A Soundbite (on Howard Zinn) Heard Round the World
I knew when I responded to an NPR request for a comment on the late, unlamented Howard Zinn that I was asking for trouble — from the anti-American, Marxoid, neo-Communist left. But I did it anyway because Howard Zinn’s life was so dedicated to evil and specifically to the support of mass murderers and self-declared enemies of his country, that someone with a brain unfogged by leftwing claptrap had to do it. As it turned out, if I had not contributed my soundbite it would have been left to depraved radicals — in this case Noam Chomsky and Julian Bond — to promote Zinn’s malevolent work to an NPR audience of millions. I was somewhat surprised that the leftists at NPR turned to me since I have been effectively erased as a public intellectual from their airwaves along with a legion of other non-progressives.
Only one of my books, Radical Son, has ever enjoyed five minutes of airtime attention on NPR. Oh — there is an exception. Before I voted for Ronald Reagan — or made the vote public — I was indeed a guest on “Fresh Air” to talk about The Kennedys, which I co-authored with Peter Collier. Although it is a book show and I have written more than a dozen well-received books since, the show has studiously avoided recognizing my existence; that is, for 25 years.
So this 30-second appearance was a rarity and came as a surprise to me. But evidently one 30-second appearance is too much for the totalitarians of the progressive left who have predictably launched an organized harassment campaign against the reporter who interviewed me and her boss. The smear crowds at Media Matters and FAIR have been hard at work ginning up the the Pavlovian attack dogs to make the lives of NPR employees as miserable as they can. These witch-hunts by the way are intimidating and effective. We’ll see how soon before NPR asks my opinion again.
Among the witch-hunters, Eric Alterman, as usual, provides the most amusement, complaining that I was not “qualified” to make a comment on Zinn:
“Horowitz, on the other hand, does not claim to have known Zinn personally, and shares neither his goals nor views. He has no specialized knowledge of Zinn whatsoever. The single qualification that David Horowitz possessed to be included in the piece on Zinn’s obituary was that he could be depended upon to be deeply critical of the deceased.”
Actually, I am eminently qualified to comment on Zinn, having written a portrait of him and his writings in Unholy Alliance, and having devoted hundreds of thousands of words to my area of expertise, which is the Communist and neo-Communist left. Alterman, on the other hand, is himself something of an impostor, having secured a sinecure as the “Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College.” If there was to be a single testimony to the debasement of the American university by tenured leftists this could be a candidate, since Alterman has no discernible literary interest, let alone expertise, that would qualify him for such a position. (Alterman’s degrees are in government, history, and international relations.) In fact, since I have written a book about Shakespeare I am more prepared to teach English than he is. However, I lack the principal qualification for a post in the English Department at Brooklyn College, since I am not a brain-dead, anti-American leftist.
Editor’s Note: Read NewsReal Blog’s previous commentaries on Zinn:
David Horowitz’s original Zinn posts:
Horowitz Questions Zinn Legacy on NPR
Spitting on Howard Zinn’s Grave?
A Wicked Man? No, a Fool with Wicked Ideas
The Zinnians, the Neo-Communists, and Us
NRB Responses to Zinn supporters:
Enjoying the Howard Zinn Blowback
NEWSFLASH: “Progressives” Invented Every Form of Communication
Leftist Condescension on Display in Yet Another Lecture from a Zinn Disciple
NRB’s Posts on the Zinn documentary “The People Speak”:
- Matthew Vadum: Zinn’s Ahistorical Anti-American Movie Cheers On Community Organizers
- Jeanette Pryor: Mindszenty Speaks to Damon: The Other People Must Act
- Chris Rowan: The People’s History Channel
- Rhonda Robinson: American History According to Zinn: A Leftist’s Fairy Tale
- Michael van der Galien: Confronting Howard Zinn’s Anti-American Matrix
- Mark J. Koenig: Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Fellow Zinnophiles Rant; America & Her Admirers Gag
- Gene Mierzejewksi: Oh, the Banality! The Suckiness of ‘The People Speak’
- John Nampion: “The People” Speak? Try “Howard Zinn, The Hypocrite Speaks” On Bill Moyers Journal
Please, Mr. Alterman, pretty please respond to this on these hallowed pages! I can barely contain my excitement!
