Thugs Writing

As reported in my last post on the Horowitz matter, David Horowitz argues quite forcefully that his current campus campaign is not a campaign against political bias in the classroom, let alone against liberal bias. Apparently that word has not filtered out to his allied organizations. If you read the Students for Academic Freedom web site (which repeats the M.B. is a Thug column from Horowitz), you'll find an interpretation of Horowitz's bill of academic rights. In that gloss, you'll read that "Liberal Arts faculties at most universities are politically and philosophically one-sided," which sounds to me like a statement that bias exists, followed by this: "Faculty bias is reflected in the curriculum of courses available, in the manner in which they are taught, in readings assigned for classroom study, and in discussions only open to one side of a debate. " All this is offered as simple ,uncontestable matters of fact. Not "we oppose political bias in the classroom," true enough, just the presupposition that political bias is, as commie post-structuralists used to write, always already in the classroom. (By "philosphically one-sided, " do you suppose they mean that philosophy departments are more likely to be Burkean conservatives than neoconservatives?)

There is, by the way, a store at the FRONTPAGEMAG and Center for the Study of Popular Culture web sites. (Speaking of popular culture studies, one thing you can sign up for at the center's web site is a trip to Rome with Victor Davis Hanson and David Horowitz, where Hanson will deliver four lectures on classical Italy and modern Europe. Given what we read at the website, we can assume these lectures will be carefully examined to be sure there is no trace of political bias in the presentations. People shouldn't pay large amounts of money to a popular culture center to study classical Italy only to find themselves in the grip of a biased lecturer.) One of the items for sale in the store is the book you see pictured here, CAMPUS SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM, edited by David Horowitz and Ben Johnson. Here, from their web site's description of their book, is an example of Horowitz & Johnson's editing

"When will the academic world takes its head out of the sand and join the rest of the nation in fighting the war on terror?"

That's verbatim -- it's not one of my many typos.

But the real reason I bring all this up is simply to alert you to the fact that you can purcahase Horowtiz's THE PROFESSORS (a book, not a list!) from the center's web site at a discount. Why pay full price? Get it directly from the source and save money. If you're tired of reading campaigns against liberal bias and political bias in the classroom, get something different. Get THE PROFESSORS, by David (come away with me to Rome) Horowitz.