Islamo-Fasci....What? At Drexel?
For those of you fortunate to be unaware, this is Islamo-Fascism Awarness Week, at least according to one of the silly right wing campus organizations run by the clown on the right over there, David Horowitz.The idea was for conservative student organizations all over the country to hold events and speakers that would highlight the menace of "Islmao-Fascism." Now before we begin I should point out what should be obvious. There are real problems in this world with repressive societies and religious fundamentalists, but this is a stupid, counterproductive way to address these problems.
Horowitz is a clown, who isn't interested in opening up a dialogue, but in being inflammatory so that he can raise his own profile and get donations for his stupid organizations.
There are a lot of good discussions online about why Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is the stupidest thing since, well, whatever Horowitz's last idea was. This isn't one of them. This is about how Drexel University got caught in Horowitz's clown car, and then climbed back out.
Click "There's More..." and I'll explain how these goobers tried to feed off of Drexel's good name, and how we stopped them!
It started monday night, when I was checking the list of universities that were participating in "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." Naturally, I was suprised when I saw Drexel on that list of 97 schools (or as Horowitz calls it, 200 schools. Go count for yourself.) I immediately pieced together what must have happened.
Step 1: A certain former chairman of the Drexel College Republicans (now defunct) sees an ad for I-FAW on a right wing blog (probably freerepublic or worldnetdaily?)
Step 2: Said former chairman contacts Horowitz's group and indicates that Drexel would like to participate.
Step 3: Horowitz puts Drexel on the list of participating schools.
Step 4:
Step 5: Profit.
Actually, it ended at step 3. Some time must have elapsed, the Drexel College Republicans never formed this year, and everyone forgot about it. Until Monday night, when I saw Drexel on that hideous list. So I contacted said former CR chairman, asked around and did some digging. My suspicions were confirmed. There are no events going down at Drexel to celebrate(?) I-FAW. No movies, no speakers, nothing.
I contacted Talking Points Memo, which was covering the shenanigans, and pointed out that 1) There are no Drexel College Republicans (or other conservative group on campus) 2) There are no events scheduled for I-FAW at Drexel and 3) I haven't heard anything about it here, not even an announcement.
So they posted this, and it was off to the races. Here is a short list of the big blogs that picked up the "Horowitz inflates his numbers with schools that aren't doing anything list" story.
Talking Points Memo
Balloon Juice
ThinkProgress
Memorandum
If you see any other blogs that covered it, let me know in the comments!
It's always worth it to knock David Horowitz and the College Republicans down a peg, and this was two for the price of one!
Step 1: A certain former chairman of the Drexel College Republicans (now defunct) sees an ad for I-FAW on a right wing blog (probably freerepublic or worldnetdaily?)
Step 2: Said former chairman contacts Horowitz's group and indicates that Drexel would like to participate.
Step 3: Horowitz puts Drexel on the list of participating schools.
Step 4:
Step 5: Profit.
Actually, it ended at step 3. Some time must have elapsed, the Drexel College Republicans never formed this year, and everyone forgot about it. Until Monday night, when I saw Drexel on that hideous list. So I contacted said former CR chairman, asked around and did some digging. My suspicions were confirmed. There are no events going down at Drexel to celebrate(?) I-FAW. No movies, no speakers, nothing.
I contacted Talking Points Memo, which was covering the shenanigans, and pointed out that 1) There are no Drexel College Republicans (or other conservative group on campus) 2) There are no events scheduled for I-FAW at Drexel and 3) I haven't heard anything about it here, not even an announcement.
So they posted this, and it was off to the races. Here is a short list of the big blogs that picked up the "Horowitz inflates his numbers with schools that aren't doing anything list" story.
Talking Points Memo
Balloon Juice
ThinkProgress
Memorandum
If you see any other blogs that covered it, let me know in the comments!
It's always worth it to knock David Horowitz and the College Republicans down a peg, and this was two for the price of one!
