Dennis and I went and saw
David Horowitz speak tonight at the Alumni Hall in Penn State's Hub-Robeson Center. He was there, as a guest of the College Republicans to promote his book,
The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. I have previously opined on the book
here so I intend to focus on the speech tonight. I just want to say that unlike a lot of liberals in the crowd, I tried to attend the event with an open mind and not condemn everything he said.
AllegianceThe event started off with an introduction by the president of the College Republicans for Horowitz. The interesting part is that at the end of the introduction while standing in front of a sign that said "College Republicans: Support America" the president asked the attendees to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag (mind you, there was no flag present). I found it funny. Hitler often required people to take loyalty pledges too. I remained seated, even as Dennis stood. I guess I hate America.
TheoryHorowitz begun by explaining that there is an overwhelming number of liberal professors in academia. He told the crowd that according to a study by Berkeley and Stanford that the ratio of liberal to conservative professors is between 7 and 9 to 1. Interesting thought, considering that one of the two Penn State professors he attacked has declared that he's a libertarian. Anyway, the idea that liberals outnumber conservatives in academia is no shock to me. Especially in the liberal arts.
He then theorized why liberals outnumbered conservatives. In his opinion, those who opposed the Vietnam War (liberals) decided to avoid the draft with a 2S deferment and stayed in school, earning their bachelors, masters, and ph.d. Come thirty years later, conservatives are a rare breed. It's an interesting take and actually sounds plausible.
Liberal ArtsThroughout the hour long speech, he railed against the liberal arts and their liberal professors and the ideology that these professors bring to their classes. But, what do you expect from the liberal arts? Of course, professors in the liberal arts are going liberals. Maybe I'm wrong here but isn't the Business School full of mostly conservatives? If so, wouldn't it be slightly hypocritical to omit this.
He frequently attacked sociology professors. Demanding that they should teach "both sides" of the argument. Repeatedly, he questioned the sociological idea that our society has social, economic, and racial classes. Whether or not it is true, I don't know. I have no background in the topic but as an english major, neither is he.
Double StandardsHorowitz went on attack against liberal professors. Citing examples where universities had hired professors who had been in jail and had been involved in illegal activities. He also complained about liberal professors who voiced their political opinions in public and on their personal websites like Penn State's Richards and Berube. But, here's the key point, he defended
Ward Churchill. I also defended Churchill, but this is a double standard to only defend professors who speak out "in public" but not defend other professors right to free speech.
IdeologyHe ranted and railed against liberals who brought their political viewpoints into their classes. Even in my engineering classes, I've seen politics in the classroom. And, in the liberal arts classes, it was even more pronounced. A few years ago I took Comparitive Literature 100, a class on sex, race and gender issues. As you can imagine, I was one of very few men in the class. It was mainly full of minorities and feminists but you know what? I expected that. Hell, even the professors last name was Castro. Although at the time, I wasn't political, I did feel that most of my opinions were unwanted. But, here's the key -- my opinions were not unwanted by the professor but rather by my fellow students. This is the key difference between the reality and what Horowitz rants about.
EffectOn some level, I think Horowitz is right. I do believe that some professors bring their politics to class but especially in liberal arts classes, I want their opinion. I, like him, just don't want them to demand they are right and as I've experienced, this hasn't happened to me. One of my engineering professors makes cracks about Bush and talks about how everyone should drive hybrids, but what is the effect? Is the system truly "hurting our children?" Is it truly indoctrinating the students? I truly don't think so. I, like most of my fellow students, have active functional brains and we have the ability to think for ourselves. We have the ability to hear a professor's biased political opinion and come out unscathed. So, although Horowitz may be correct that academia has a liberal bias, I don't see the problem. Our country is on a conservative kick and this society was educated by liberal academic institutions. So where is the problem Mr. Horowitz?
AttacksHorowitz made some good points but he did many things that affected his message. Repeatedly, he went off-topic ranting about McCarthyism and Stalinists, and the horrible communists. Why is it that neo-conservatives always have to bring up McCarthy and defend him. Sure, I do believe that there were communists in the government but here's the difference --- I don't care. Those communists were allowed by law to be communists. They had the fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution to be communists. Horowitz also attacked people who asked questions. Much like Ann Coulter, he called people in the crowd idiots and said they were unable to hold a debate, even though he wouldn't actually answer some questions. Even if he believed that and even it was true, calling your audience idiots is no way to get your point across. The biggest detraction for him of the night was how he went on a rant against Paul Robeson (the man who the building is named after), calling him a traitor and a communist. He may have been, I don't know, but thats off-topic and only incites the people who disagree with you. He should have stuck to the topic and refrained from taking pot-shots.
LiberalsIf I got anything about this event, it was that I fucking hate liberals. Don't get me wrong, I hate conservatives too, but I really hate liberals. Liberals in the audience boo'ed and interrupted Horowitz throughout the entire event. Disgraceful. You came to hear the man speak, so let him speak.
ConclusionI'm glad I went to the event. Although he made horrible mistakes in getting his message across, some things got through and he raised some great points and questions. Although I still think he's a horrible debater (as the question and answer period proved where he called everyone idiots), he did provide some information that was insightful. I just wish he would have stuck to the topic and refrained from making lame attacks on people that were unnecessary and didn't make accusations that clearly contained double standards and hypocritical omissions.
In any event, I agree that liberals outnumber conservatives, at least at Penn State but I don't care. Professors that crack Bush jokes and slip in liberal opinions have no effect on me. Conservatives truly need to stop worring "about the children."
Tags:
Politics,
Penn State,
Douchebag, &
Horowitz
