David Horowitz

[[File:David Horowitz by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Horowitz in 2011.]]{{pundits}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with {{wpl|David Horowitz (consumer advocate)|David Horowitz|,}} the consumer advocate who once played himself on ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show'' being attacked by a sink clog creature.}}
'''David Joel Horowitz''' {{lived|1939|2025}} was a former figure in the [[New Left]] who turned batshit arch-[[conservative]].  

==Conversion to conservatism==
A "red-diaper baby," Horowitz edited the New Left magazine ''Ramparts'' from 1969 to 1975. He subsequently renounced his leftist past and became a [[far-right]] [[conservative]]. 

He made a bit of a name for himself in the 1990s with a memoir, entitled ''Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey'', about how his [[Stalinist]] parents did everything but skin him alive as a child, how [[left-wing]] politics are nothing but a [[Idolatry|false religion]], and how in consequence it is perfectly reasonable to align oneself with the looniest [[fringe]] of the [[Republican Party]] (usually the screaming lunatic [[fundamentalist]]s who badger the hell out of women at [[abortion]] clinics and otherwise make their positions untenable). His memoir has a [[crank magnetism|fair share of rants]] against [[Entitlement program|entitlements]], [[Affirmative Action]], and other programs to help the [[poor]].<ref>Horowitz, David. ''Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.</ref>

Horowitz insists his "conversion" was caused by the unsolved [[murder]] of Betty Van Patter, an accountant he had recommended to do bookkeeping for the [[Black Panther Party|Black Panthers]],<ref name=salon>[https://www.salon.com/1999/12/13/betty/ Who killed Betty Van Patter? A letter from an old friend stirs up passions from one of the most disturbing, yet little-known, crimes of the New Left era. It happened exactly 25 years ago.] by David Horowitz (December 13, 1999 5:00PM EST) ''Salon''.</ref> with whom he was aligned. After Van Patter looked at the ledgers and brought discrepancies to the attention of Panther Chairwoman Elaine Brown, she went missing, and her body later was found with her head bashed in on the shore of San Francisco Bay. Horowitz and others have claimed that the Panthers did it,<ref name=salon/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210224131127/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-16-bk-hitchens16-story.html Left-leaving, left-leaning] by Christopher Hitchens (November 16, 2003) ''Los Angeles Times''. Book review of Horowitz's ''Left Illusions: An Intellectual Odyssey''.</ref> but there never was a conviction. Art Goldberg, Horowitz's long-time and by then-former friend, accused Horowitz of putting Patter into a dangerous situation and thereby bearing some of the responsibility for her death.<ref name=salon/>

===Horowitz in action===
One of David Horowitz's pet peeves has been the long-standing issue of historical reparations for [[slavery]]. If his criticism was based on costs or on the fact that no one currently alive was directly involved with slavery in any capacity, he might have gotten away with it. Instead, we got the same logic-twisting that made Booker T. Washington anathema to the [[Civil Rights]] movement in Horowitz's anti-reparations argument, "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist, Too":

{{cquote|The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves. The GNP of black America is so large that it makes the [[African-American]] community the 10th most prosperous "nation" in the world. American blacks on average enjoy per capita incomes in the range of twenty to fifty times that of blacks living in any of the African nations from which they were taken.<ref>[https://archive.ph/ifj2t Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks - and Racist Too] by David Horowitz (January 03, 2001) ''FrontPage Magazine'' (archived from 10 Jan 2013 21:42:55 UTC).</ref>}}

In layman's terms: "Slavery made us money and slaves' living conditions were ''[[Not as bad as|slightly]]'' better than what they'd have been otherwise, so you should [[Lost Cause of the South|thank your plantation owners]] for giving you any wages at all."

