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The beauty of democracy resides in its ability to accept various opinions as equally valid, no matter how at odds they might be.

Jonathan Brimmer (Decent Journalism, January 28) was "embarrassed and disgusted" at us for choosing to publish an interview with Norman Lowell in our monthly students' newspaper, the InSiter. A cursory glance at our vox pop on pages 8-9 of the InSiter shows how most university students would beg to differ.

When confronted with a man such as Mr Lowell, two options present themselves. We can either bury our collective heads in the sand, drive such right-wingers underground and increase their mythical aura even further, or else we can expose such ideas for what they truly are: shambolic interpretations of reality, not to mention poor politics.

Mr Lowell was a public figure well before our interview with him. What Mr Brimmer fails to appreciate is that we will all tire of his antics far more quickly if we lend him our ears rather than if we insist on clenching our fists and keeping our eyes shut. The French tried that tactic, with Jean Marie Le Pen as a result.

Any further comment on the matter are welcome at publications@insite.com.mt.

I would like to thank Mr Brimmer for pointing out that our organisation is reaching one of its main aims as defined by our statute in "raising awareness and debate". Who knows, perhaps Mr Brimmer may even opt to dedicate a bit of his spare time and help make the InSiter a newspaper he can be proud of.