When Free Speech Sucks…
The Badger Herald ran an ad paid for by a Holocaust denier. Because it’s Madison, people protest. Is it free speech?
Loading ...Holocaust Denial Ad Sparks Controversy
MADISON, Wis. — Issues of free speech, advertising and the Holocaust clashed on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Wednesday as about 150 students rallied to honor the victims of the Holocaust and call for an end to an ad in a campus newspaper.
The controversy was sparked by some anti-Semitic comments posted on an online version of a Badger Herald article earlier this month. It erupted when the online edition of the student paper posted an ad paid for by a man who doesn’t believe in the Holocaust.
Hundreds of students and others, including UW Chancellor Biddy Martin, turned out for a Holocaust awareness rally and to honor the millions who died in the Holocaust. They denounced the hate they believe is being fueled by the Badger Herald.
“Memory is a way of honoring the victims, the innocent victims of criminal murder, of murder about which there can be absolutely no doubt,” Martin said.
For $75, the paper agreed to post for 30 days an advertisement that reads, “The Holocaust question: the power of taboo.” Click on the ad and it goes to the Web site of the man who bought the ad, Holocaust denier Bradley Smith and his “Committee For Open (Holocaust) Debate.”
Comments
By steven on March 4th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
for all I care there could have been an add for hard core pron….
this is hardly worthy of getting a rise out of the people
By Kurt Baron on March 5th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Hard core pron? C'mon now…hard core pron is taking it a bit far, isn't it
By That Guy on March 12th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
It isn't a question of free speech for the advertiser. Any publication has the right to turn down an ad they feel is in bad taste. The advertiser does not have a "right" to space on the publication.