Letters

What a marvelous series this promises to be [An Ongoing Conversation About Libertarianism and Revisionism]. Six months ago I would not have given a “Holocaust Revisionist” any credibility whatsoever. Ad homonym attacks are common because they tend to be very effective (and require little intellectual or factual ammunition), and I had bought into the often-expressed opinion that revisionists are ALL closet National Socialists and, naturally, anti-Semites. This series should make it apparent that that is not true—at least in Smith’s case.

Keep up the effort to support free expression, not as a covert way to promote a bankrupt totalitarian ideal, but because free expression as a means to find the truth is an important value. Too many libertarians are still afraid to touch this issue.

I have also been profoundly impressed that your e-mail responses to me as well as those which you have posted have always been so courteous. I like the wild and woolly nature of the Internet but the ugly language and tactics in the political newsgroups get old very quickly. I think many on the net are seeking out more civilized places such as yours, with less banality and wasted bandwidth.

I hope you can continue to find new items to illuminate us all. Thanks for your efforts.

Robert Gilmore, E-mail

I just finished your “Confessions…”, Part I (is there going to be Part II?). I find you an excellent and honest writer. I’m not objective, of course. I hope you get some recognition soon. On your religious views, you certainly prove the weakness of the old saw, “There are no atheists in foxholes!” I was a rosary bead carrier when I was in the Army and fortunately I never got to the corner your buddy was in but I would have done what he did if I were! To me, so long as one is an honest seeker of truth, I don’t get upset if I don’t agree on everything. You are a seeker of the truth. Your critics are not. I like your thought-out response to the question of why you do what you do: “I don’t like to be lied to.”

Albert Doyle, FL

No Part II. I waited too long. But I have something else almost ready. A Simple Writer. Surely it will be out this year.

While visiting the AFL-CIO Website I noticed a blurb about fighting “hate” titled Not In Our Town. I wondered what might lie behind this hotlink. What I found was a connection to a so-called civil rights site and a long list of allies against “hate,” including among others the Anti-Defamation League, The Nizkor Project, Yad Vashem, and Jerusalem One Network. What in hell a site called “Jerusalem One Network” has to do with civil rights issues in the US I don't know. You might respond that the AFL-CIO is an “international organization.” All right. So, why isn't the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee on this list? Not In Our Town, rather than asking that we stand in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine, asks that we ally ourselves with the Zionists who colonized them.

D.L., CA