The UMass Republican Club is bringing esteemed conservative author Dinesh D'Souza to speak at the school this week. A lot has been said about D'Souza's views and assertions in both the local and national press - and even in The Daily Collegian - of late. He has been called everything from a radical, to a racist, to a homophobe. As the president of the only remotely conservative group on campus, I hear these things on a daily basis too, so I am not surprised. For one to promulgate conservative views in an area like this one, the popular liberal mythology will have you believe, you must be seriously deranged, incredibly misinformed or completely discriminatory. D'Souza's arguments often meet opposition from liberals who intend not to discredit what he is saying, but to altogether keep him from saying it by labeling him a radical right-wing extremist. That campus and cultural liberals only want freedom of speech for themselves and treat conservatives as a militaristic curiosity is neither noteworthy nor exciting. It does nothing but undermine their own attempts to stifle thoughts which run counter to their movement's prevailing Clintonian orthodoxy. Jeremiah Wright (not White) can trash an entire race of people and condemn this great nation to damnation. But he is black and liberal so he gets a free pass. But a conservative like D'Souza can't say anything remotely offensive about the destructive nature of homosexuality and multiculturalism - and the liberalism which triumphs it - or else he is labeled a radical and compared to convicted criminals. What would Jefferson have thought? The outright idiocy with which these attacks are levied is not only astounding, it is also dangerous. In Dinesh D'Souza, the conservative intellectual movement has a mesmerizing articulator and breathtaking debater. By any measure, his accomplishments are profound. He founded the Dartmouth Review, widely regarded as the best conservative college newspaper in the country, at age 19. He worked as a White House domestic policy analyst under Reagan in his mid 20s. Furthermore, through his witty columns and commanding oratory and debating, he consistently keeps liberals of all sorts - political, religious and cultural - on the defensive and on the run. In April 2007, he beat left-wing stalwart and renowned academic Alan Wolfe of Boston College - after Wolfe called D'Souza's most recent book a "national disgrace" in the New York Times - so badly in a debate over religion that Young America's Foundation was told by BC that tapes of the event did not exist even though numerous copies were reported to have been in circulation. A media firestorm ensued, but BC held onto the tapes. On an overwhelming number of theoretical and policy issues, from the existence of God, to the importance of objectivity in higher education, to the enduring greatness of this country, Dinesh D'Souza has repeatedly confounded his debate opponents and liberal critics with his airtight arguments and impeccable powers of presentation. By merely looking at the fact that D'Souza blames the insidious nature of the Left for bringing about 9/11 without examining why he makes such a bold and original claim, one runs the risk of sensationalizing his comments and taking them out of context in much the same way that FoxNews did to those of Obama's pastor. This is not sound intellectual criticism. On the topic of enduring American greatness, D'Souza has said: "America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world." These are not the words of some angry, ranting right-wing racist like Pat Buchanan. Conversely, they are the words of an immigrant to this country who came here with the hope of a better life and who has lived the American dream - a dream only attainable in a country as rich with intellectual diversity, as ripe with goodness, as proud of its freedom-loving heritage and as warm with patriotism as America. If insecure liberal talking heads are all too eager to portray compelling right-wing intellectuals like D'Souza as bigots and self-hating minorities, it is because D'Souza's arguments make them uncomfortable. This is to say, his arguments can withstand the test of intellectual scrutiny and prevail against left-wing lunacy. Dinesh D'Souza's rise to intellectual prominence and acclaim is one to which any immigrant to this country should aspire. It is a testament to the inspirational greatness of this country and all that is possible for hardworking freedom-loving people in a place where intellectual curiosity, family, faith in God and self-reliance are synonymous with wealth and success. This is D'Souza's message: that America is great because of what it cultivates in its diverse and unique people - including those who arrive by boat or by foot in search of a better life. To me, this sounds anything but radical. Brad DeFlumeri is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at bdeflume@student.umass.edu.
Daily Collegian > Editorial / Opinion
Give the man a chance to speak
Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Updated: Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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