Aspen Times continues to publish anti-Semitic letters

Two days ago, I posted concerning an anti-Semitic propagandist who's found a forum in the Aspen, Colorado Times, (read here and here). It turns out that he's not alone. The Aspen Times has also seen fit to publish a diatribe by Arthur Topham, a Canadian who has made Holocaust denial into a sort of cottage industry.

Taking a step back for a moment, let's remember what allegedly precipitated the Aspen Times decent into hate speech. It was the following innocuous letter to the editor from a local resident (online version here):

This past Tuesday, April 29, I had the fortunate opportunity to address the Glenwood Springs Sunrise Rotary Club with a program titled, “The Holocaust: A View of Humanity and Inhumanity,” in recognition of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Commemoration Day on May 1.

I have conducted similar programs in the past for the Aspen and Snowmass Rotary Clubs, Colorado Mountain College, Aspen Jewish Congregation Young Leadership Group, and Aspen Middle School (as well as in Miami and New Orleans).

Today, I anxiously opened both our local papers in anticipation of some sort of program, commemoration or memorial to the 6 million Jews and more than 11 million people total who were exterminated at the hands of an evil Nazi regime, which focused more of its efforts on a Final Solution, than winning World War II.

To my dismay, the only mention of Holocaust in either paper was that the Denver legislature had compared (rightfully) the slaughter of the American Indians to the Holocaust.

But, with three (or more) Jewish congregations in Aspen, a learned organization such as the Aspen Institute, and one of the highest educational levels among a population in the United States, it is truly disconcerting that we did not have a community Holocaust memorial.

Amongst my other activities, I now have two new missions in life, which I hope others will step up to join me in fulfilling:

1). Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley should have an annual community Holocaust commemoration on Yom Hashoah (unless on Shabbat), which I will gladly organize and serve as presenter, moderator or facilitator (at no cost), and;

2). We need to raise the money for a community Holocaust Memorial.
Nobel Prize winning author Elie Wiesel once said of the Holocaust: “Not all the victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”

In the face of relevant issues like parking, curves, straight-shots and downtown fire pits, we might try not to forget the words: Never again!

Bennett A. Bramson
Snowmass

In response to that admirable letter, the editor of the Aspen Times has seen fit to publish two letters. First, the overtly anti-Semitic screed by local "peace activist" Steve Campbell (read here); and second, the following equally hateful letter from Arthur Topham (online here):


"A deception"

Mr. Bramson’s letter (May 2) regarding the alleged “Jewish Holocaust” of “6 million” caught my eye

and the attention of my mind.

I am constantly “disconcerted,” like Mr. Bramson, to see these falsifications of history perpetuated and perpetrated upon generations of Americans (and Canadians and people in general) by those of Jewish descent who, being obviously firmly believers in this massive deception, continue to force their false figures and blatant misconceptions upon a public grown weary of the endless repetition of lies that permeate the modern-day holocaust industry.

Possibly even the majority of diaspora are awaking to this reality and that is the reason for the growing disinterest in building monuments to events that never occurred on the scale that the Zionist Jews want the rest of the world to believe.

It’s time to stop blaming and robbing the German people for events and actions that the Zionists orchestrated solely to act as propaganda tools for the exploitation of others and to justify their claims for the false state they created in stolen territory belonging to the Arab Palestinian people.

If we truly require another analogy to what Israel is doing today to its Arab citizens then we only need look at the example of the U.S. government’s genocidal policies toward America’s indigenous population to find an apt comparison. The Nazis are not our problem today. The Zionists have superseded them in myriad ways and it is they who are the new threat to global peace.

Mr. Bramson’s preoccupation with the “6 million” holocaust myth is nothing but subterfuge designed to take people’s minds off the real genocide that is taking place in Palestine today.

And so, as for the alleged “Jewish Holocaust of 6 million” deception I too must say, “Never again!”

Arthur Topham
Cottonwood, British Columbia

The editors of the Aspen Times apparently believe that it is acceptable to publish hate speech of this sort and package it as legitimate debate. But their placing an imprimatur of acceptability on blatantly unacceptable distortions of history serves no purpose except to generate attention. Topham has the right to publish his hate literature. He already has a website devoted to this sort of material (read here). But he is not entitled to an unfettered forum in the legitimate press. By giving him that forum, a newspaper like the Aspen Times reveals such poor judgment, and so seriously breaches their responsibility to public, their legitimacy as a news source is called into question.

If you believe that thie Aspen Times' promotion of Holocaust denial as legitimate debate is unacceptable, you can let the editor and publisher of the Aspen Times know. The editor of the paper, the person directly responsible for deciding what to publish, is named Rick Carroll. His email address is mail@aspentimes.com and his phone number is (970) 925-3414 ext. 17601. The publisher of the paper, Mr. Carroll's boss, is Jenna Weatherred. Her email address is jweatherred@aspentimes.com and her phone number is (970) 925-3414 ext. 17100. Please be polite and concise if you email or call. The idea is to remind the Aspen Times of its journalistic responsibility, not to be irresponsible in our response.

By the way, the notorious hate website maintained by Curt Maynard copied the letter from the Aspen Times website and published it (read here CAUTION: HATE WEBSITE). A reader commented in response:

That this was published in "The Aspen Times" is SHOCKING and encouraging...Only conclusion is it HAS to be outside the purview of Jewish ownership.

Outstanding letter, and laudable courage on the part of the "Aspen Times." Kudos to both.

May the shackles continue to be shorn...

Voir Dire