Surfing the news wire
Since it's a slow news day in the world of Gary, I figured I'd throw a news article out there for debate. Read this and tell me what you think.
Here's my opinion. David Irving is an idiot. He is also a danger to society by insisting that the Holocaust is a myth. People who deny that the Holocaust ever happened are hateful, anti-Semitic assholes. Two of my great grandparents were murdered in Nazi death camps. Two other great grandparents barely survived the Nazi death camps. I lost countless other relatives from my dad's side of the family during the war. My grandparents just barely escaped Europe with their lives in the 1940s, and the story of their thrilling escape to Jamaica is one that never ceases to amaze me. My dad has collected letters sent between family members during the Second World War highlighting the devastation felt by the Jews during this time and put them in a book that I have in my room. There is no doubt what actually happened to the Jews during the World War II. To deny and repress the worst possible acts committed by mankind is truly tragic.
However, as terrible as it is to deny the existence of the Nazi Holocaust, I am uncomfortable with governments criminalizing such denials. I know that Austria is very sensitive of this because of the country's tie to the Nazis, but do they really have the right to punish someone criminally for speaking their mind? This hardly sounds like a democratic country. David Irving deserves to be beaten up in the court of public opinion and ostracized as a bigot. However, he does not deserve to go to jail for giving an (uneducated) opinion.
Here's my opinion. David Irving is an idiot. He is also a danger to society by insisting that the Holocaust is a myth. People who deny that the Holocaust ever happened are hateful, anti-Semitic assholes. Two of my great grandparents were murdered in Nazi death camps. Two other great grandparents barely survived the Nazi death camps. I lost countless other relatives from my dad's side of the family during the war. My grandparents just barely escaped Europe with their lives in the 1940s, and the story of their thrilling escape to Jamaica is one that never ceases to amaze me. My dad has collected letters sent between family members during the Second World War highlighting the devastation felt by the Jews during this time and put them in a book that I have in my room. There is no doubt what actually happened to the Jews during the World War II. To deny and repress the worst possible acts committed by mankind is truly tragic.
However, as terrible as it is to deny the existence of the Nazi Holocaust, I am uncomfortable with governments criminalizing such denials. I know that Austria is very sensitive of this because of the country's tie to the Nazis, but do they really have the right to punish someone criminally for speaking their mind? This hardly sounds like a democratic country. David Irving deserves to be beaten up in the court of public opinion and ostracized as a bigot. However, he does not deserve to go to jail for giving an (uneducated) opinion.
posted by GaryGinew at 8:37 PM
3 Comments:
I got nothin....other than how can someone possibly think that the holocaust didn't happen?
On a completely different subject, I must admust how entertained I have been tonight by the couples competitive dancing figure skating competition. First and foremost, the women skating from all these countries are phenominal and wearing quite provocative outfits.... And second, the drama between the couples when they fall is just great! Next time they should institute this competition but introduce miscellaneous obstacles...such as banana peels and oil slick spots (anyone else thinking video game racing?).
The story does raise some interesting freedom of speech issues, especially in the light of the editorial cartoons recently published. But the idea of punishing someone for what they say, rather than what they do, is a very uncertain area.
In response to Unicorn: My roommate used to be a figure skater (singles) and she says the female ice dancer outfits are causing a huge ruckus in the OI (that's Olympic Ice, but I'm sure you know). Did anyone catch the letters written in read by one of the commentators a few nights ago? My favorite one was the little kid asking if there was going to be more falling, followed by the commentator reassuring him that yes, there would be more falling. What is this, the nascar of olympic events?
I haven't even gotten around to officially thanking you for gladly cheering against Michigan St. (i.e., for Iowa) in Iowa City last week, and now your Maize and Blue go and knock Illinois out of a Big Ten tie with Iowa! Go Maize and Blue!
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