Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Monday, October 28, 1991 WbE AMicbIuan1i {" .......................... .. i ....,,.... ..1 fK.. 4 ::".".......... { 11;. .titii i::':'" .......................................................................x:{{::j}:i.: i: 4 ii:?"'":v:"i ii: i?>?:{;I.................... ...._ 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 747-2814 Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan ANDREW GOTTESMAN Editor in Chief STEPHEN HENDERSON Opinion Editor L...Iij Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. "My view is, without deviation, without exception, without any ifs, buts, or whereases, that freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have or the views they express or the words they speak or write." - Justice Hugo Black " "-0 Holocaust revision ism Theory founded on historical fiction and anti-Jewish bigotry Every Jewish person, living anywhere in the world today, is a survivor of the Holocaust. During World War II,Adol fHitlerhoped to murder anyone who was even one-eighth Jewish. His insane plans were halted only after he had suc- cessfully wiped out six million Jews. While Hitler was responsible for the murder of millions of other non-Jewish Europeans, it was only the seed and the gene of the Jew and the Gypsy which he hoped to remove from the face of the earth. This is why the Holocaust is a uniquely Jewish issue, and why Holocaust revisionism is inherently directed at Jewish people. The theory of Holocaust revisionism denies that the Holocaust ever happened. While it admits there was discrimination against Jews in Nazi Germany, it disclaims the existence of the mass- extermination that took place. It is absurd that a so-called "historical theory" is based on the denial of historical fact. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz has called Holo- caust revisionism "fraudulent manufacturing of false anti-history." Revisionists write off evidence such as photographs and the testimony of thou- sands of surviving witnesses of Hitler's death camps as a "Jewish conspiracy." They also deny the existence of historical evidence stating Hitler's goals of genocide. Such evidence is readily found in Hitler's Mein Kampf as well as in Nazi archives. No matter the motivation of these theorists - be it anti-Semitism or some perverse political agenda - Holocaust revisionism should be con- demned. There is nothing rational, logical, or his- torical about such propaganda. When such ideas are discussed in the University community, they should be swiftly denounced within the context of free and rational discourse. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Holocaust re- visionism is the frustration and offense it causes Holocaust survivors. Death-camp survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel said of Holocaust Revisionism: "Do not put my existence on trial. We know what happened ... To disbelieve us, would that change anything that actually hap- pened? Let us leave it to our memories, our his- torians, our artists - and their conscience." B=2 Bomber has little practical function in today's world I n the wake of budget constraints and a lessened Soviet threat, the Bush administration seems finally willing to cut back the number of B-2 Stealth bombers the Department of Defense has requested. While the cutback is a step in the right direction, it is only a step, and still would allow the purchase of about 30 planes. As usual, President Bush has chosen to throw a bone to the American people and has shown his unwillingness to deal with the plane and its ramifications. The resident and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney have yet to specify the B-2 bomber's purpose in today's world. The bomber was designed at a time when the Soviet Union was still perceived to be a great and imminent threat. The B-2, along with the B-1, was to replace the aging B-52 in America's nuclear triad. The B-2 was designed to penetrate, first and foremost, the massive Soviet radar installations in place throughout the country, and to delivernuclear payloads. The events of the last few months have con- clusively shown that the Soviet Union is no longer an imminent threat to American security, and President Bush himself acknowledged as much when he took existing American bombers off 24- hour alert. It must be remembered that the B-2 was not designed to penetrate any radar but Soviet radar specifically. Even for those that demand a strong defense, the $865 million price of the B-2 cannot be justified without the Soviet threat. In short, B- 2 was only worthwhile, if ever, when it had a specific purpose against a dangerous and threaten- ing aggressor. Bush must come to this realization, and con- sidering his stance all along, Congress must take the initiative to kill the B-2. Sam Nunn, the pow- erful Republican Senator from Georgia and long- time B-2 supporter, should acknowledge not only that budget constraints will limit the program, but more importantly that the B-2 program is pur- poseless and should be ended. Strategic and economic considerations aside, it has been suggested that the B-2's ability to evade radar is limited, and numerous other problems have brought into question the aircraft's long-term reliability. If this is true, then the B-2 would be the biggest money pit in the Pentagon's history- a dubious distinction. The reality is that there is little, if any justification for the B-2 today. We cannot afford it, it may not even work and it doesn't even have a demonstrated purpose. The cold war is over and it's time for the peace dividend to be realized. Axing the B-2 program would be a good indi- cation that the defense mongers have taken their head out of the clouds and have turned to substan- tive issues. With all of this in mind, perhaps the B- 2 will perform its greatest service possible and permanently disappear. Readers r To the Daily: I have never agreed with others when they have criticized the Daily for being "terrible" journalism. However, after reading last Thursday's paper, it seems that I have been mistaken. The advertisement run on page 10 demonstrates that the Daily does not have any journalistic stan- dards and is willing to publish anything as long as the advertisers pay