Horowitz anti-reparations rationale originally appeared in his own ''FrontPage Magazine'' in January 2001. He then tried to place it as an [[advertisement]] in college newspapers across the US in March 2001.<ref name=ncac>[https://wiki.ncac.org/Ten_Reasons_Why_Reparations_for_Blacks_is_a_Bad_Idea_for_Blacks-and_Racist,_Too Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist, Too] ''National Coalition Against Censorship''.</ref> Many newspapers rejected the ads, as they are entitled to do, those that did run the ads faced backlash from students who called the text [[racist]] or [[hate speech]].<ref name=ncac/> Curiously, "Ten Reasons" was subsequently scrubbed clean from ''FrontPage Magazine'' and the [[Internet Archive]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1153 Sorry. This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.] ''Internet Archive''.</ref> both in 2013 or later. The entire ''FrontPage Magazine'' is now scrubbed and excluded from the Internet Archive.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/http://www.frontpagemag.com Sorry. This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.] ''Internet Archive''.</ref> Horowitz apparently doesn't want people to know that he's been doing things he regrets his entire life.

==Projects==
===David Horowitz Freedom Center===
The "David Horowitz Freedom Center" (DHFC)<ref>[http://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/ David Horowitz Freedom Center]</ref> is Horowitz's vanity [[think tank]] that was largely a vehicle for Horowitz to spread [[Islamophobia]] and combat "[[liberal academia]]." The DHFC runs a number of projects, most notably publishing the conservative ''FrontPage Magazine''.<ref>[http://frontpagemag.com/ ''FrontPage Magazine'']</ref>

The magazine started out as a more aggressively-conservative version of ''The Weekly Standard'', but has morphed into [[Stormfront]]-lite, takes a rabid anti-Islam editorial stance and publishes other miscellaneous [[wingnut]]tery by the likes of [[Ann Coulter]], [[Daniel Pipes]], and [[Melanie Phillips]]. Its more recent [[pundit]]s [[Bruce Bawer]], Daniel Greenfield, and Jamie Glazov have dropped any semblance of subtlety and frequently display overt racism and borderline neo-[[fascism]] in their screeds.

The DHFC runs "Students for Academic Freedom",<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071218204734/http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/about/ About] ''Students for Academic Freedom''.</ref> and Discover the Networks,<ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/ Discover the Networks]</ref> a site allegedly keeping tabs on the "[[psychological projection|loony]] [[moonbat|leftists]]" giving cover to the [[terrorism-baiting|Jihad Johnnies]] and other assorted radicals. The DHFC has also taken aboard Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch fame.<ref>[http://www.jihadwatch.org/ Jihad Watch]</ref> Spencer's [[Islamophobia]] is so virulent that it's too [[wingnut]]ty [[stopped clock| even for]] [[Dinesh D'Souza]]!<ref>[https://www.jihadwatch.org/2007/03/dsouza-spencer-essentially-agrees-with-bin-laden D'Souza: Spencer "essentially agrees with bin Laden"] by Robert Spencer (Mar 2, 2007 11:29 am) ''Jihad Watch''.</ref> Then-Representative [[Ron DeSantis]], who became [[Florida]] governor in 2019, spoke at the center's conferences on four separate occasions.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180910020326/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/gop-candidate-for-fla-governor-spoke-at-racially-charged-events/2018/09/09/c6d3a63c-b114-11e8-a810-4d6b627c3d5d_story.html GOP candidate for Fla. governor spoke at racially charged events] by Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown (September 9 at 10:30 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> DeSantis also used a racist [[dogwhistle]] in his campaign.<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pastors-protest-desantis-monkey-comment-effort-silence-dog/story?id=57526571 Pastors protest DeSantis' 'monkey this up' comment in effort to 'silence dog whistle'] by Meghan Keneally & Lissette Rodriguez (Aug 31, 2018, 12:42 PM ET) ''ABC News''.</ref>

