And by all means, don’t you dare cite inconvenient Department of Justice statistics:
Lawrence you’re a big pain in the ass. One article from you takes more time and energy than 50 articles from 50 writers and gets me attacked and now is getting me the third degree from you…. I have a million enemies out there and I don’t need attacks waiting to happen by publishing your stuff….
I want you to go away Lawrence. You have caused me more trouble than I care to think about and the fact that you’re piling on me while I’m getting letters from my children asking me why I published a racist, and while I’m waiting to see this spread across the Internet, is more than I can handle right now.
While it’s entirely understandable that David Horowitz, who is no shrinking violent and doesn’t exactly lack for enemies, might not be interested in acquiring any more, the time for thinking about that sort of thing is really before the piece is published. And the fact of the matter is that Auster’s piece is no more racist than the Wall Street Journal reporting on the quarter’s economic numbers… the fact that the Department of Justice reports that no white men are sexually assaulting black women and many black men are sexually assaulting black and white women alike is both significant and even newsworthy in light of the black woman falsely crying rape against the Duke lacrosse team.
If Mr. Horowitz doesn’t have the stomach for more controversy, that’s absolutely fine and he’s certainly got a right to decline it, but it doesn’t justify the unfortunate way he has elected to handle the situation.
I very much hope Auster will continue to write provocative and iconoclastic articles, and that the next time a similar situation arises – and it will – that Mr. Horowitz will take his editorial responsibilities to the writers who contribute to his magazine a little more seriously. Dangerous ideas and those who think them are always a pain in the ass to everyone they touch… but I find it rather amusing how so many people enjoy the image of being controversial while doing their best to avoid the reality.
In any event, it is a pity that so many people would rather pretend that there is no difference between the various races instead of electing to deal with those obvious and undeniable differences in a constructive manner.