Agreed, cricket. It is a great and, at times, deeply moving and poignant book (as for instance, when he writes about his father, an unreconstructed Communist). Horowitz was somehow able to recover from the madness of his radical Yippie years. So it is reassuring to note that the disease of cultural Marxism is something one can recover from. Horowitz certainly did!
. . .you are right that it is a 'disease'. . .and bump for David on his overcoming. . .
. . .and there are a number of 'recovering Marxists' out there; David even started a group called 'Second Thoughts' where they can speak freely.
Amazing, what it takes to disengage from these people!
. . .something else occured to me, reading 'Radical Son'. . .David had a developed sense of 'conscience' which often made him uncomfortable as he was growing up. . .his conscience is what finally forced his break with the Panther's; that and his honest intellectualism.
. . .a really good Marxist cannot afford a conscience; and it must be educated out of them should it be there.
A good Marxist must be the ultimate 'Utilitarian'; end justifying any means determining their choices.