D'Souza Attacks PC, Leftist Activists

Dinesh D'Souza, a controversial conservative writer, attacked multiculturalism and leftist activists in a speech at the Kennedy School of Government on Saturday.

D'Souza, the author of Illiberal Education--a book criticizing "political correctness"--exhorted undergraduates "to violate the etiquette of campus life" as he had done as a writer for The Dartmouth Review, a weekly conservative magazine.

In a talk sponsored by the Harvard Conservative Club, D'Souza spent the bulk of his time relating his experiences as an Dartmouth undergraduate to the audience of 20 Harvard students.

When he first arrived there as an exchange student from India, he said he was "a walking embodiment of everypolitical convention of the day."

But he said his experiences at the DartmouthReview challenged his mainstream views.

After joining the paper, D'Souza said herealized that the Dartmouth students who talkedthe most about multiculturalism were simply on "aromantic search for a happier alternative." Theytaught him that "liberal universalism is a form ofparochialism," he said.

D'Souza also became disenchanted with the highlevel of liberal bias at Dartmouth, where he saidliberal speakers outnumbered conservatives 20 toone.

"It was a question of basic fairness," he said.

D'Souza, who is now a fellow at the AmericanEnterprise Institute--a conservative Washingtonthinktank--said the left-wing bias that heencountered at Dartmouth is prevalent at all majoruniversities across the country.

"The real enemy of reform in the Academy isapathy," he said. The activist left is "committednot to freedom but to coercion...activists are notrelativists but dogmatists."

"Ideology is frequently transmitted not throughpersuasion but through etiquette, throughmanners," D'Souza said. The wrong ideologytherefore "is not simply wrong but rude."

D'Souza began his speech by identifying withthe crowd that showed up to hear him, saying hewas "preaching to the converted."

He proceeded to condemn universities for their"intensifying suspicion, if not downrighthostility" toward young conservatives.

According to politically correct thought,"these young [conservatives] are not simply wrong,but they are bigots."

He commended those present for not succumbingto "the tremendous conformism of young people."

He exhorted the conservatives gathered toimitate the left in one respect, in their"well-spring of indignation." He said "theoperating motive of the right is cynicism" while"the operating motive of the left is indignation.

But he said his experiences at the DartmouthReview challenged his mainstream views.

After joining the paper, D'Souza said herealized that the Dartmouth students who talkedthe most about multiculturalism were simply on "aromantic search for a happier alternative." Theytaught him that "liberal universalism is a form ofparochialism," he said.

D'Souza also became disenchanted with the highlevel of liberal bias at Dartmouth, where he saidliberal speakers outnumbered conservatives 20 toone.

"It was a question of basic fairness," he said.

D'Souza, who is now a fellow at the AmericanEnterprise Institute--a conservative Washingtonthinktank--said the left-wing bias that heencountered at Dartmouth is prevalent at all majoruniversities across the country.

"The real enemy of reform in the Academy isapathy," he said. The activist left is "committednot to freedom but to coercion...activists are notrelativists but dogmatists."

"Ideology is frequently transmitted not throughpersuasion but through etiquette, throughmanners," D'Souza said. The wrong ideologytherefore "is not simply wrong but rude."

D'Souza began his speech by identifying withthe crowd that showed up to hear him, saying hewas "preaching to the converted."

He proceeded to condemn universities for their"intensifying suspicion, if not downrighthostility" toward young conservatives.

According to politically correct thought,"these young [conservatives] are not simply wrong,but they are bigots."

He commended those present for not succumbingto "the tremendous conformism of young people."

He exhorted the conservatives gathered toimitate the left in one respect, in their"well-spring of indignation." He said "theoperating motive of the right is cynicism" while"the operating motive of the left is indignation.