their fee. In the future, please take more care as to the content (and quality) of the Daily. Larry Bublick To the Daily: Once again the Daily has managed to make its blunder more apparent than anyone knew. On Oct. 25 the paper decided to respond to the controversial advertisement regarding the holocaust of Oct. 24. On page one, the editors said the ad, "did not necessarily reflect (our) views." And therefore as a newspaper, "cannot condone the censorship of unpopular views from our pages." This would be almost acceptable, if it had a shred of truth. On page 14, the business staff took out another ad, saying the ad was placed in the paper "Due to an error." In fact, in the future the Daily will try and "ensure that further ads which the Business staff considers unfit to print are not allowed to go to press." Your editors have commit- ment to First Amendment rights and it is obvious that they don't really care about who they step on to exercise their rights. At least the business staff feels some remorse in regards to their ineptitude and is trying to prevent their mistake from happening again. Anyone who read both of these disclaimers can see the obvious contradiction. No one knows what the policy at the Daily really is. In the past, many ads have been turned away. This ad should have been turned away. Seeing such indecision in print, where the heads have one policy and the feet have another, it is no surrise that the Daily committed suc an inexcusable blunder. Ira Azulay LSA senior To the Daily: I was told over the phone that the Daily's advertising policy is that "all ads are subject to editing and approval." The Daily also printed in Friday's paper, regard- ing the ad for "the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust", that "(the editors) cannot justifi- ably condone the censorship of unpopular views from (their) pages...." This statement is ridiculous in light of the fact that the Daily also printed, "We, the editors of the paper, believe the ideas expressed in the advertisement were offensive and inaccurate."i Since when is it good editing to print inaccurate material? I am sad - truly - that this is the attitude of our paper. It makes me angry too. The Daily's printing of Smith's ad was nothing but irresponsible. And the Daily is wrong in assuming that the small grey "disclaimer" printed in Friday's paper is sufficient apology. I recommend that if the Daily staff considers themselves to be "journalists" and care about their responsibilities that they take another careful look at what has happened in the past to days. It is easy to make a mistake - but it stinks to try to cover it up with cries of "First Amendment." The Daily's "right" to print is not being challenged here - the paper is just being reminded of the responsibility that it claims to understand, but seems to just be saying. Daniella HarPaz LSA senior To the Daily: Six million. Granted, that number is enormous-almost too enormous. It is hard to imagine that six million individuals were murdered just because of their religious identity. Nonetheless, this happened. Fifty years ago Nazi Germany. slaughtered six million Jews, along with six million Gypsies, Blacks, homosexuals and other minority groups combined, in what today we call the Holocaust. Survivors of this morbid ordeal struggle in sharing their experi- ences from the concentration camps. They have to deal with the incredible guilt of living while espond to event's existence. Nonetheless, as the Daily's back-page advertise- ment reminded us on Oct. 24, 1991, there are people who wish to discredit the Holocaust. What disgust! It is of the utmost importance that we remember this genocide inflicted on so many innocent victims. This must never happen again in modern society! The survivors are getting old. Soon there will be no more witnesses to this heinous crime against humanity. We must listen to these people in order to learn from their suffering - not to tell them that their hell is just a form of anti-German propaganda and that their heart wrenching, stomach churning memories are merely lies that they have invented for G-d-only-knows- why. The Holocaust. It happened. Let us not waste our energy on falsely denying its occurrence; rather let us spend our energy toward making sure that this type - or any type - of genocide will never happen again. Ilana Greenfield RC sophomore To the Daily: I could not believe that the Daily would print the Holocaust Revisionist ad on the back page of the Oct. 24 paper. The ad attempts to call for students to question the historical facts of the Holocaust. It is insulting to me as a history student that this ad would attack an event that has more documen- tation, more witness testimony, and more basis for truth than any other recorded event. This ad talks down to students by referring to unnamed sources to support their wild claims. Are we to question the Holocaust based on the fact that Mr. Smith says that "virtually all recognized scholars dismiss..." it? This ad can easily be disputed point by point, but like the ad says, to do so would give them legitimacy. Students need not respond to this ad just like a student would not need to respond to documen- tation that American lives were lost in the Civil War or slaves were mistreated in the South. Posing arguments would mean that this ad presents facts to be disputed, when in truth there is no fact dispute. That the Daily would print words that compares the testi- mony of thousands of survivors to "witchcraft and flying saucers" is an affront to intellectuals, not to mention direct insults to Jews and Zionists. The Daily dips below journalistic standards for running such anti-Semitic manure. Chris Wooscher LSA sophomore To the Daily: I am writing to express my outrage at the audacity of the Michigan Daily in printing a full page advertisement claiming that the Holocaust never existed. That six million Jews perished and countless others suffered in the nightmare of the concentration camps is a horror of such huge proportions that it is nearly unfathomable. But to point a finger at all the survivors of the Holocaust and call them liars ought to be an equally unthinkable act, and I am appalled that the Daily would in any way endorse such anti- Semitic propaganda. I'm sure