To the Editor:      

While we appreciate the acknowledgement that Holocaust denial is a "reprehensible and absurd re-creation of history" in Jason Smathers' piece, "UW Community Strong Enough to Face Ad, Reject It," we strongly disagree with the decision to allow such an advertisement to be associated with your student newspaper.

Without question, the Badger Herald has the right to decide what ads it chooses to publish.  Freedom of the press is one of the treasured hallmarks of our free society.  Newspaper editors are also obliged to make editorial judgment calls every day.  They are under no legal or ethical obligation to publish every letter or ad submitted to them.

Bradley Smith's Holocaust denial ad is not a meaningful contribution to the marketplace of ideas.  Rather, it is an attempt to promulgate classic anti-Semitism.  The purpose of a newspaper is to report news and opinion, not to tacitly promote objectively false and hateful information in order to teach the campus a lesson. 

The editor himself states that he would not run an ad that is libelous in nature.  Yet, the fact that 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during World War II is beyond question.  Holocaust denial is in essence a libel against the Jewish people, alleging that Jews throughout the world fabricated the Holocaust for their own selfish reasons.

We strongly encourage the Badger Herald to examine its decision to promote such hateful propaganda.