“Thank you, ISIS.” That’s the title of an article on the National Review Online that celebrates the beheadings of innocent people at the hands of the Islamic State. Radical conservative David Horowitz took the time to thank ISIS for beheading these people because he thinks it makes him look correct. Yes, there are Islamic extremists that want to kill every American. We already know this.
“The beheadings have achieved what all the warnings from conservatives never could,” reads the subhead. In that statement, what’s being asserted is that if the beheadings and ISIS never happened then conservatives’ warnings would have been incorrect. There appears to be a shameless pride here in that Horowitz relishes in how he believes that ISIS has proven him right.
Why is the presence of a murderous terrorist group something anyone would want to be correct about? Horowitz has made a career out of pushing a conservative agenda in an attempt to snuff what he claims to be a liberal agenda out of American colleges and instilling a conservative one. Wouldn’t Horowitz’s effort be the pot calling the kettle black?
Horowitz continues:
Beheadings of innocent human beings are unspeakable acts reflecting the barbaric savagery of the Islamic “holy war” against the West — against us. Yet despite the intentions of their perpetrators, they have had an unexpected utility. Their gruesome images have entered the living rooms and consciousness of ordinary Americans and waked [sic] them up.
Aside from sporadically-appearing bad grammar, there’s an obvious “to be sure” statement opening the passage written as Horowitz’s to cover his tail. However, what he’s really saying here is “Hey, this ISIS stuff is bad, but it’s actually good and here’s why. It’s my chance to not look like a complete lunatic.” The reality, however, is that by trying to put a positive spin on the ISIS beheadings because he can say “Hey, I told you so,” Horowitz looks that much more crazy.
“For more than a decade, a handful of conservatives, of whom I was one, tried to sound the alarm about the Islamist threat,” Horowitz writes. “For our efforts, we were ridiculed, smeared as bigots, and marginalized as Islamophobes.”
There’s been some time for reflection, and Horowitz and those similar are still bigots. To take the actions of a concentrated few and apply it to the whole population makes someone a bigot. The same thing is true of any group; African Americans, Hispanics, the Jewish, Whites, Christians, Hindus, Kenyans, hula hoop artists, mimes, molemen, you name it.
Horowitz piggybacks his agenda on the images of someone’s murder. The fact automatically makes him a worse person than those liberals he’s made a career of fighting who are, in his mind, just so terrible. We liberals sympahtize for the unfortunate. Horowitz uses them as a talking point.
Congratulations, Horowitz. You were right that Islamic extremists want to destroy America. Thanks for telling us something every American already knows. Oh, and make sure you tell the families of the murdered how much you appreciate ISIS’ handiwork because you think it proves your point.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
