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well, there are two questions
Should holocaust denial be a crime? I believe it should.
Does Canada have the right not to extradite this man to Germany to face charges he has been found guilty of, in a legal, demoratic and liberal country? I do not believe they do.
This obsession with freedom of speech, what does it mean? Should I be allowed to yell "fire" in a crowded dark theater, cos I enjoy the idea of creating panic and injury in the fleeing crowd? That is free speech.
Should I be allowed to stand on the corner of the street and tell everyone that my high school teacher is a paedophile? That is a completely false statement, but I dont like him and I feel like saying it, should I be allowed to destroy this man's reputation and maybe his life, because I am free to say anything that I like?
Should Kerry be allowed to take out TV ad's and hire 15 actresses to all say that Bush raped them? This is free speech, who cares if it is a lie or a slander?
Should I be allowed to say all people of an ethnic group should be killed? Should I be allowed to say things which I know will incite and encourage violence against them? Should I be allowed to go to a town which has suffered a recent tragedy and tell them all it was this ethnic group who did it, to whip up hatrid that I know will lead to violence... this is free speech.
Should I be allowed to get a job as a teacher and then brainwash all the children to want to destroy America? If Im just talking to the, arent I free to do that?
A woman claims she has been raped by a famous NBA star... should I be allowed to publish her name, photo, address, tell everyone she is a dirty slut and tell everyone who loves this basketball team, "hey guys, if the victim isnt alive to testify there cant even be a case, here's the address the victim is at, here's all her details, dont you love your team? Dont you think this is girl is just doing it to get money? I do..." Is that free speech?
What does free speech mean? To me, a society where it is impossible to stop anyone from saying anything is just crazy. Words can incite violence, they can cause damage and harm, and people must be protected from the violence of words and mush as the violence of fists or knives or guns.
Denying the holocaust, in Germany, is a specific crime - Germany carries with it a specific guilt (as do many Poles, Hungarians, Estonians and so on who took part in it) for its past - the law against holocaust denial is a recognition of the past, a realisation that these things must never be allowed to happen again.
No one is saying this man should be forbidden from expressing his own idea's, but all holocaust deniers are liars, this is the fact, anyone with any ability to reason knows that it is a true occurance... what this law is saying is that you do not have the right to incite hatrid against people, you do not have the right to incite violence, you do not the right to deliberately denigrate a race of people, you do not have the right to escape from Germany's national trauma - this is the legacy, this is how the sins of the fathers are passed down to the sons, this is something that must not be forgotten, and to attempt to erase this from history through lies is a crime.
You know, we have to move beyond the whole "free speech is everything" mantra - I really dont believe that anyone believes people can be free to yell "fire" to make people hurt themselves, or to encourage people to commit murder... we have to say surely, that the free expression of ideology is one thing, but that there are things which people must be protected from. That just to let anyone damage, hurt, victimise or attack another person or group in any way that they like, and to let them do it just because it is only words... this cannot be the basis of a free society.
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
The Gospel of Thomas
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