Today I was sent a copy of the first chapter of David Horowitz's new book _The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America_ which was published on a website I rarely visit since it is basically a "conservative" rag which doesn't hold terribly much for me. (The reality is that these labels have, over the course of the past few years become less and less meaningful, so that dear ol' mom's turn of the phrase "you can learn from a worm" holds very true, though mostly these people aren't worms.)

The posting is http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21249

The following is some commentary I had to someone who hadn't seen the article and to whom I had sent it:

That bastard Ward Churchill is a real peach. I saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose, and you just wanted to beat the shit out of him for what he said about the people who died on 9/11 being "little Eichmanns". As if this git ever even opened Hannah Arendt's _Eichmann In Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil _ to know who or what Eichmann was. I thought at the time that he really was an American Indian, so I gave him a little slack. Not that I didn't think his statements were any less outrageous because of his supposed background. Just that he might have some unresolved anger issues.

Now Horowitz tells us that he's a regular white guy who doesn't even have the qualifications to shine my shoes, not to mention poisoning minds at a relatively major state university. The problem with the professors at the major universities is that they aren't idiots: they are just hateful, vile individuals who just hate _____________________________ . (you name it)

I am the first to defend a professor's right to his/her opinions. In college in Madison, you knew that if you took Goldberg's political science course, you were going to get a dose of Marxism --- he was a Marxist. But in these cases (especially among the so-called Middle East Studies Departments at, for example Harvard) they are funded in large measure by Islamic foundations and oftentimes directly by the government of Saudi Arabia or individuals who are in it. And they all have their money to spend. And have done so lavishly at our finest universities to keep the professors apologizing for their colleagues who don't, for example, think cartoons of the prophet Mohammed are particularly amusing, whether or not they are editorial in nature or not. Then there are those who just hate Israel and Jews and won't hear any commentary in response. It's gotten, for Jewish kids on major university college campuses, so bad that they cannot express their views for fear of a) pissing off the wrong professor or b) getting beaten up by the local Arabs. Check out www.campuswatch.com for what I am talking about.

Academia has really run wild. Beyond the pale of reasonable discourse at institutions of higher learning. There has to be some balance between academic freedom and hate speech. Maybe that isn't even the standard; I don't know. . .