Newspaper Page Text
I
EXCERPT
"Don't l« people confuse your name-calling with a serious
attempt at a reply to his claims. Do we attempt to destroy
anti-Semitism by throwing slurs at the writer of the ad?"
- Bilan 8ugn», freshman German major, on the Smith ad.
The Rsd and Black « Friday, March 13, 1982 » 5
FORUM
Smith preys on 'superficial,’ impressionable students
If you toy it often enough, people will
etart to believe it.
— Dr. Jowf Goebbeli
Nazi Minietry of Propaganda
For more than four decades, the world
has believed that nothing could be more
horrible than the Holocauet, the deliberate
systematic extermination of six million
Jews, nearly a third of them children.
Unfortunately, we were mistaken. It turns
out that there is something almost as hor
rible - the pernicious suggestion, advanced
by so-called “Holocaust Revisionists,” that
it never happened.
Those “revisionists' claim that all they
want is objective investigation and open
debate of an historical event. What they re
ally seek is another vehicle to disseminate
their malicious views. The Holocaust
Revisionist movement is comprised of anti-
Semites, none of whom possess any schol
arly credentials in the field of history. For
years, they have tried to persuade the
American public that one of history’s
greatest tragedies is no more than a con
spiracy fabricated by Jews. Having failed
to persuade older generatione, many of
whom were witneea to the events, the “re
visionists' have turned their attention to
our youth.
During the past year, “revisionists’
have attempted to place ads spouting their
nonsense in dozens of college and univer
sity newspapers. Most papers have reject
ed the aa, refusing to be accomplices in
spreading malicious and hurtful lies. A
few, citing First Amendment considera
tions, have published the ads. Sadly, The
Red and Black was one of the latter.
The ad was placed by “The Committee
far Open Debate on the Holocaust' and
paid for by Bradley R. Smith. This com
mittee is a creation of The Institute for
Historical Review and Liberty Lobby,
which for two decades has been one of
America’s leading purveyors of racist and
anti-Semitic material.
To understand Bradley Smith, one only
need consider this passage from his self-
published autobiography: “I get up in the
morning. I go to the typewriter and write
down the simplest things which have the
most tremendous implications. I write
about how all the historians are wrong,
how all the scholars and the intellectuals
and the universities are wrong and how
I'm right."
The materials produced by the Institute
for Historical Review and Liberty Lobby
are frequently promoted by the Ku Klux
Klan and American Nazis. The WWII
heroes of the “Holocaust Revisionists' are
not Eisenhower, McArthur, Patton,
Churchill, Roosevelt. They are Hitler,
Himmler and Goebbels.
Their ads make dozens of unsubstanti
ated claims, among them that revisionist
arguments have never been evaluated or
judged in the courts. Untrue. A Holocaust
survivor was awarded $50,000 by a
California court when he respondod to the
IHR’s offer to pay that amount to anyone
who could prove that Jews were gassed at
Auschwitz. The overwhelming evidence
that was presented decided the case in fa
vor of the survivor.
Right here in Georgia, at Emory
University, there are hundreds of recorded
oral histories of American soldiers who lib
erated the Nazi death camps. Those elo
quently attest to the horrors that they
found.
To further understand Bradley Smith’s
motivation, consider what he stated last
summer. He said: “I don’t want to spend
any more time with adults. I want to go to
students. They are superf icial, empty ves
sels to be filled.' Where have we heard that
before? All that is missing is the “Sieg
Heil*
Where is the evidence of the Holocaust?
It is in the captured records and countless
photographs that the Nazis so carefully
documented for their "thousand-year
Reich.' It is in the testimony of those for
tunate enough to have escaped the gas
chambers. It is in the witnessing of thou
sands of American, British, French and
Russian soldiers who saw first-hand the
Readers: Brad Smith’s message ridiculous
skeletal remains of the dead and the ema
ciated bodies of the living. It is in the doc
umented stories of thousands of coura
geous Christians who risked their own
lives and well-being to help Jewish vic
tims. It is in the unnamed and unmarked
rnassgraves where millions of human lives,
nearly a third of them children, were for
ever silenced but whose cries will be heard
throughout history despite Bradley Smith
and his ilk.
In this great, free nation of ours, a
Bradley Smith has the right to express his
views, scurrilous as they might be. He has
the right to write his pernicious ads. But
The Red & Black, like any other publica
tion, has the right to say, “We won’t help
you spread your message of hate. We reject
your ad.”
