As he climbed into the passenger’s seat of his car after his speech Tuesday night, conservative pundit David Horowitz said he was disappointed by the turnout.
His bodyguard was driving to the reception. There’s a reason he doesn’t travel alone, said Floyd Resnick, Horowitz’s “personal protection.” The reception varies from campus to campus, but there have been four attacks on his employer at college events.
“Students will threaten to fight him,” said Resnick, dressed in an imposing pinstriped suit. “That’s not a fair fight. With me, it would be a fair fight.”
The speech was strong in numbers – about 100 people showed up to the event at Fisk Hall – but the College Republicans’ fall speaker found that most of the attendees were either conservative students or older Evanston residents.
“If a conservative speaker comes to speak, liberal professors should encourage students to go,” Horowitz said. “A thousand Northwestern students came to hear a racist kook,” he added, referring to Friday’s speech by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Horowitz spent most of the evening decrying the threat of Islamic jihadists and the unchecked liberal influence on American campuses, all the while praising the tolerance and opportunities found in the U.S.
Horowitz last spoke at NU in the spring of 2005. College Republicans President James D’Angelo said the response to his last speech was one reason for selecting Horowitz again this year.
“He brought up a lot of radical issues that angered some and energized others,” the Communication senior said.
Muhammad Safdari was one of the few audience members who opposed Horowitz. The Weinberg junior found out on Facebook that Horowitz was coming to NU. Brought up in a Muslim family, Safdari said he was aggravated when he heard that Horowitz had equated the Muslim Students Association with terrorists.
“I want to hear where he’s coming from and maybe ask him some questions,” Safdari said.
In his speech, Horowitz addressed Safdari’s talking point, saying members of MSA at other schools would not condemn Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
“We now face, and I never thought I would live to say this, but an enemy more dangerous, more fanatic, and more barbaric than the communists were,” Horowitz said.
Horowitz said that he did not want audience members to take home the message that all Muslims are evil, recognizing the fact that there are “good Muslims and bad Muslims.”
He defended Israel, saying that the Palestinians’ culture is a “sick culture” worse than that of Hitler, reasoning that while Hitler concealed “The Final Solution” from the German people, Islamic leaders make their violent intentions well known.
Horowitz discussed how liberals’ opposition to conservatives is strange when compared to their lax views of “jihadists on campus.”
“Liberals quake in their boots over Sarah Palin,” Horowitz said. “These are decent people who wouldn’t hurt a flea. Maybe a moose.”
Raised by communist parents, Horowitz was a self-described leftist before shifting ideologies in 1975. This experience on both sides of the political coin gave more weight to his ideas, some students thought.
“I was intrigued by the fact that he switched from one perspective to the other,” said Weinberg junior Scott Oudheusden. A member of College Republicans, Oudheusden found Horowitz’s speech to be refreshing.
“You don’t really hear this side of the story at Northwestern,” Oudheusden said.
Horowitz echoed this sentiment in the car after the event.
“There’s a tendency to treat conservative students and conservative groups as pariahs,” Horowitz said. “That’s unintelligent and not good.”
