From the Pen of David Horowitz: October 28, 2009
Dear Ralph,
It has been over a decade since this silence as durable as an iron curtain descended between us. In these circumstances, I have had to depend on others to learn how you regard me these days: How, at a recent social gathering, you referred to me as “one of the two tragedies of the New Left†(the other being a former Brecht scholar who now publishes guides to the nude beaches of America); how my apostasy has inflicted an emotional wound, as though in changing my political views and leaving the Left I had personally betrayed you.
I understand this. How could it be otherwise for people like us, for whom politics (despite our claim to be social realists) was less a matter of practical decisions than moral choices? We were partisans of a cause that confirmed our humanity, even as it denied humanity to those who opposed us. To leave such ranks was not a simple matter, like abandoning a misconception or admitting a mistake. It was more like accusing one’s comrades. Like condemning a life.
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If you have a favorite Horowitz quote you want to highlight for others then please email it to DavidSwindle {@} Gmail.com. Please include:
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Heritage Foundation: Modern Day Intolerable Acts
March 21, 2010 Is A Date That Will Live In Infamy
Boehner’s Last Stand: “Hell No You Can’t!”
Obamacare Bill: A Declaration of War
Stupak and Lessons Learned: Democrats Lie. Chronically
In Defense Of – Me
We were partisans of a cause that confirmed our humanity, even as it denied humanity to those who opposed us.
When I first read that some time ago, it suddenly became crystal-clear to me that the left has a real problem with dehumanizing those who oppose their agenda. That’s probably why ad hominem arguments don’t seem to be logically false in Left-o-land.
The sentence quoted by jdamn is what, from now on, I will remember and espouse as the perfect depiction of left wing activists. Thanks for a memorable day.
Rules of the Ideologue:
Rule 1) I am always right, because I say so!
Rule 2) In areas of ideological disagreement, see Rule 1!
Does that about sum up the extreme Left and Right?
It’s like trying to leave a street gang. This former friend (Ralph) is just saying what he has to say. Who knows whether he believes it.
“It was more like accusing one’s comrades. Like condemning a life.”
This is the part I have been living. They get so insulted and defensive!! It is really hard to disagree on principle because it is taken so personally and felt so deeply.
This note to a friend helped me understand why, even though I myself lived through this transformation. I still have not found the words to explain this deep transformation.
You wrote: “We were partisans of a cause that confirmed our humanity even as it denied the humanity of those who opposed us”. I take the word -cause- to mean political ideology. Isn’t this the case with all political ideologies to one degree or another; that they elevate the moral stature of the believer & at the same time diminish the stature of the unbeliever.
You bet it does, and admirably.
Fred, re: “Isn’t this the case with all political ideologies to one degree or another; that they elevate the moral stature of the believer & at the same time diminish the stature of the unbeliever.”
Not necessarily. It is completely possible to believe that you are 100% correct while regarding the opposition as merely mistaken. It isn’t necessary to dehumanize your opponent in a political debate, but this has been the tactic– no, the active roadmap– of the left for as long as I can remember (and I’m 60).