ArrttOefamatlon League:
Burton M. Gold, Chairman
Southeast Regional Board
Stuart Lewengrub, Director
Southeast Regional Office
I eagerly awaited the responses to Bradley Smith’s
advertisement, which The Red and Black ran
Monday. The outrage of the community was in
evitable, so I was more interested in the degree to
which the responses dealt with the issue raised by the
advertisement.
Rip on Bradley Smith. Call him names. I might
even join in. But don’t let people confuse your name
calling with a serious attempt at a reply to his claims.
As I look over the Wednesday editorial page, the va
riety of labels applied to Smith actually has little to
do with hiB claims and more to do with which label to
apply to him. We call him anti-Semitic, a racist pro
pagandist, a neo-Nazi, and a slick operator. Do we at
tempt to destroy anti-Semitism by throwing slurs at
the writer of the ad?
The trend these days seems to favor the group over
the individual and the self-esteem of victims rather
than the truth - or an attempt at the truth in this
case. If material is offensive to one of these victim
groups, the authors of the material receive labels
such as racist anti-Semitic,or sexist. These terms
have become almost analogous worn-out cliches, and
they all usually mean “I disagree with you.” By using
these labels, the victim avoids the issue by spotlight
ing the author, not his views.
We have become so sensitive and so adamant in
our protection of the self-esteem of victims in this
country that printing such an ad is dangerous. The
lies in such an ad might have some sort of validity to
anyone used to being protected from such insensitive
material. Students are protected from such material,
so they are ignorant and more likely to fall prey to
material such as the ad. The scary thing about the ad
is the number of students ignorant of the Holocaust.
Why do you think Revisionism is so popular? We are
the first generation not to have direct contact with
the second World War. We hear of the atrocities in the
death camps, but we are kept from questioning and
firom learning. To question what we learn would be
anti-Semitic. With the issue of slavery, the genocide
of Indians, the sins against Americans from Asia dur
ing WWII, and all the sins of the white male coming
under attack, is it too much to ask to be able to in
quire about the issues of other peoples? The sins of
the past were indeed wrong, but they were examined
in open debate, eventually.
There appears to be so much fear. It appalls me
to learn that contributions are being withheld from
the University because of the ad. Are these people so
afraid, so sensitive and so paranoid about an ad that
they would resort to what amounts to financial black
mail against the University? What is there to be
afraid of? Nothing, if all information gets out. If ev
eryone has access to all information, there can be no
misleading. Let people discuss, and don’t try to keep
information from them. If Smith is wrong, then he
will be exposed as such. Hate-names do not put out
the fire of hatred, they only fan it.
Of course Smith is wrong. I suppose all the people
who escaped fVom the camps got to together to for
mulate the Holocaust. Perhaps the number of six mil
lion is somewhat arbitrary, but the maltreatment of
just one Jew or Catholic or resistance member is
wrong. Do not call him names, though. Educate. Do
not legislate against such material. If there is one
thing we should have learned by now, it’s that you
cannot legislate morality. Restriction upon the First
Amendment, which these groups embrace and shun
at their convenience, would only hamper the open de
bate needed.
No matter the sin, be it racism to anti-Semitism or
sexism, only education can stop it. We burden our
schools enough with non-academic education. Let the
parents take responsibility. Parents who hate kids
have kids who hate. Put any kind of child in a sand
box with other kids, and they get along just fine un
til an adult steps in and introduces hate. When you
have kids, teach then not to hate, and they will not
hate. Teaching by example is the only way to combat
such evils. It won’t happen overnight, as some seem
to demand of our government. As hard as setting a
good example is, it is much better and more effective
than calling names.
Brian Sugrue
Freshman, German
R&B right but not perfect
I am responding to your recent decision on pub
lishing the revisionist ad by one Mr. Smith and his
views on the Holocaust. I respect and applaud your
decision.
The reader must be reminded that the ultimate job
of a newspaper is to make money. To make money, a
newspaper must sell advertisements. Mr. Smith
wanted to publish hie advertisement, and The Red
and Black wanted to pay its bills.
Many have questioned the ethics behind the deci
sion to publish this ad and how The Red and Black
handled the situation. It has been suggested that the
ad should have been run on the opinions page. If so,
then it would no longer have been an ad, and free
publicity does not belong on the editorial page.
