David Irving is a guy who said a number of times in the past 20 years that the Holocaust never happened. He claimed that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz. For this crime against humanity he was thrown into jail for 3 years.
Maybe I'm missing something here?!?
Why is it a crime to publicly announce your lack of knowledge? Let's put Hamas in jail because they said they don't recognize Israel. Duh, it's there. Check the maps.
How about if we say we believe Sharon is already dead and they are just cooling the body until right before the elections to announce it for political gain.
Oops. I'm already in jail for that one.
Does everyone believe that Washington crossed the Rubicon?
Did the US invade Vietnam?
Did we put a man on the moon?
This guy should be laughed out of academia, not thrown into jail. If he can prove his facts in serious debate, then let him have a go at it. I have no problem having him fired from his job for trying to falsify history. He was a history teacher. If he tried to falsify history with no basis in any matter, he should be fired. But to throw a guy in jail because he doesn't believe that 6 million people were killed in a genocidal attempt to wipe out an entire nation because of the threat they posed as the conscience of the world???? (Did you read mein kampf?)
The holocaust was indeed a tragedy on epic proportions, but you can't lock up a guy for 3 years because he says it didn't happen! I think the pertinent question here is: "Is the world a safer place now that David Irving will not be a part of it for 3 years?"
The answer is no.
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3 comments:
Man on the moon? I thought we disproved that years ago.
Thanks, you saved me having to write the same post. I agree 100%. Locking people in jail for their views is no path to a better world, anymore than allowing him to speak uncontested is. Of course this obligates all of us to dispute dangerous idiocy, but this new obligation couldn't come at a more convenient time in history.
(Of course incitement to murder, etc., moves beyond this issue of expressing opinion and into the realm of call to action.)
in case you haven't seen it, check out http://lipstadt.blogspot.com/
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