Newsgroups: soc.college Subject: CODOH's paid advertisements: Michigan State (4/4) Summary: Another letter to the editor address CODOH's advertisement regarding the Holocaust Memorial museum in Washington, D.C. Followup-To: alt.revisionism Distribution: world Organization: The Old Frog's Almanac Keywords: CODOH Given Dan Gannon's promotion of Bradley Smith and his desire to provide a "journal" for the discussion of Holocaust issues, it is fitting that I should have received an op ed piece from Michigan State which relates to Mr. Smith, his organization CODOH, and Holocaust denial. Archive/File: orgs/american/codoh/university.response msu.004 Last-Modified: 1993/10/21 _The State News_ of Michigan State University Thursday, October 21, 1993 RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH IS NOT AN OBLIGATION TO PRINT by Dr. Peter Levine - Professor of History and acting director of Jewish Studies Program and Mark Freed - Program assistant for Jewish Studies Program On Oct. 15, The State News printed an advertisement purporting to represent a "revisionist's view of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum." ["A Revisionist's View of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C." by the Committee for Open Debate On the Holocaust - CODOH] On the surface, its absurd assertions that the Holocaust is historical fiction does not deserve rebuttal. But the language employed in the advertisement and its appearance in The State News do. Assertion that something did not happen, by any standard of historical scholarship, is not revisionism as historians understand the term. Revisionism concerns the interpretation of what actually happened; it does not dispute whether or not it happened but rather what the causes or consequences of it might have been. Duke University historians, responding to publication of this same advertisement in their school paper, put it this way: "Scholars may discuss detail and nuisance but there can be no doubt that the Nazi state systematically put to death millions of Jews, Gypsies, political radicals and other people." They went on to add that the "revisionism" in this advertisement "is not meant to rectify an historical error, rather, its aim is to dirt Jews and to demean and demonize them." Which brings us to the issue of the appearance of this advertisement in The State News. On Oct. 18, the editor in chief of The State News apologized for any pain its publication caused but defended the right to print it as a first amendment issue. While acknowledging the as was a lie, the editor explained that The State News decided to print it because anyone "had the right to purchase space in the paper." Rights and obligations, however, are not the same thing. The fact that these anti-Semites have a "right" to free speech does not obligate The State News to publish anti-Semitic material against their judgement -- against their stated belief that the ad is historically inaccurate and ethically malicious. Other school newspapers, when faced with a similar decision whether to publish the same advertisement, chose not to do so. The State News, like any another newspaper, is not obligated to accept every advertisement that comes its way, even if the money is paid in advance. For example, regulations forbid it, according to its own advertising department, from accepting advertisements for tobacco and alcohol, presumably because of the product's potential damage to consumers. In the future, if The State News has any doubts about the potential damage racist falsehoods and list might have on its readers, hopefully it will check out the facts and consider the full ramifications of its decision before making it. All language use is charged with ethical implications. Becoming conscious of the ethical import of the things we say -- and print -- will do more to create a benevolent and just community than all the "boutique of multiculturalism" that now passes with us for ethical concern. Followups directed to alt.revisionism
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