I again state that The Red and Black was justified
in publishing the ad. However, the coverage on page
one could have been better. The article could have
stated the other side of the issue rather than simply
denouncing Smith. Newspapers are protected under
the First Amendment. It gives them the freedom to
publish and the freedom of speak. Newspapers are
also protected in publishing open political debate.
Newspapers also retain the right to reject ads or ar
ticles without given cause, another right protected
under the Constitution.
Those who cry out against The Red and Black for
publishing the ad should remember that they are us
ing their First Amendment rights by choosing to do
so. They exercise their rights freely, as does the me
dia. They should not cast the proverbial stone.
Newspapers have always had the unspoken re
sponsibility to inform their readers - inform, yes, but
make decisions for the reader, no. The Red and Black
informed its readers by publishing the advertisement
along with articles about the ad - it did not force
them to decide on the issue or believe it.
It is the responsibility of the reader to make a de
cision, to research and responsibly choose. For those
who believe in the ad, I feel pity. For those who con
demn the ad, 1 agree. But, to those who accuse the pa
per of irresponsibility, I only feel sad that they missed
the point.
Unde Eckman
Senior, journalism
Apologies owed Holocaust
survivors
I must tell you that, as the Rabbi of Athens’ only
synagogue, I was outraged by your newspaper’s deci
sion to accept and print the advertisement “The
Holocaust Controversy” in your (Monday) issue.
In your own masthead, you make the claim that
you subject letters to the paper to examination for “li
belous material.’ How ironic and hypocritical, then,
that you have printed scurrilous material which
mocks and degrades the deepest feelings and knowl
edge of the many Holocaust survivors and children of
survivors here in Athens. These survivors witnessed
first-hand the Nazi atrocities; an ad which compares
them to those who claim to see flying saucers and
witchcraft is of the lowest form. And, the fact that
your newspaper accepted a large sum of money to
print it is a disgrace.
Vou not only have an obligation to print an article
of equal length refuting this calumny, you also owe
each Holocaust survivor and child of a survivor in this
town an apology.
Rabbi Ronald D, Qerson
Athene
Avoiding controversy is weak
The Red and Black should be applauded for its de
cision to run the advertisement by Bradley Smith.
The controversy arising from this decision will pro
vide a free forum for opposing sides to express their
views.
The Red and Black has the right to run any ad
vertisement it chooses and deny any ad. The Red and
Black has chosen to express their First Amendment
rights in running this advertisement.
Monday's lead editorial quoted Voltaire: *1 dis
agree with what you say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it." The Red and Black does
not have to agree with Smith’s argument, but they do
have the right to run it.
If public opinion is able to dictate what should ap
pear in the pages of an independent student publica
tion, what will happen next? Will the editors of pa
pers across the nation hesitate before placing any
controversial advertisement or article in their pa
pers?
The First Amendment provides for freedom of
speech and freedom of the press. Opponents of this
advertisement have the right to appear on the edito
rial page of The Red and Black to refute any point of
the advertisement.
The opportunity to educate the students, faculty
and staff at the University concerning the Holocaust
should not be wasted. The controversy arising from
this ad will continue to stimulate discussion and pro
vide a forum for continuing education concerning the
events that occurred during the Holocaust.
Kathryn Hadden
Senior, newspapers
Keep an open mind about ad
In response to Phillip Ramati’s (Wednesday) col
umn, I have to ask - Did you ever attempt to read the
Case for Open Debate? In no way does Bradley Smith
even come close to saying that “no Jews were mur
dered by the Nazis, and no death camps existed" (in
Ramati’s words). How can you say such a thing? You
couldn’t even have skimmed the “editorial' or taken
it out of context and come up with that. Read it, man.
What Smith is trying to bring to light in this issue
is that it’s a distinct possibility that the number of
Jews who were murdered in the (Nazi) camps is
wrong, not the fact that many were murdered.
I realize that this is a very sensitive and emotion
al issue for those who are Jews, but still, you must be
open-minded. Just because another point of view is
presented on the Holocaust doesn’t mean that all of
the irvjustices that have been perpetrated are going to
be forgotten. I’ve had the opportunity to visit the
Dachau concentration camp, and those somber mem
ories I took away will always be remembered.
