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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS Holocaust 'revisionist’ sends Emerald a check ■ OUR OPINION: Adver tisement is hale-founded but do we pnnt «t7 Every week the seven member editorial board con venes to determine which issues will he discussed in this column It's not often the! we are presented with an opiKirtunity to discuss how those decisions am made, nor do we present to you the many topics that am refected This week was different On Tuesday we received a check for JltO and an adver tisement that offerer) stu dents free information from a World Wide Web site The money and the message came from Bradley K Smith, the founder of the (kimmiliw for Open Debate on the Holocaust The Web site offers students the text of an article titled “46 Unan swered Questions Regarding the World War II Caw. Chambers.'" In brief, the article ques tions the notion that mass executions took place bv poisonous gas in several Nazi concentration lamps during World War II Mr Smith would probably deny this, as the article does not deny overtly that there' gassings occurred. Rather, it merely “questions" the killings by asking why no locks appear on the doors of the chambers, why no traces of delousing gas ran be found, etc We recognized this as camouflaged anti-Semitic propaganda The Holocaust is perhaps the bast-docu mented event in modern history. Yet. we were faced with a dilemma. Should the public know that Holocaust “revi sionists" such a Bradley Smith exist, or should we ignore him? Would not printing hi* advertisement fie considered censorship and if so. would it he justi fied? If we printed it. should we keep the money or donate it to the U.S Holo caust Memorial Museum? One of the missions of this newspaper it to present items of internal and impor tance to the community Our editorial policy is to engage that community in a dialog about the issues that concern them and/or should concern them Neither of these policies aided our decision The Holocaust denial movement does exist and has gained significant atten tion in recent years It is newsworthy But if we printed the advertisement w« would be calling atten tion to an ideology that we find abhorrent We did not want to aid Mr Smith in his quest for more followers. Without the aid of a poli cy. we had to determine who would he benefit from the printing of the ad and who would be harmed Six million jews were exterminated at the hands of Nasi* — a massive death that began with propaganda Printing the advertisement would nave upset thousands of people, not the least of whom would be descen dants of the people who died in the gas chambers Mr Smith is questioning Printing the ad would have benefited Mr Smith only and caused a debate around an issue that is clearly not debatable It it censorship, hut the potential harm outweighs the poten tial good We gave Mr Smith his HO bucks back He can peddle his hate somewhere else MM»«l MHW WE RAVE fAOfrC 1 rWAN ENOUGH A/£Cti rb Pi/T 7DC£TMfR A W'VN^b CAWO'OATf AGA'A^r cunrtw Republicans buying Alexander’s ideas Now ihai w# am look hack on Tues day's New Hampshire results, and beams* primary season is in hill swing, we should take a look at the status of each of the ihrw* major Republican can didate* With his slim victory In New Hampshire. Pat Buchanan has shown that he and his followers are a true forte in the GOP The pugnacious journalist is the most dichotomous person in the race On Buchanan's dark »td«s wo hate his in flam maiory racial rhetoric, his rail- I I in* immigrant* hit ultra-right iw ml view* and of court*, through hi* campaign manager lam Pratt, hi* po**i hie tie* to ntmmut group* cm nu< nansn > gooa side is i- * —t his concern ft* (he plight of IMM America * blue-collar workers His provocative idea* about the MOB world economy and its effort on the American work force make even the most avowed free market supporters myself Includ ed. Question their dogma Buchanan has forced the Republican Pany in try and determine whether it* *m»! he* tn corporate America or in middle Amenta For this, he should be given credit The Republican establishment has loaded its gun* against him William F. Buckley Jr ha* called him anii-SemetK . Gingrich and Dole have tailed him an extremist, while William Bennet has said that he flirts with fascism However, in the unlikely event that Buchanan does win the nomination, there is not much the party elders tan do to slop him. Bob Dole barely won in Iowa, and hi* second place showing in New Hampshire (though be lost by only 1 percent) shows that the man who was once thought to have a lock on the nomina tion it vulnerable. In the long run, however, hit lorn to Buchanan could prove to be better for Dole than a victory tf moderates in future primaries are afraid of Buchanan, they will probably turn to the old war horse Also. Buchanan's victory could inspire big name moderate Republicans (e g Jack Kemp. Colin Powell, or former South Carolina Governor Carol I Campbell) to come out and endorse Dole. On the other hand, the GOP paradigm shift from pragmatism (e g Dole and Alan Simpson) to ideology (e g Gingrich and Gramm) ha* hurt Dole and hi* old-school pews This shift could lead some voters afraid of Buchanan not to deal maker Dole, hut to idea- man Alexandw Lamar Alexander * surprising third place fin ish** tn Iowa and New Hampshire have given the fonrtw Tennessee governor great momentum fit The GOP paradigm shift from pragmatism to ideology could lead voters afraid of Buchanan not to deal-maker Dole, but to idea-man Alexander. -99 While Dole. Buchanan and Forties have stung dirt at each other, Alexander long ago took a "no negative ads" pledge (a la Ron Wyden) and twill the most politically ideological platform of the campaign His conservative ideals have been packaged to sound simultaneously visionary and moderate, and they have been selling. Along the same lines, he hes been able to point to himself as having both the insider qual Kies of Dole (from his days as a governor and the secretary of education! and the outsider qualities of Forbes and Buchanan (as a lawyer, president of the University of Tennessee, and a businessman). This has made voters comfortable with giving him the responsibility of the presi dency without the fear that he will be another typical politician His biggest selling point, however, one that Alexander gives the most play while campaign ing. Is the question: "Who do you want to see in that debate against BUI Clinton*" This immediately reminds voters of Dole's propensity to snap during times of tension and Buchanan's fiery Huey long style rhetoric Alexander has the best chance of any GOP can didate to heat Clinton not only In a debate, hut also in a national election. The one problem that may piague Alexander is a shady investment deal involving his wife while he was governor (gee. that sounds tamil iar). If these allegations of impropriety prove true, voters will turn on him for taking the hyp ocritical stance of an outsider when he may have been acting like a typical politician all along In this event. Dole can look forward to the nomination of his party Buchanan wouldn't have a chance in a head-to-head contest with Dole. The other candidates - Forties, l.ugar. Keyes. Taylor, and Donum - are no longer factors (except for Forties' money) Nut to disregard the strengths of any of their resumes or ideas, but they simply do not have enough popular sup port. If they truly cared about this race, they would drop out now to let the party decide between three different visions; one that recalls our shel tered past, one that looks at the pragmatic nature of our present, and one that looks toward an idealistic future Prtmo A / Fontana a senior motoring in eco nomics, is a columnist for the Emerald
