Two cases this week, both dealing with Nazis, prove that Europe is not a free society. We aren't talking about Nazi's rallying or hate crimes being committed. We are talking about two people who said one thing or another about the Third Reich and managed to get in trouble because of it. Not just civil problems but criminal. In America, if you defame someone or say something really nasty to another person, you can be sued under libel and slander laws if the victim can prove that monetary damages were inflicted. Europe, with its thin skin, obviously cannot handle people saying inflammatory comments.
Case 1: David Irving, known by some as an historian and by others as a holocaust denier, was sentenced to three years in prison in Austria for stating, among other things, that the Nazi leaders did not personally order the genocide during World War II. He based his claim in that he never found any documentation on this fact. Though this seems to go against what most people think to be the truth, the man has the right to his opinion. Nobody is being forced to listen to him, and most people think he's just some quack. But not the authorities in Austria, you see, there are laws there prohibiting someone from denying the holocaust. Pretty strange in my opinion, and I personally think those laws help their cause. Why have a law about something that is undeniably true? Holocaust deniers will say those laws exist because they are right and the establishment is trying to prevent them from speaking the truth. Do I agree with them? No, but I think laws prohibiting someone from talking about something in any way go against fundamental human freedoms.
Case 2: Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, has been suspended from office for one month for calling reporter Oliver Finegold a "concentration camp guard" and a "war criminal." Finegold is Jewish, and said that he was offended by these comments. This is even more outrageous than case 1. When a society has arrived at a point where calling someone a more colorful term than "bastard" can lead to being suspended from office for a month, that society is obviously a bunch of whiners.
Dick Cheney once told Senator Leahy to "go fuck yourself." What happened? We had a good laugh.
Europe, get your act together.
7 comments:
I like the laws there as the are. Europe is trying to forget what happened and change their image. As far as the second part goes, Livingstone should have been suspended because that is like a racist remark. But, I rather would have seen Finegold punch out Livingstone.
In Wikipedia and other papwers, it shows proof that David Irving was a Holocaust denier. That's horrible and what he says causes a lot of problems for the Jews. A guy like this shouldn't be defended and America should limit the Freedom of Speech Clause to keep Holocaust deniers, Neo-Nazis, and KKK from protesting hate and having rally's of hate. Irving's a bad person and he should get more than three years. In a way, you can say he's a Nazi sympatheizer
Regardless of what we think of people like him, they have the right to say what they want. You should never be put in jail for saying something, even if its hateful.
You start to jail people for saying things like this, next thing you will say something bad about the president and end up in jail.
These laws in Europe are dangerous, unjust, and I think the Hitler would get a kick out of it.
Hey MSC, you are one anti-semitic piece of shit! You think it is right to let people hate on one group and think that they should not get in trouble? Would it be okay for someone to talk about and say that "Ukranians should be wiped out? If you don't like the laws in the United States, move the fuck out! I forget, you are pissed about security checks because it violates our freedoms! I guess you are one ignorant asshole! I would not be calling other people ignornant! You Liberterians are ignorant and Liberterians are some fucked up assholes.
Actually the Russians and Nazis didn't like Ukrainians too much. If someone wants to say "let's wipe them out" I don't appreciate the comment, but until they do something, I'm just going to laugh.
The guy, David Irving, never talked about wiping anyone out.
If you actually read the post, these laws ARE NOT in the United States. I'm not writing anything about the USA. Maybe you should move out to Austria, since they HAVE THOSE LAWS THERE!!!
Hitler loved security check points...
It it a difficult situation. But, people who deny that the Holocaust happened are ignorant. There is undeniable evidence that it happened. I guess you should be able to say what you want when you want, but then people should have the right to beat the crap out of someone who says something thats against them. If people watched what they said, a lot of problems would be halted. Sure, let speech be free. But then let actions that come as a result of the comments be free too. There would be a lot of crime, thats for sure.
Bottom Line: When you make a comment, dont be ignorant. If you have an opinion based on ignorance, then you should get your ass kicked. If you have an opinion that may be wrong, but at least based on some type of valid information, then thats one thing.
random comment about europeans - they have such funny and interesting accents. sometimes, when i communicate with a pharmaceutical company from overseas, it's hard to understand them. of course, i should talk - i'm from texas. :-P
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