Please, look at the issues. Don’t get flustered and
hyper the minute you hear someone mention that
some statistics and events of the Holocaust could
have been fabricated. How do you know? Were you
there? Listen to the evidence, then decide. It’s quite
FORUM
■ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them in the Forum column as space permits. All letters are
subject to editing for length, style and libelous material. Letters should be typed and doubleepaced, and they must include the
name, address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please also include student classification, major and other ap
propriate Identification. Names may be omitted with a valid reason upon request. Send letters by U.S. mall or bring them in
person to The Red and Black s offices at 123 North Jackson Street, Athens, Georgia 30601.
obvious that you either didn’t read or didn’t under
stand anything from The Case for Open Debate. If
you want to prove your arguments, state facts and
don’t revert to name-tagging (anti-Semitism) and
metaphors (like the slaves-in-the-Old-South deal)
that just show you didn’t listen to the argument that
you are trying to refute.
Let’s all have open minds instead of calling people
names and preaching this "He’s doing this because he
hates me" junk. Why are you scared of ideas? As
Bradley Smith said in the ad, "When ideas cause dis
ruptions, it is the disrupters who must be subdued,
not the ideas."
Also, you don’t have to have a college education to
be intelligent. It costs nothing to read yourself.
Please, try it.
Herb James
Senior, education
Exercise good taste, sense
Congratulations to The Red and Black. You now
have joined the ranks of such journalistic giants as
The National Enquirer, The Weekly World News and
UFO Today. Accepting the anti-Holocaust ad from
Bradley Smith was bad enough - compounding that
error by giving him half the front page was inexcus
able.
Kudos to the 11 newspapers not greedy or insensi
tive enough to publish this propaganda. This is not
free speech but free enterprise. Advertising is not a
right but a privilege. Most reputable newspapers and
magazines have limits as to what they will advertise.
You obviously do not. It appears that the chance for
a sensational headline and the $2,079 paid for the ad
outweighed good taste and good sense.
James Henry Johnson
Conference facilitator, Georgia Center
Holocaust not just about Jews
What is next in the Red and Black? Anything any
one is willing to pay for.
Lance Helms, editor of the paper, announced The
Red and Black’s policy of journalistic prostitution in
Monday’s paper. He said that if a “guy wants to spend
money expressing himself ... who are we to say no?"
Yes, like a cheap whore, the newspaper that serves
the University of Georgia will do anything to make
$1,800. Anyone who can afford it can get his kicks and
jollies by advertising in The Red and Black.
Wnat headlines can we expect to see among cam
pus news next week? "Christianity is a Gutter
Religion,” “Let’s Make America White Again,"
“Bestiality is Best" (along with pictures).
Maybe. For a price, The Red and Black has already
allowed unfounded vicious attacks against those who
were murdered by the Nazis in World War II to be
printed alongside news stories that were researched
by its staff.
Which group will be the next target? In 1933, an
entire nation did not did not bother to ask that ques
tion. That year, the Nazi government enacted laws
prohibiting Jews the right to vote, worship, or travel.
By 1939, the announced, documented and eyewit-
nessed policy of the Final Solution was put into effect.
Jews from around Nazi Germany and then every con
quered nation were locked up in ghettos or shipped in
cattle cars to concentration camps where they were
exterminated.
But that is only half of the story. As the Nazis
needed more scapegoats, the Third Reich continued to
narrow the definition of the superior Aryan race. The
government issued laws eliminating the civil rights of
Gypsies and homosexuals. Then they were put to
death.
Hitler did not stop there. As the war effort got
worse, all minorities were then considered enemies of
the German state. Blacks. Catholics. Slavic Peoples.
Indians. The Handicapped. All were systematically
stripped of their rights, dignity, and eventually their
lives by the Nazi government.
In total, 11 million civilians died in the Nazi death
camps. Eleven million, not just six million. Among
those killed were one million children. Racists, anti-
Semites and others who want to destroy our nation
want us to forget that 5 million others perished along
with the Jews. These people want to turn the
Holocaust into a “Jewish thing" and then deny it ever
took place. They know that the way to destroy a race
or religion is to separate them from the rest of soci
ety.
Adolf Hitler knew that lesson, David Duke knows
that lesson, and the person that submitted the ad on
Monday knows that lesson. And for a price, The Red
and Black will be more than happy to provide a forum
for whatever kind of hate these kind of people are
willing to spread.
