FREE SPEECH FOREVER!
Here is a voice of liberty, indeed.
Are you under the impression that Glenn Greenwald is English?
He is an American who lives in Brazil.
He does have an English name.
Oh.
Well, it’s his impassioned defense of liberty that counts.
I hold that the acknowledgement that the Holocaust was a real thing to be far and away superior to any opposition, so much that I would happily jail and punish anyone who denies it. In Europe, this view is the law in some states, and I think it should be, because of the grievous harm it produces and holocaust denial is our best test of mental illness that we have available
I have no doubt that the Holocaust was real, but I would much rather have neighbors who denied it, than neighbors who would happily jail anyone who is wrong about a historical fact, no matter which fact.
Holocaust denial is usually associated with anti-Semitism, and punishing overt acts of racism or discrimination is a separate issue, but IMO there is nothing any more intrinsically evil about Holocaust denial, than, say, celebrating Columbus Day in complete ignorance of the way he treated the native people he “discovered,” or wanting the likes of Condi Rice to run for President.
Not “a” historical fact, just THIS historical fact.
It will not convince you, but this is about the only historical fact I would jail anyone for. So you are not in any danger, ever, as long as you do not become a holocaust denier. Now if you are one of those people who just must do something expressly because its prohibited, then I cannot help you. I am not one of those people. If someone told me I’d be in jail if I denied the holocaust, but no other denial would be worthy of jail time, I would shake that person’s hand and thank them for making the world a better place and never deny the holocaust. Those fucking people who do will get no sympathy from me if they are thrown in jail
You’ve convinced me. Everybody can pick one historical fact as his favorite, and can jail anyone who doesn’t believe it.
I’m not very original, so I’m going to do what the Church used to do, and say that the one historical fact I’m going to punish people for denying is that Jesus was resurrected after three days in the tomb, to save us from our sins.
Guess who denies that?
But you’re not a holocaust denier.
Having dealt with a fair share of such people: a law against holocaust denial would help the deniers. It gives them martyrs, motivates their sympathizers, and breeds theories of conspiracies and coverups. And the smarter ones learn to skirt the rules, stay within the letter of the law while continuing to sow doubt and incite hatred, now disguised as righteous dissent. Instead of explicit holocaust denial, you get protests of bias, censorship, academic distortion, and suppression; and those protests have the same aim (and often the same effect) as holocaust denial did. Because holocaust denial is not an end, it’s a means; and there are plenty of other means available to that same end.
Your thinking is far more dangerous than any holocaust denier.
+1.
- another one.
I’ve never seen a Holocaust denier who wasn’t revealed to be a racist idiot within minutes of launching into their spiel. Laws aren’t necessary to suppress them. It’s not like thousands are flocking to their cause.
The Holocaust happened. Period. A denier of that fact only looks stupid or evil. You might as well deny that there was slavery in the U.S.
OK, maybe it happened, but it could have been prevented.