The use of Reason and reasonable argumentation, the reclaiming of the idea of Progress and the struggle against dogma. In this post-modern world, reinventing Enlightenment is of the utmost importance.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Enligtenment in danger


For denying that the Holocaust ever took place, for saying that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz, "historian" David Irving was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Austria. Irving pleaded guilty saying that, since 1989, when he proclaimed his absurd "historical" sentences, he had learned a lot and no longer thought as he did then.

Guess what Mr Irving; in 1989 there was already lots of evidence for the Holocaust. Actually, evidence for the Holocaust dates back to the late forties, you had just to read the files of the Nuremberg trial. Instead you chose not to. You chose to deny the Holocaust. Serves you right this sentence, Mr Irving, I hope you enjoy your time in an Austrian prison.

Meanwhile, some wancker or other immediately came to Irving's rescue. You see, some arseholes dare to say something like this: "We have to re-think Freedom of Speech. If we allow the publishing of cartoons offensive to the prophet Mohamed, then this jail sentence should have not been passed."

Can you believe it? Some people have the nerve to compare a proven fact (The Holocaust) with a matter of faith (the divinity or not of prophets). It’s been sixty years since the Nuremberg Trial. If someone told me, twenty years ago, that anyone could deny the Holocaust and that would be ok, I would dismiss such an utterance as an irrationality. As it seems, today irrationality is taking the upper hand. Apparently, not only in Iran, but also in the West.

5 Comments:

Blogger A. Cabral said...

yes, yes, here goes...

I don't think the Holocaust is a tabu either, and the issue was that this guy was deliberately going against historical fact, i.e. lying outright. How can you say millions have not died with the evidence of the mass graves? How can you say Auschwitz didn't have gas chambers?

I agree that the Israelis use the Holocaust for sympathy as if it could forgive their wrongs. But I believe the case here has a different motivation, this Irving guy is a neo-nazi seeking to rewrite history and clear Hitler of his crimes, and that includes not only the genocide of the jews, but also the gays, the communists, the polish, the russians...

As you know I always believed that the cartoons should not have been re-published, although I do not think we need a law for that. Instead, we need public denunciation and the states bringing the relevant newspapers to task about their insulting behaviour. Thus, I think a public trial and condenmantion of a nazi liar is a great thing! We cannot allow the right to poison public debate, and we cannot either get bogged down in an endless debate with them as if the two sides were equal.

9:21 AM

 
Blogger A. Cabral said...

He was using a mantle of historical credibility to lie about a political current, about its crimes. If there is libel law when you lie about what someone has done, should it not be a crime to lie about what happenned to a whole people? Is it not even more serious? Particularly, if it creates this view that the nazis are victims of a world conspiracy, that they are the good guys...

Imagine it in a Portuguese context, you would start hearing that Salazar was a very nice guy, that PIDE didn't torture or kill and that the 25 of April was a coup by left extremists who invented a history of oppression to take control of the country away from the good fascists...

9:28 AM

 
Blogger Arrebenta said...

Ó, Pacheco, vai levar na ventoinha!...


Associando-nos a uma corrente de protesto, iniciada, no Kombate, "The Braganzzzzza Mothers" irá enviar um pedido aos seus blogues mais lidos, para que se associem ao movimento: o processo é simples: envie, por sua vez, o convite aos seus amigos, e eles que mandem, cada um com o seu sotaque próprio, o Pacheco levar na ventoinha.

11:00 AM

 
Blogger theresa said...

A person who would deny the holocaust is a dangerous person indeed. He has authored books on the subject and makes false claims. He reports these false claims as history. In my opinion, this is not freedom of speech. Rather, I would say it is fraud. It is my belief that fraud is a punishable crime.

10:39 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"[T]oday irrationality is taking the upper hand" and I gather that you believe that anyone guilty of what you deem to be "irrationality" should be thrown in jail. An interesting concept.

Some people believe this, against all the evidence: "We believe these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal ..." Lock 'em up, that's what I say! And anyway, they're damned rebels!

9:55 AM

 

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