All peoples of
kind of ha
our nation should stand up to this
hatred together. The people who perished at
the hands of the Nazis have suffered an attack on
their very existence. Will my history be the next one
to be wiped out by racists?
The Red and Black’s argument defending the
printing of the ad is feeble at best. The staff should
have used their discretion and refused to print ad
vertisements that are false and do not have eviden
tiary backing. They do not write news articles with
out first investigating the facts, but the paper allowed
the advertisement to run side by side with the news.
The staff was not forced to print the article - they had
a choice whether or not to use their First Amendment
rights. To allow bigotry and hatred to appear in a re
spectable forum was unwarranted.
The Red and Black has an opinions page. That is
where baseless, unfounded opinions should be and
are printed and protected. That is where the idiotic
sentiments of a Nazi sympathizer and other racists
like him can express their First Amendment rights.
However, The Red and Black had no justification for
permitting an anti-Semite to advertise in the paper
except that the bigot paid $1,800.
Remember all 11 million of those who died.
Express your disappointment with The Red and
Black’s decision to promote this hateful kind of revi
sionism. Whether you are black or white, Catholic or
Protestant or Jewish, athletic or disabled, register
your disapproval by calling the editors at 543-1809.
Send a message so that your history won’t be elimi
nated next week.
The German people were destroyed by such ha
tred. Americans must stand together and resist a
similar path to destruction.
Alex Gordon
First-year law
Jews battle racism all their lives
I went to Career Planning and Placement to talk
to counselor Janice Smith about choosing a major and
a career. Smith said that your morals are the most
important factor in deciding a career. Now I know
why.
I worked at The Red and Black this quarter for ex
perience in journalistic writing to help me decide if I
want to major in journalism. The experience I had at
the paper this week was more than I ever expected. I
debated my morals, ethics and tolerance of free
speech, and I decided that the editorial decision to
print Bradley Smith’s advertisement, “The Holocaust
Controversy: The Case for Open Debate," was inher
ently wrong.
I an Jewish. All of my life, growing up in Charlotte,
N.C., I dealt with rude and shocking remarks about
my religion. When one of my classmates found out I
was Jewish, her chin hit the floor and then she re
marked, “But you don’t have horns."
One of my reasons for coming to the University
over UNC-Chapel Hill was because of the higher per
centage of Jewish students here. I guess I thought by
being in a higher Jewish-populated environment, I
would be immune to such comments and advertise
ments as that printed Monday. I was wrong.
I am offended, hurt and angry about the adver
tisement. I felt it a slap in the face because I am
Jewish and write for The Red and Black. I am
shocked that a student newspaper, considered to be
one of the best in the country, printed this advertise
ment.
Theodore Lewis, assistant professor of religion,
said in his letter to the editor this Wednesday, “You
(amateur editors) have been used by a slick opera
tor..." Lewis could not be more right. First, Bradley
Smith manipulated the facts of the Holocaust. Then
he sold the falsehoods his organization promotes in
the guise of an advertisement when in reality it is a
paid editorial. I know this because I’ve been taught
all my life to watch out for and fight against people
like Bradley Smith who try and pass off their false
views as truth.
I don’t see how something so blatantly full of lies
was printed. Smith could not even get the simple facts
right. For instance, he said Hebrew University is in
Tel Aviv - it’s really in Jerusalem. Smith is incapable
of correctly citing a university and the city it’s in. How
can he correctly document a historical tragedy like
the Holocaust and be taken seriously? He cannot and
must not be taken seriously.
My paycheck on Friday, March 13, includes mon
ey for all the articles I wrote this quarter. I will do
nate the money to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in
Los Angeles and to the Holocaust Museum in
Washington, D.C., and include a letter stating my
reasons for the donation. If indeed Lance Helms and
the business staff did not run the ad just for the mon
ey, but ran it for First Amendment rights, then as
was requested by a columnist at the Duke Chronicle,
I think it would be appropriate to take the payment
from Bradley Smith’s advertisement and donate it to
any organization dealing with anti-Semitism or
Holocaust survivors. It’s the very least they can do af
ter helping the spread of such lies.
I encourage anyone who was outraged by this ad
or wants more facts to stop by the Tate Center Friday
to hear what really happened during the Holocaust.
Shelly Oxman
Sophomore, Journalism