discoverthenetwork.org – a right-wing maniac obsesses further

David Howowitz really is a deeply unpleasant man. His life and work are dedicated to the production of politico-pornography, whacking material for members of the ultra-conservative front in the US, and the destruction of Islam and socialism.

I first heard of Horowitz when he started spamming me. Out of the blue, my Hotmail account started filling up with missives from his 'Front Page Magazine' – a tabloid style rag full of stories about how the Clintons are evil, how the left wing is dedicated to the end of the world and the murder of Jews, how Musilms hate everything we enjoy in the west and so on.

He is a classic demagogue. He uses a lot of long words and complex arguments to conceal the fact that he is really stupid and that there is no logical argument for what he says. He represents the most terrifying aspect of the right wing: a man who loathes considered argument, critical thought and analytical intelligence, but who pretends to posess and use the very faculties he despises. No one on the far right could ever love intelligence, logic or reason. Adherence to the far right wing cult demands the obliteration of reason and logic because reason and logic categorically oppose far right ideals. This becomes obvious if you're ever unfortunate enough to read one of Horowitz's editorials. Written in crisp journalistic style, not one of them ever contains any substance which stands up to argument. He's one of those people who if you met him in a bar or in the street and tried to discuss things with him, he'd try to remain calm until you used logic on him… I imagine that he'd then physically attack you, or shout 'anti-semite' or plug his ears with his fingers.

So that's David Horowitz. He runs Front Page and he also runs 'discoverthenetwork.org' – a 'guide to the left' composed from the fallacious premise that there is an organised far left wing in America who are 'exerting influence on the larger body politic'. While this is patently untrue, it marks a disturbing shift in focus on the part of the right. Not satisfied with having already shifted much public debate to way beyond right of centre (the 'war on terror' is a classic example of this tactic), they are now stepping up the rhetoric as part of a concerted effort to convince people that opposition to any aspect of the religious-right program for America and the world is evidence of communism, anti-semitism and 'anti-freedom'ism. I need hardly say that not only is this rubbish, but it's dangerous rubbish.

It's rubbish because we on the left do not hate America, democracy or liberty. Indeed, most of us would say that it's our fierce love for these things (led by equality, the most noble of causes) which put us in the left wing in the first place. To claim that socialists oppose liberty when socialists are protesting against the new powers given to the FBI under the USA PATRIOT act is as perverse as claiming environmentalists 'hate America' because they're fighting to prevent America's demise.

It's dangerous because any attempt to paint opposition as lunacy can only push the agenda further to the right. Unchecked, we will reach a time when only the most puritanical, joyless, selfish, anti-intellectual bastards will avoid the violence and oppression which is the only logical end of Horowitz's writings. It is up to any intelligent person who disagrees to make themselves heard. Let's give them a left wing conspiracy which will really give them nightmares. A real one!