Last week some claimed Santa Claus was coming to town in the guise of Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. This week, Madison played host to a visitor who did not invoke the spirit of hope and change that Mr. Obama or any other Democratic presidential candidate invokes.
This week, UW-Madison students were confronted by David Horowitz, a man whose ideas do little to unite or inspire our nation, but instead serve to divide our world into a dichotomy of “Us” vs. “Them.” While we fiercely defend Mr. Horowitz’s or any other individual’s right to express his or her ideas freely, we stand as one with those who protest his rhetoric of hate.
In response to Mr. Horowitz’s hateful speech and his denigrating nomenclature this week, the College Democrats have joined with the Muslim Student Association and other progressive-minded organizations around campus in declaring this to be a week of “Peace, not Prejudice.” We hope to combat the negative rhetoric of Mr. Horowitz with education and cultural understanding, in large part spearheaded by the Muslim students so grossly attacked by Mr. Horowitz’s words.
As we showed Monday night in our peaceful protest, the College Democrats are committed to combating prejudice in all forms while respecting and honoring the freedom of speech Mr. Horowitz and the College Republicans exercised in airing their views. However, in the spirit of robust discussion that is only possible given the assurance of free speech, we condemn Mr. Horowitz for his hypocrisy.
Mr. Horowitz lambasted progressives in this country (and in that room) for allegedly not caring about the religious extremism of Middle Eastern governments. But what about religious intolerance here at home? How can he, and the College Republicans who sponsored his lecture, criticize the governments in that region when they advocate for a hateful constitutional amendment that discriminates against homosexuals in Wisconsin? How can he speak about standing up for the rights of Middle Eastern women when he sponsors a speech by Ann Coulter as part of his “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week?”
The answer is that Mr. Horowitz is not out to liberate women and moderates from their oppressors. He is merely a diluted man with a loud voice trying to spread hatred and fear across this nation. In 2001, Ms. Coulter stated that, “I think [women] should be armed, but should not vote.” His supposed effort to give moderate Muslims a voice in their governments has lead Mr. Horowitz to align himself with one of the neoconservative movement’s most despicable voices.
We are facing serious and sometimes frightening issues both at home and abroad. Overblown, under-informed, and hypocritical rhetoric does nothing more than distract us from the challenges at hand. What is troubling about “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” is that it distracts us from the serious conversation we should be having about our national security and foreign policy as a whole. What is most troubling, however, is that it alienates and demonizes millions of innocent Americans, and millions upon millions of innocent citizens of the world based upon their religious beliefs.
Is the nation of Israel under constant threat from deranged leaders like President Ahmadinejad of Iran? Yes. Does the United States have an obligation to defend freedom throughout the world? Absolutely. But why did that obligation lead us into a premeditated war in Iraq, and where is that same sense of obligation when it comes to stopping genocide in Sudan?
While we condemn the childish antics and hypocrisy of Mr. Horowitz, we commend the vast majority of students who respectfully protested his ideas and attended his speech. We especially commend the behavior of the Muslim Student Association, who respectfully sat through the entirety of Mr. Horowitz’s speech, only to embarrass and frustrate him during the question and answer portion of Monday’s event by simply asking and answering questions.
From start to finish, Monday evening was a celebration of the First Amendment. Beginning with the protest outside, students assembled peacefully and made their voices heard through the glass doors that separated us from the people inside the Union, waiting for the doors to open. Even as UWPD lead a police dog through the protesters, the passion and resolve remained.
When infamous former lecturer Kevin Barrett interrupted Mr. Horowitz shortly after his speech began, the largely liberal crowd booed him out of the theatre to the scattered chant of “asshole.” In stark contrast to the respect that the vast majority in the audience showed him, Mr. Horowitz later responded by reducing his comments to the level of the most immature of his critics. “The stupidity here is mind-boggling,” he quipped during the question and answer period.
His frustration was evident as his earlier denunciations of extremism gave way to an extremism all his own. He underestimated the maturity and dignity of the students of UW-Madison, and Monday night, he and his ideas left our campus empty-handed.
Oliver Kiefer ([email protected]) is chair of the University of Wisconsin College Democrats.