===Attacks on academia===
Horowitz pushed his [[doublethink|deceptively named]] Academic Bill of Rights (ABOR)<ref>[https://studentsforacademicfreedom.org/basic-texts/academic-bill-of-rights/ Academic Bill of Rights] (May 17, 2020) ''Students for Academic Freedom''.</ref> for quite some time. In one instance, his [[Joe McCarthy|McCarthy]] complex managed to spark an investigation into [[Pennsylvania]]'s higher education system. However, the investigative committee found that Horowitz's charges were overblown and that he had failed to document the widespread "indoctrination" he claimed existed.<ref>[https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/16/who-won-battle-pennsylvania Who Won the Battle of Pennsylvania? As David Horowitz's prized legislative panel finishes work, he claims victory, but many academics say it debunked his claims.] by Scott Jaschik (November 16, 2006) ''Inside Higher Ed''.</ref><ref>[https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/22/bad-worse-david-horowitz From Bad to Worse for David Horowitz: Pennsylvania panel strips language he liked and affirms that students aren't oppressed for political views. He decries "cabal" for "stealing" report.] by Scott Jaschik (November 22, 2006) ''Inside Higher Ed''.</ref>

In 2006, Horowitz published ''The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America'',<ref>''The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America'' by David Horowitz (2006) Regnery Publishing. ISBN 0895260034.</ref> which targeted many professors who supported [[Palestinian]] rights.<ref name=stanley>''How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them'' by Jason Stanley (2018) Random House. ISBN 9780525511830.</ref>{{rp|38}} In 2009, he published ''One-Party Classroom'',<ref>''One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America's Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy'' by David Horowitz (2009) Crown Forum. ISBN 0307452557.</ref> which listed 150 courses that he considered dangerous.<ref name=stanley/>{{rp|38}} These books, in addition to his Students for Academic Freedom [[astroturf]] group were sufficient for the [[Trump]] White House to support his agenda and include at least 11 past or current members of DHFC in its administration, including [[Mike Pence]], [[Jeff Sessions]], [[Steve Bannon]], [[Stephen Miller]].<ref name=stanley/>{{rp|38-41}}<ref name=o'harrow>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170604032904/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-a-shadow-universe-of-charities-joined-with-political-warriors-to-fuel-trumps-rise/2017/06/03/ff5626ac-3a77-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise] by Robert O'Harrow Jr. & Shawn Boburg (June 3, 2017) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Horowitz even regarded Miller as his protégé.<ref name=o'harrow/>

While Horowitz has attacked the alleged lack of [[free speech]] at universities,<ref name=o'harrow/> the reality is that US universities are the "freest domain of expression in any workplace" since many other types of workplaces force their employees to sign non-disclosure agreements as a condition of employment.<ref name=stanley/>{{rp|41}} [[Intellectual dishonesty|Intellectually dishonest]] wholesale attacks on academia, as Horowitz has engaged in, is a common tactic of fascism.<ref name=stanley/>{{rp|36}}

==See also==
*[[Bruce Bawer]]
*[[Delusions of grandeur]]

==External links==
*[http://newsrealblog.wordpress.com/ Horowitz's NewsReal blog].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140703063035/http://www.insidehighered.com/taxonomy/term/343 ''Inside Higher Ed'''s category for Horowitz].
*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Horowitz_(ex-Marxist) SourceWatch profile].
*[https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/anti-muslim-inner-circle/ The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle], [[Southern Poverty Law Center]].
*[https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/01/jeff-sessions-david-horowitz-trump-frontpage-zionism-racism/ A Most Brilliant Individual], ''Jacobin''.

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horowitz, David}}
[[Category:2020 election denialists]]
[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Chickenhawks]]
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[[Category:Fascists]]
[[Category:Internet kooks]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Jews]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Neoconservatives]]
[[Category:New Left]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Slavery apologists]]

Categories: 2020 election denialists, Anti-intellectualism, Authors, Chickenhawks, Conspiracy theorists, Fascists, Internet kooks, Islamophobes, Jews, Journalists, Leftists who turned right with age, Neoconservatives, New Left, Racists, Right-wing activists, Slavery apologists