James Craven Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663 (360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5 *My Employer Has No Association With My Private/Protected Opinion* -----Original Message----- From: Nathan Newman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 11:59 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:10598] Countering bigoted rightwing attack on Free Speech PLEASE FORWARD Folks, People may of caught the nasty David Horowitz column in Salon attacking the NAACP's lawsuits against the gun lobby where he argued that black leaders should "[abandon] the ludicrous claim that white America and firearms manufacturers are the cause of the problems afflicting African-Americans. It would mean taking responsibility for their own communities instead." See http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/08/16/naacp/index.html Jack White, a black TIME magazine columnist, wrote a rather restrained response where he dared to describe Horowitz's screed as being that of a "bigot." See http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,29787,00.html Well, Horowitz - the architect of "free speech" campaigns against campus speech codes against racism - has now decided that words hurt as much as sticks and stones. He is now rallying the rightwing to pressure TIME to end any flirtations with actually allowing anti-racist voices in their magazine. Read the following whining letter from Horowitz, contact the people he mentions, and tell them you support the free speech rights of Jack White to label bigotry when he sees it. And tell David Talbot of Salon that he may enjoy providing a provocative range of voices in his online magazine, but he should rethink employing people like Horowitz who seek to silence the voices at other magazines. Let Horowitz ( a public personality for purposes of legal tests of libel and slander) just try to prove spreading verbally (slander) or in writing (libel) 1) intentional untruths known to be untruths and/or 2) untruths with careless disregard for facts (easily obtainable facts that clearly reveal untruths as untruths); 3) concrete damages; 4) malice 5) opinion not clearly labelled as opinion. What do you call someone who writes: "Guns don't kill Blacks, Blacks do"? What do you call someone who writes that racism doesn't exist in America on any institutionalized level? What do you call someone who writes/says as "dysfunction" in African-American communities is due solely to a dysfunctional culture with dysfunctional values about which non-Blacks have little if anything to do? (the old racist tautology: "backward because they are backward") What do you call someone who says nothing about the plethora of anti-Black, Anti-Jewish, Anti-Indian, Anti-Hispanic hate groups armed and openly calling for a "HoRaWa" (Holy Race War)? What do you call someone who ignores the most notable examples of gun violence--white kids and racists killing other whites and targeted minorities? What do you call someone who deiliberately ignores the numerous examples of African-Americans being racially profiled and killed by police and by racist thugs? What do you call someone who deliberately ignores the long-lasting and thoroughly documentable deleterious effects of institutionalized slavery and racism on individuals and families and whole groups? A bigot. A racist. A racist apologist. A whore and toady of the racist privileged. A punk. An opportunist. Add here: ... Anyone remember "Marx and Modern Economics", "Shakespeare: An Existential View", "The Free World Colossus", "The Corporations and the Cold War" and "Ramparts"? He was obviously playing a "market niche" then and is playing another one now. This is an example of what happens when "Radical" is but a market niche rather than a deeply-felt/held ongoing commitment; so easy to go from "ultra-left" to "ultra-right" because the focus was on the "ultra", the self, the narcissism, the know-it-all hubris and the market niche all along. This is my protected OPINION. Horowitz is free to express his, and I and others are free to express our own considered opinions about the essence of the message and the messenger. The fact that he whines so much, shows what a thoroughly disgusting opportunist and weak toady/sycophant he truly is. Jim Craven
