Should Holocaust Denial Be Protected Speech?

[JRP1994]

The argument provided by Christopher Hitchens:

"Well, if everybody in North America is forced to attend, at school, training in sensitivity in Holocaust awareness and is taught to study the Final Solution, about which nothing was actually done by this country, or by North America, or by the United Kingdom while it was going on, but let’s say as if in compensation for that everyone is made to swallow and official and unalterable story of it now, and it’s taught as the great moral exemplar, the moral equivalent of the morally lacking elements of the Second World War, a way of distilling our uneasy conscience about that combat, if that’s the case with everybody, as it more or less is, and one person gets up and says, “You know, about this Holocaust, I’m not sure it even happened. In fact, I’m pretty certain it didn’t. Indeed, i begin to wonder if the only thing is that the Jews brought a little bit of violence on themselves.” That person doesn’t just have a right to speak, that person’s right to speak must be given extra protection. Because what he has to say must have taken him some effort to come up with, might contain a grain of historical truth, might in any case get people to think about why do they know what they already think they know. How do I know that I know this, except that I’ve always been taught this and never heard anything else?"

[Ban my account ffs!]

Anybody has a right to deny the Holocaust.  But I like the way the Minnesota state constitution put it when it comes to free speech:

Sec. 3. Liberty of the press.
The liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate, and all persons may freely speak, write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right.

Basically.. say whatever you want.  But if you beat to a pulp for being an idiot, don't come crying to me for help!

[H. Ross Peron]

It should be considered like all other speech.

[bedstuy]

Obviously.  It's political speech, the core protected area.  My rule is that you have to allow all speech, except for the basic common law exceptions, libel, slander, commercial speech, fire in a crowded theater, etc.

Plus, all holocaust deniers are idiots who all irrefutably wrong.  That alone keeps them in check; they're not going to convince reasonable people. 

[Mordecai]

It should be considered like all other speech.

[Asherzeleg]

Yes, people have the right to say whatever they believe about the Holocaust, much like they can deny that slavery ever happened or the revolutionary war happened. I have relatives who perished in the Holocaust, heard survivors tell their stories first-hand, and have visited the sites of Auschwitz and Birkenau. The Holocaust is taught in schools because its occurrence is a fact and a significant aspect of the world's history. People who speak out against the Holocaust should be reminded that there are still numerous people who have witnessed the events first-hand who would be glad to explain their experiences to them.

[New_Conservative]

Of course, despite how stupid it is.