Horowitz is a FASCIST …
Viva Zinn
)
Pedro is a COMMUNIST …
Viva Horowitz
Now this might be above your intellectual pay grade, Pedro but I'll give it a shot anyway:
“The great misfortune of the twentieth Century is to have been the one in which the ideal of liberty was harnessed to the service of tyranny, the ideal of equality to the service of privilege, and all the aspirations and social forces included under the label of the "Left" enrolled in the service of impoverishment and enslavement. This immense imposture has falsified most of this century, partly through the faults of some of its greatest intellectuals. It has corrupted the language and action of politics down to tiny details of vocabulary, it has inverted the sense of morality and enthroned falsehood in the very center of human thought.”
The Flight From Truth: The Reign of Deceit in the Age of Information
1991, Random House Jean-Francois Revel
So now your howl of 'fascist' now has its proper context. Have a nice day. Or not.
Pedro, Pedro, Pedro,
Do you even know which side of the left vs right debate facism really belongs? Shame on you for trying to pull that old name calling game and perpetuating another leftist lie!
Pedro es un MORON…
Viva tu' mama, pendejo
Hey Nick…I think you got your wish. Pedros’ response sounds eerily like that of a tenured Professor of English.
Maybe, David, everyone on the Left would've been happier if they'd offered your NPR spot to Garrison Keillor? I'm just saying……..
JW
David, keep hitting the left hard, whether you're invited to or not. Millions of people are counting
on it. You're like a prophet speaking in the wilderness, and even a prophet isn't honered in his
own country. In this case the country that you love.
Keep popping that Zinn balloon Mr. Horowitz, keep that needle sharp. The fawning pap churned out in defense of that crummy old communist Zinn is sickening.
I wish Zinn had lived just long enough to see his style of "progressivism" repudiated in November.
Of course not that Zinn's style of progressivism is the Obama administration. Obama is way to Zinn's Right. Zinn was a Naderite.
Have you had time to listen to the interview on Breitbart TV with a college professor that had conversations with the young Barak (Barry) Obama? It's very interesting.
The professor's name is Dr. John Drew, he wasn't yet a professor but I believe a grad student at Occidental or had graduated and returned to Occidental to begin his teaching career. Anyway, he says Obama was an "all chips in" Marxist of the classical design. Revolution, power to the people, the whole schmear.
He was also a committed a committed Marxist but as his education progressed he realized that Marxism was folly and he is now a conservative (that's a familiar narrative, huh?) and he says he tried to raise the "red falg" but wasn't listened to. Now people, like Fox News, are listening. Fascinating.
It's on Breitbart, you might check it out.
Speaking of Nader, isn't he worth like $6 million dollars? I believe he has (or had) a very impressive stock portfolio and an expensive penthouse at the Watergate.
I'm all for stock portfolios but I frown on hypocrites.
That defines Nader if I'm correct about that recollection.
Well either Pedro doesn't know what fascism is or he hasn't read any of David Horowitz's works. I suspect it's both.
Since the Media Matters, FAIR, & Alterman are the ones who wish to stifle balanced discussion about the controversial life work of a deceased person and punish any outlet that wished to balance the discussion; aren't they the Fascist?
David,
Ah another amazing post! You are my hero! What is it about David? I find myself dvr-ing your appearances on TV and I can't wait to log on everyday to read your quotes and posts. I feel like I did when I was a teen and I bought a Tiger Beat Mag with Leif Garret on the cover – swooning! I want a David Horowitz t-shirt! If the lost cause leftists can sport che shirts, I want a Horowitz shirt!