'Islamo-Fascism'? Well, Sort Of
David Horowitz, the radical leftist-turned-radical rightist who runs the , wants to create a national movement to stand up to 鈥渢he coalition between Islamo-fascists and American liberals at home who are running interference for the terrorists.鈥� He thinks his fellow citizens should know that the pronouncements of Osama bin Laden are 鈥渋ncreasingly cribbed from the work of the American Communist Michael Moore,鈥� as he describes the liberal filmmaker who has criticized President Bush and American health care. And so, Horowitz has designated this week as 鈥淚slamo-Fascism Awareness Week,鈥� a period in which he is traveling to American university campuses to attack those who criticize the 鈥淲ar on Terror鈥� and 鈥� parenthetically 鈥� those who see global warming as a major world threat.
And how is Horowitz publicizing his latest crusade against 鈥渁nti-Americanism鈥�? He鈥檚 circulating a press release that was captured in screen shots (right and below) by the enterprising folks at the Sadly, No! blog. The photo, Horowitz declares angrily, 鈥渟hows a teenage girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses, [and] will serve as the poster for the protest Week. The stoning took place in Iran.鈥�
Except it doesn鈥檛, and she wasn鈥檛. The photograph in question, as pointed out by Sadly, No!, actually comes from ("The Stone"), a 1994 Dutch indie film directed by Mahnaz Tamizi. Actress Smadar Monsinos plays the teenage girl.
Culturally sanctioned violence against women unquestionably remains a real and present danger in many different societies around the world. If, as Horowitz states, he really hopes to encourage 鈥渟it-in[s] outside the offices of Women鈥檚 Studies Department[s]鈥� to end the violence, he might start by using real evidence instead of aging movie stills.
