A David Horowitz fan

[Cat Atomic]

Yesterday, I was discussing books with a couple of casual acquaintances, and I mentioned that I enjoy reading Howard Zinn's work. He's got a unique and insightful view of things.

Anyway, I had an e-mail from one of them this evening. He suggested that I try reading David Horowitz to "balance the perspective".

Now, I'm aware of David Horowitz only tangentially- I know he's an angry man who shouts about liberals and communists, I know he's some sort of militant anti-hippy, and I know he's a right-wing talking head in the hate industry, but that's about it.

What would you tell someone who (very politely) suggests you read David Horowitz? Are there any infamous examples of Horowitz making illogical or factually inaccurate arguments? I don't want to be rude to this person and scare them off, but I would like to outline the differences between a writer like Zinn, and a hate-monger like Horowitz.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Read David Brock's Blinded by the Right

He addresses Horowitz well in there and Horowitz's responses to him were thoroughly picked apart by others.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

2. David Horowitz

is perhaps the most angry right-winger I've seen in a long while. His venomous screeds against liberals are beyond the pale. He believes that liberlas and DEmocrats are all hate-America Marxists, not to mention racists. He makes no bones about saying these things. He has proven unwilling to engage in any meaningful debate, without vicious ad hominem attacks. He may surpass even Ann Coulter as most hateful, angry right-winger. Hardly ideological balance, I'd say.

[Cocoa]

3. he's got a website

frontpagemag.com

I haven't been able to get more than a few sentences into anything he's written, but I've heard him in radio interviews. He's so completely dishonest it's really hard to say much about him. Your friend obviously wants to like him, that's the only explanation I can think why anyone would read his stuff.

[punpirate]

4. Maybe a few ideas here....

http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/david_horowitz.htm&e=7415

Collection of articles and news reports on what Horowitz has been up to, and who funds him and by how much.

Cheers.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. LOL I just saw that when I was looking up something else

and came back to this thread to post it and there you were :D Media Transparency is one of the most useful sites I have found for policy and who makes and pays for it.

on edit: Our links are different so I will post this as well

http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/david_horowitz.htm

BTW to the thread starter: This site is quite credible and will be a useful read. Do click.

[otohara]

5. Well As It Turns Out - Mr. Horowitz Used To Be

quite the liberal - but he's a total right-winger now and he is trying to come up with a mandate to enforce that university's have more republican professors. Here's an article from today's Denver Post - His idea for university's has caught the eye of our dismal Gov. Owens.

Horowitz has been an agitator for a long time. Back in the 1960s, there was no more fervent defender of the Black Panthers, or more passionate opponent of the war in Vietnam. At some point during the past 35 years (a cynic might wonder if this transformation had any connection to where the money is), Horowitz became an outspoken right-thinker, and campuses are his current target.

more

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E150%257E1619005,00.html

[scarletwoman]

6. A suggestion

Why not just pick out some Horowitz article to read, and then deconstruct his b.s. yourself? He's got TONS of articles on the web, do a search, and find a topic that you feel knowledgable about.

Then you can tell your acquaintance you took his advice and read Horowitz but you were APPALLED at the inaccuracies and distortions. :evilgrin:

Just a thought...

sw

[fizzana]

7. Here's a recent example of Horowitz's utter stupidity

Liberals won't admit Rodney King is a loser

By David Horowitz

But liberals had to make their point. They had to roll out the racial melodrama, insisting that every time a black man is arrested -- even one fleeing and refusing to be cuffed -- a hate crime is committed by the police themselves. Liberals had to wring millions of dollars out of Los Angeles taxpayers to pay reparations to a man whom everyone knew then and knows now is just a pathetic bum.

<snip>

Of course, the same liberals have already forgotten the 58 people who are dead because of Rodney King and the criminals he and his supporters inspired. Nobody cares about the innocent victims of the protesters for social justice -- the 2,000 Koreans who lost their businesses to "black rage"; the four cops who lost their careers because they beat a reckless criminal who was resisting arrest and refused to go prone.

And so is the inspirer of it all, Rodney King, forgotten, too. But he is forgotten because remembering him would tell a liberal culture more than it wants to hear.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E25062%257E1611352,00.html?search=filter

It's amazing how this raving right winger is able to figure out exactly what I think. This is is usual tactic - projecting the most absurd notions (in this case that Rodney King is a poor victim of prejudice) and then accusing the liberal mainstream of supporting these notions.

[Cat Atomic]

9. Thanks everyone.

Lots of useful information in here.

I actually took scarletwoman's advice, and just read through a few of Horowitz' articles until I found a couple on issues I'm familiar with, then pointed out the problems.

Well... his biggest problem seems to be tone. It's actually hard to find big factual errors, since most of the pieces I read were nothing but ad hominem attacks. But there you go.

[scarletwoman]

10. ad hominem attacks are part and parcel of logical fallacies

Imho, in themselves they discredit the source.

Here's a great resource for straightforward analysis of the weaknesses in Horowitz-style attack writings:

Index of Logical Fallacies
http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/index.htm

You too can be well-armed for a battle of wits! :D

sw

[noiretextatique]

11. here's a fact: he's a paranoid racist freak

because he got hooked up with the black panther party when he was a "radical leftist," and a secretary working for the party was killed...allegedly by the panthers. rather than take responsibility for his involvement with the panthers in the first place, he went nuts and blames all black people for his poor judgement...hence his penchant for racially-charged screeds, like the one above. the ultimate in priviledged, white, male victimhood....i imagine most of his readers are similar.

he's pathetic...most of his former friends, the ones who never abandoned their liberal principles, think so too.

i took his sorry ass on at his website once about his inaccurate reparations article, and i kicked his pathetic, racist butt. i was sure to mention his association with the panthers, from my perspective.

he's scum...but he plays on the fear and ignorace of a lot of misinformed folks, the racism of some not-so misinformed others.
as you might have guessed...i despise him.