Professor Post: Re-educating Comrade Horowitz
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
David Horowitz, author of "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," makes misleading statements about me in his interview with Bill Steigerwald ("Invasion of the mind snatchers" Q&A, March 18 and TribLIVE.com). I'd like to reply.
Horowitz says that I "think Stalin was a democrat." That's what the best evidence and research, including my own, demonstrate ("Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform"). Horowitz disagrees? Where is his evidence?
He says I think "the collapse of the Soviet Union was a moral catastrophe," but omits my reason for thinking so: It led to a catastrophic plunge in the standard of living for most of its people.
He says that I have "managed to get a course ... in which he can teach his ridiculous opinions." This is a lie, and Horowitz knows it. His researcher read all my course Web pages and homework assignments, and knows that I do not even mention the Soviet Union in any of them.
In my courses I teach not "opinions," but what the best research demonstrates. Scholarship, research, evidence, logic -- this is the only way to approximate the truth.
If he were honest, he would have said: "Professor Furr disagrees with me, David Horowitz!" To which my answer would be: "Sure I do! So what?"
Grover FurrMontclair, N.J.
The writer is an English professor at Montclair State University
David Horowitz, author of "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," makes misleading statements about me in his interview with Bill Steigerwald ("Invasion of the mind snatchers" Q&A, March 18 and TribLIVE.com). I'd like to reply.
Horowitz says that I "think Stalin was a democrat." That's what the best evidence and research, including my own, demonstrate ("Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform"). Horowitz disagrees? Where is his evidence?
He says I think "the collapse of the Soviet Union was a moral catastrophe," but omits my reason for thinking so: It led to a catastrophic plunge in the standard of living for most of its people.
He says that I have "managed to get a course ... in which he can teach his ridiculous opinions." This is a lie, and Horowitz knows it. His researcher read all my course Web pages and homework assignments, and knows that I do not even mention the Soviet Union in any of them.
In my courses I teach not "opinions," but what the best research demonstrates. Scholarship, research, evidence, logic -- this is the only way to approximate the truth.
If he were honest, he would have said: "Professor Furr disagrees with me, David Horowitz!" To which my answer would be: "Sure I do! So what?"
Grover FurrMontclair, N.J.
The writer is an English professor at Montclair State University
posted by Elizabeth at 9:55 PM
9 Comments:
Professor Furr? I think that perhaps one of the things that Mr. Horrowitz objects to, is that you are an English teacher. A teacher at a university, but a teacher. While I am sure your fluency with the english language is more significant than many of your students, you have not chosen to build your body of scholarly work on the USE of language, but rather by authoring two pieces that you yourself site, that while requiring an understanding of english, in fact have more to do with Politics, specificaly Stalinism.
While you are teaching your students, you undoubtedly turn to your own experiences in the endeavour of artistic use of language, and the only examples you sited in your defense, were actually political pieces that only re-iterate opinions that have likely been voiced by the comrade horowitz in his more retarded days.
The reason you are likely making America worse, isn't for the reason of you being a marxist, but rather of you misrepresenting portions of your curriculuum by hiding behind your own scholarly work as being in line with the proper use of language in artistic, or expressive works, while simultaneously, in all likelihood, rehashing your own political views under the guise of understanding the written or spoken word.
If you had even a crappy short story in a fan mag as an example, you could have defended yourself more properly, but according to the interview, you were a follow-up used as an example of teachers who make too much money (also called professors) aren't judged by their "scholarly work" but by their politics. You used english, and you wrote about stalin. My guess, is that you prolly put more effort into understanding stalin, than how to educate impartialy students in the subject of english.
I think that was the bases of why you suck for America and the educational system.
I'm a highschool, college dropout, with a Marine Corps court-martial.
I think Furr, would be MORE than happy to respond to my SELF acknowledged failures, PLEASE, forward my response to . . . .the "good" professor.
Wick
Stalin was a "democrat"?? And you call yourself a scholar? In my country (Portugal), there are many russian, ukranian and romanian immigrants. And all the ones I've met really hate communism and don't want to go back to the old days of the soviet union.
Hey, this funny guy called Horowitz should be far rightist fascist...
There have always been some "special" Jews (commanders in the Nazi army, Lazar Kaganovich, loyal to Stalin, tsarist agent Gorshuni, who betrayed his family and friends) who lack real talent, were unable to succeed and thus chose to kiss behinds of their oppressors and climb up denouncing their past. I write about such collaborators and would challenge Mr. Horowitz anytime, would love to take his case. He fits such a wonderful psychological profile--an immigrant family from the Pale of Settlement, Communist parents, suffering from lost love to their motherland that kicked them out, a desperate Jewish boy hoping to fit into the gentile world and thus playing all sides, realizing his ambitions by all means possible...I need Horowitz for my statistics.
Hi Anonymous,
You need an education, perhaps the first book might be Szasz, or any of the hundreds of books that now demonstrate that most so-called psychology is just non-falsifiable tripe. Maybe study some real science. No doubt a PsyD. Nothing like psychobabble to justify stupidity melded with cruelty.
professor furr is just a commie traitor like ward churchill.all of you should be in jail or against a wall.
Open-minded Joe,
I'm sure Bruce the "real american" has a respectable scholarly background to back up his bold statements. There are better methods than slander to refute Furr's claims. However, he does make an interesting point about Horowitz lack of evidence, and then defends himself using evidence... hmmm.
The thing that never ceases to amaze me as a university faculty member is that it is the English/Literature faculty who seem to think they are experts in every field from politics to science.
I suppose when you have a hammer (deconstruction) then everything looks like a nail.
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