jason rathod
eclectic innovator
Running for president is a tough job. Not only have I spent the last three months campaigning 18 hours a day, but I’ve had to work endlessly developing new and innovative policies to help re-shape America. One of the perks of the job, however, is that you have a countless number of interesting conversations along the way. Here’s a rough transcript of a recent conversation I had with conservative writer and strategist David Horowitz on campus the other day.
Rathod: David, is it alright if I call you “D-Ho” for the rest of this conversation? I love what you conservatives have done with nicknames these days. Speaking of which, how are Condi and Rummy doing?
Horowitz: “Judas Iscariot had free speech!” (Hannity and Colmes, 11-02-01).
Rathod: Easy, D-Ho, I just thought we could start out with some small talk, but I guess not. So, you say Judas had free speech, what does that mean?
Horowitz: “In no other American institution are views as one-sided and conformist as they are at our institutions of higher learning, where more than 90 percent of professors in the humanities and social sciences identify themselves on the left end of the political spectrum. How is this situation possible unless there is a political blacklist (whether formal or informal) operating on faculty hiring committees?” (Horowitz, David. “An Academic Bill of Rights”, 02-03-2004).
Rathod: Right, so I’ll infer from your reasoning that you want to see more Republican Judases with professorships.
Horowitz: “As I said, Judas Iscariot, Tokyo Rose, Benedict Arnold all had the right of free speech” (Hannity and Colmes, 11-02-01).
Rathod: You know, D-Ho, there could be other reasons besides an elaborate socialist takeover plot to explain the large number of liberal educators. In fact, your faulty analysis is a classic example of establishing causation when the data merely show a correlation. As a representative of the conservative “educated” elite, your elementary slip-up reveals a real possibility that liberals dominate academia because they are simply more qualified and better-educated than conservatives. A more plausible explanation, however, is that conservatives are greedier than liberals and seek lucrative business jobs at places such as Enron and WorldCom instead of jobs as benevolent five-figure professors.
Horowitz: “Yes, but 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock” (The O’Reilly Factor, 02-13-02).
Rathod: What does that have to do with anything? While appealing to racist attitudes may help you explain away faulty reasoning at Bob Jones University, it won’t help your cause at accredited colleges like Grinnell.
Horowitz: “Black males are six percent of the population, they commit 50 percent of the violent crimes in this country. One in three young black males is a convicted criminal” (Chuck Baldwin Live, 06-06-97).
Rathod: Alright, it’s on now. You’ve significantly manipulated statistics to serve your own racist ends. But, even if there is an inclination of truth in your statistics, it only proves that our justice system is racially biased. A number of studies have demonstrated that black males are disproportionately targeted by police, and consequently, are stopped, searched, arrested and incarcerated at disproportionate levels. As black males are baselessly targeted and imprisoned at disparate levels, black children often have to grow up in fragmented communities and single-parent households. It’s all a self-fulfilling prophecy created by bad police policy and exploited by racist commentators.
Horowitz: “To focus the social passions of African-Americans on what some Americans may have done to their ancestors fifty or a hundred and fifty years ago is to burden them with a crippling sense of victim-hood” (“Ten Reasons Why Reparations is Bad for Blacks and Racist Too,” 01-03-01).
Rathod: Why are you trying to evoke anger and fear by bringing up irrelevant issues? I wasn’t talking about the atrocities some Americans committed over a century ago, but rather the racist policies that policymakers endorse today. As for the victimization argument, do you recall what you recently told a crowd in Madison, Wis.?
Horowitz: “I am the target of a nationwide hate campaign designed to do only one thing. And that is to silence me.”
Rathod: Yeah, D-Ho, that’s the quote. Doesn’t that sound a little like victimization?
Horowitz: “No, no. I was a victim” (Hannity and Colmes, 02-05-2002).
Rathod: Life must be so tough as a rich, white, heterosexual male. I mean having to represent a group of people that controls 96 percent of CEO positions must be quite burdensome. You really are a victim.
[After a short pause, Horowitz’s demeanor became quite solemn and his tone changed from confrontational to conciliatory]
Horowitz: “Okay. This is sheer hypocrisy and smokescreen” (Hannity and Colmes, 9-16-2003.)
Rathod: What was that D-Ho? Are you admitting that…
Horowitz: “All over the country, people are getting shafted” (O’Reilly Factor, 11-07-01). “Our team does not reach out to include women, children and minorities and working people” (Special Report with Brit Hume, 07-12-99).
Rathod: Wait … so you’re admitting that you’re wrong? That your conversion to conservatism was nothing more than a money-making scheme designed to exploit the ignorance of your followers? I’m glad to hear that you’ve finally come clean.
After my conversation with D-Ho, he was a changed man. The following afternoon, he led a march for hate crimes legislation and even helped cook at SJAG’s community meal. To support D-Ho’s new transformation (and ensure that he doesn’t become insecure and make another shift to the radical right) I suggest that everyone come hear him speak on Monday night and wear as much liberal paraphernalia to the event as possible. Picket signs of “Free Mumia” and “Save Affirmative Action” will certainly help the cause. And I’m sure occasional chants of “Down with Bush” and “No More War” will ease his mind as well.
Disclaimer: Although the quotes attributed to David Horowitz are accurate (in the sense that he has stated them either in interviews or in his own work), an actual conversation with him did not transpire.
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