaphorically anyway, based upon his treatment by the University of Hawaii. Horowitz must be some kind of masochist, and this article proves it. (via the indispensable Real Clear Politics). I was particularly struck by the fact that the faculty seemed happy to show Horowitz a poster of himself standing with Joseph McCarthy. An ugly and completely unjustified piece of propaganda. But, it is an example of who the real McCarthyites are, and it isn't Horowitz. What Horowitz is trying to accomplish, by opening universities to opinions other than 60's radical orthodoxies, is admirable but seems sisyphean. It is not an impossible task I think, because universities are now succumbing to criticisms they never had to face before. They, like the MSM, are no longer immune, and cannot wall up their ivory towers and ignore the jabs aimed at them. They are an awfully easy target too - a lot of conservative talk show hosts and bloggers seem to dig up silly stories about liberal academia on slow news days. They are always an easy score with an audience. Academic freedom should be a huge winning issue for republicans, because they have fairness on their side. All that the Left has is a defense of the needs of socialism, their outdated and discredited religion. And now we have Ward Churchill, who is a godsend to people like Horowitz. Churchill is so good for the right, you could not invent someone like him. He just oozes insincere creepiness much the way Michael Moore does. He does for academia what Jerry Falwell did for the religious right - makes them look arrogant and silly at the same time. It is not an attractive combination. 1:36 AM | | |