Daily Egyptian Editorial 05
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Dear Editor:
The editorial on Austria's recent conviction of Holocaust denier, David Irving, raises important and compelling issues about free speech that deserve careful consideration. One might, indeed, argue that it is a cruel irony to see a country that persecuted many people based on their beliefs during the Third Reich now setting up speech codes again. Yet it is not enough to say that all beliefs are equal. Free speech is sacred, and we should always be aware of the danger of limiting it.
But we also have to consider the genesis of these laws in Austria, Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The Nazi genocide of Jews, Roma and other minorities has compelled Europeans to think deeply about their countries' complicity in the Holocaust, the power of hate speech to cause real psychological and physical harm and the collective responsibilities of countries and individuals to remember the crimes once committed in their names.
To say that David Irving's ideas are simply "beliefs" implies a total equality in the realm of speech. But without considering the content of the ideas - the irrational and hateful refutation of a genocide that can be documented with great precision - we are left simply congratulating ourselves, as this editorial does, that we are "kilometers ahead of Europe."
For all their problems, the Holocaust denial laws are part and parcel of a much larger debate about the relationship between historical memory and the preservation of true democracy. Spend one day in Germany and you will notice how attempts to wrestle with past crimes suffuse that country's public culture. Germans (and increasingly Austrians) have tied the success of their democracy to a deep awareness of racial hatred and its brutal consequences in their own history. In this regard, the United States can learn much from Europe.
Jonathan Wiesen
associate professor for Department of History
director of Undergraduate Studies
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Copyright 2009 Daily Egyptian Editorial 05