I ad, Daily am not alone when I say, "Never again." Erica Michael LSA senior To the Daily: On Oct. 24, the Daily pub- lished an advertisement that many found offensive and painful, yet which certainly was within the Daily's First Amendment rights to 'publish. The paper's editorial com- ments on page one of the Oct. 25 edition suggest that the Daily has a policy of complete nonselectivity with regard to publication of submitted adver- tisements. Is this true? If not, what are the paper's selection criteria? The Daily owes its readers an explicit and detailed policy statement. Steven Leber School of Medicine faculty member To the Daily: I was considering responding to Bob Turner's charges of censorship against Ulrich's, when I saw the full page ad on the back of the same issue for the "Holo- caust Revisionists," asking for money to "disseminate the good news" that, despite endless documentation and vivid memo- ries of survivors, they believe that the Holocaust never happened. What I wanted to get across to Bob Turner is that the First Amendment does not guarantee shelf space in private stores; bookstore owners and managers have the right, and some would say the responsibility, to refuse to give profits to and receive profits from publications they find -offensive, just as consumers have the right not to purchase them. The same message might be appropriate for the Daily's business staff. Had the Daily chosen not to accept money from an organization that is attempting to delegitimize the suffering of millions of people, this would have been a judgment based on business ethics, not on censorship. Wendy Welsh third-year Rackham student To the Daily: I am absolutely disgusted with the Daily's printing of an adver- tisement on Oct. 24 by Bradley Smith, who makes the outrageous claim that there is some sort of controversy over whether the Holocaust ever really happened. I have no idea what the Daily's policy is for publishing advertisements, but I might be so bold as to say that the University should step (if they haven't already) and remove those responsible for allowing this trash to be printed. The Daily is a student newspa- per, and should be more sensitive to those who read it (and who provide funding for it). Call me crazy but I do not want to pick up the Daily in the morning and read an article by a guy whose initials spell "B.S." and who claims that my grandfather's family really wasn't annihilated by the Nazi's, rather some nasty flu bug or virus is to blame. Who is next to advertise in the Daily? The Ku Klux Klan? W i The final frontier. Creator Gene Roddenberry's idealistic visions will be missed Jeffrey Martin LSA sophomore Daily log, Stardate 10.24.9 1: G ene Roddenberry, who conceived one of the most popular television programs in history, has made his final voyage. Roddenberry, creator of the "StarTrek" phenomenon, died Thursday in Los Angeles of a massive blood clot, leaving behind a universe of fans. "Star Trek" was far ahead of its time when it premiered on television in 1966. Despite the fu- turistic setting, many of the stories were serious allegories relating to controversial problems of the time..Episodes often tackled - among others - the issues of racism, the Vietnam War, and world peace. Not surprisingly, "Star Trek" was the first television show to feature an interracial kiss, be- tween a white man and a Black woman. Despite prevalent anti-Communist feelings* during the Cold War, Roddenberry placed a Rus- sian character, Ensign Pavel Chekov, on board the Enterprise because he recognized the value of the Soviet Union's contributions to space exploration. "Star Trek" ran for only three seasons, but Nuts and Bolts gained most of its popularity in the 70s with the advent of reruns. With increasing fan support, it eventually spawned five movies (and a sixth ready forrelease in amonth) which grossed $398 million, a new television series, and a vast merchandising empire. Leonard Nimoy, who played the pointy-eared Mr. Spock, summed up Roddenberry's ideals when he said: "He had an extraordinary vision about mankind and the potential of mankind's future." Unlike many other modem science fiction writers, whose stories predict a bleak future ravaged by nuclear war, Roddenberry envisioned a 23rd cen- tury characterized by world peace and harmony among the sexes and races. His dream has inspired viewers for more than 25 years. Sadly, most people who don't consider them- selves "Trekkers" are probably not familiar with Roddenberry's name. But it is important that we remember him for being the driving force that has made "Star Trek" a permanent part of American culture. by Judd Winick President condemns ad, defends Daily To the Daily: I was horrified to see a full page advertisement placed by Bradley Smith in the Oct. 24 issue of the Daily denying the reality of the Holocaust. It was especially painful knowing the injury it inflicts on our friends and colleagues who personally endured the suffering of the Holocaust or who lost family members to its ravages. Indeed, the advertisement must cause pain and anger to everyone in our community who values truth, justice, and decency. As scholars, we must speak against the gross distortions of history this advertisement represents. I am sure I speak for all of us in expressing sorrow to any civilized person who would seek to deny one of the most central and horrifying events of this or any century-events that our recent Wallenberg medalist and not at the publication he chose to exploit for his sick purposes. The Daily is run by and for students. It hasa long history of editorial freedom that we must protect even when we disagree either with particular opinions, decisions, or actions. Surely, the best protection against tyranny such as that which brought the Holocaust is the free expres- sion of ideas through free press. With that freedom comes great responsibility, and Daily editors and managers have accepted responsibility for their decisions. I hope they will strongly disavow the contents of the ad itself. Qur community must be wise and strong enough to recognize this advertisement as the work of a warped crank who would deliberately cause suffering and foment hatred H4EY, CHEC~K 'THIS (X)T! 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