Holocaust Denial
Iran announced yesterday details of a conference questioning whether the Holocaust really happened, prompted by an international outcry a year ago when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis as “myth” fabricated to justify Israel.
So what are the implications of such a conference? Well for one it would be insulting to those men and women who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and may be seen as a petty move by Tehran to infuriate the West…raising a red flag to a bull springs to mind!
However, it raises questions on our own maturity and objectivity. If we have such indestructible certainty as to the reality of the Holocaust happening, why are we so riled? Why can’t we just dismiss it as a childish bating from Iran?
Moreover, assuming we live in a world where freedom of speech is a given, then should Tehran not have the freedom to raise such a question? Just as we have the freedom to disbelieve them.
NOTE: Before I get attacked by anonymous commentators, I DO believe in the Holocaust and deeply regret the suffering of those men, women and children involved. HOWEVER I also recognise the equal suffering of millions of others around the globe since then- millions of whom are ignored by the world and media.
P.S: “The idea for the gathering was dismissed earlier this year as “shocking, ridiculous and stupid” by Tony Blair. Iran responded by inviting him to attend.” – One can’t but help laugh…the man does have a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’!
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I think the best thing that came out of this conference is pictures of make-out sessions with Ahmadinejad.
Mahmoud al-Safad penned it to Ahmadinejad In an open letter to the Iranian president, he says that Mr Ahmadinejad’s stance is a “great disservice to popular struggles the world over”.
“Perhaps you see Holocaust denial as an expression of support for the Palestinians,” he writes. “Here, too, you are wrong. We struggle for our existence and our rights, and against the historic injustice that was dealt us in 1948.
“Our success and our independence will not be gained by denying the genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people, even if parts of this people are the very forces that occupy and dispossess us to this day.”
Mr Safadi says that reading the works of Arab intellectuals helped convince him that the Holocaust was a historical fact.
Freedom of Speech isn’t a worldwide given. It has to be constantly fought for. It means that Congress can’t pass a law barring speech. If other countries want to adopt a similar approach to America’s 1st Amendment, I think that would be a wonderful idea, but the US Constitution doesn’t automatically apply to all people worldwide.
Freedom of speech is all well and good to a point. This is no different from what the Germans in the thirties. They rerote history and science to achieve their own goals. If Ahmadinejad wants true freedom of expression, then why doesn’t he just hold his own Muhammad cartoon contest. This has nothing to do with freedom.
Being deliberately offensive and insulting is now the epitome of “freedom of expression?”
I’m gonna have to disagree here. When you’re free to do what you wanna do, it doesn’t mean you should take advantage of that freedom by acting rude and intentionally offensive. Freedom of expression should be mainly used for educational purposes, and expressing intelligent opinions rather than being like “HAHA UR PROPHET IS A PERVERT HAHA I BET HE WEARS A SKIRT. I SHOULD DRAW THAT FOR THE NATIONAL PAPERS. HAHA I MAKE FUNNY.”
Yeah, that might be freedom of expression. But it’s a dumb way to apply it, and any dumb person who resorts to that should expect dumb reactions in return, which happened. A bunch of toothless people ran around with carton boxes that read “you is infidel we kill you with swords mwahah islam 4eva” and of course, all media outlets ran the story of Islam vs. World. Typical. But hey, a great way to increase readership, I would’ve manipulated people too through catchy headers and images of homeless unwashed people right smack in the middle of some isolated Pakistani village going insane.
These cartoons are the worst examples of freedom of expression and these reactions will happen everywhere. Those few illiterate, unemployed, and bored Muslims are just itching for a sequel of these cartoons to get off their asses and do something fun for a change. Give them something to go mad about and they will, but don’t use them as an example and don’t claim that all Muslims react like that. They hardly represent anybody, and it doesn’t make us any less capable of taking good advantage of freedom of expression where we don’t use it as a tool to insult others just for the sheer sake of it. Dumb cartoons result in dumb reactions, same thing with dumb racist claims resulting in violent threats. It’s that simple.
That’s my point. This conference has nothing to do with freedom of expression. It’s just another tool Ahmadinejad is employing in order to rally his supporters against Israel and the Jewish people.
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