Posted on October 28, 2011

Ignorant Viewpoints Shouldn’t Be Ignored

Editorial Board, Highland Cavalier, October 28, 2011

Today we published a potentially controversial advertisement. The ad, on page 5, says simply, “Is diversity a strength? We think not. For an alternative view: www.AmRen.com.”

The ad was paid for by the New Century Foundation, a nonprofit organization that publishes the monthly magazine American Renaissance. The website mentioned in the ad is for the magazine.

Both the organization and publication are, by any objective standard, representative of a white supremacist viewpoint.

As an editorial board, we debated whether or not to accept and publish New Century’s ad. The content of the ad is not inappropriate itself, we thought. {snip}

{snip}

We vehemently disagree with New Century’s cause. Diversity is a strength. Our nation, our community and our college are all built on it. We believe the organization’s beliefs are incorrect and even crude. They are, and certainly should be, unpopular.

The question we asked ourselves, then, was: Should opinions be rejected merely because they’re unpopular? If we brush ugly views to the side and don’t discuss what makes them wrong, how do we learn from them?

In the end, most of us felt that hiding New Century’s ad because it espouses white supremacist views doesn’t serve our purpose, which is in part to serve as a conduit for discussion of issues that affect us as a college community.

{snip}

We encourage you to visit amren.com and read what the group has to say. Discuss it with your peers, professors and others in the community. Talk about how it makes you feel and think about why diversity is a strength.

As always, feel free to contact us or write a letter to the editor with your comments and critiques of our decision. {snip}

[Editor’s Note: We have created a page with a video and other information about diversity.]