Should Holocaust denial be a criminal offense?

[Beet]

No...

[Marokai Backbeat]

I have no love for those activist types for the most part at all, but I think assuming they would set up reeducation camps is a skosh over the top.

[Cory]

I have no love for those activist types for the most part at all, but I think assuming they would set up reeducation camps is a skosh over the top.

Why not? It's the logical continuation of their worldview.

[Associate Justice PiT]

The entire purpose of free speech is to protect people who you disagree with...

It seems like literally none of our leftist European posters understand this concept.

One of the things that has sadly left me feeling a bit estranged from the Left over the last year is realizing exactly how many people of that political persuasion are just as comfortable throwing away the rights of people they just don't like as much as the Right can be.

A free, liberal democracy only works when you protect the rights of the contemptible as well as the noble. If you open the door to censoring things based on your tastes you legitimize that tactic against yourself down the road. And there is no real defense when you deem arbitrary bulls**t subjective tastes fair game as a justification.

     That's one of the reasons that liberalism and leftism ring hollow for me; witnessing the casual hypocrisy and callousness of so many involved. It's also one of the reasons that I like living in the United States; there are people here who are still willing to fight for freedom of expression.

[BaconBacon96]

Of course not.

[Torie]

SCOTUS's robust interpretation of the Free Speech clause is a beautiful thing. It protects us from ourselves. And it's rather unique on this planet, perhaps THE jewel on the US crown as it were among the family of nations.

[Ban my account ffs!]

No, because any excuse you give the bourgeois state to limit speech is going to inevitably come back to haunt you.

Give a cop a fish and he'll kill it.  Teach a cop to fish and he'll kill fish for a lifetime.

Perhaps that is unfair to the good ones?

[solarstorm]

In Germany, approval, glorification or justification of the National Socialist tyranny is punishable with up to three years imprisonment or with a fine.
If one approves of, denies or belittles a concrete offense committed by the Nazis, they are punished with up to five years of imprisonment or with a fine.

But that's nothing compared to Austria:

If you deny, "grossly" belittle, approve of or justify the holocaust or other National Socialist crimes against humanity, you are sentenced to 5 up to 10 years "in a dungeon"!!! In cases of an extra severity of the crime even up to 20 years.

[Antonio the Sixth]

But that's nothing compared to Austria:

If you deny, "grossly" belittle, approve of or justify the holocaust or other National Socialist crimes against humanity, you are sentenced to 5 up to 10 years "in a basement"!!! In cases of an extra severity of the crime even up to 20 years.

ftfy

[Gustaf]

I have no love for those activist types for the most part at all, but I think assuming they would set up reeducation camps is a skosh over the top.

Why not? It's the logical continuation of their worldview.

Not that I want to support Cory's lunatic ideas, but in all fairness the Swedish feminist party actually does have a policy plank of sending all men to reeducation camps.

[politicus]

I have no love for those activist types for the most part at all, but I think assuming they would set up reeducation camps is a skosh over the top.

Why not? It's the logical continuation of their worldview.

Not that I want to support Cory's lunatic ideas, but in all fairness the Swedish feminist party actually does have a policy plank of sending all men to reeducation camps.

I think the camps are merely in your imagination.

As I have seen it they wanted to reeducate men to change their consumption- and transport patterns to benefit the climate and sustainable development, so it was part of their environmental policies.

[they don't love you like i love you]

In 2015 no, but it was an understandable part of the denazification process in Germany that actually did work pretty effectively.

[dead0man]

No, it should be treated with ridicule and contempt, but not as a criminal matter.

This.  I think people should be encouraged to tell us the stupid sh**t they believe, it lets the rest of us know who to ignore/laugh at.  Not every halfwit is kind enough to advertise with a Che shirt.

[Gustaf]

I have no love for those activist types for the most part at all, but I think assuming they would set up reeducation camps is a skosh over the top.

Why not? It's the logical continuation of their worldview.

Not that I want to support Cory's lunatic ideas, but in all fairness the Swedish feminist party actually does have a policy plank of sending all men to reeducation camps.

I think the camps are merely in your imagination.

As I have seen it they wanted to reeducate men to change their consumption- and transport patterns to benefit the climate and sustainable development, so it was part of their environmental policies.

Yes, I was being slightly hyperbolic. Still, a mandatory reeducation program is only semantically different from a reeducation camp. The program was also supposed to analyze men before reeducating them, whatever that means.

I'm still annoyed by how these morons were allowed to set back the feminist cause in Sweden with all their nonsense. Ah, well.

[/]

No, but Holocaust deniers should be publicly humiliated to a great extent.

[RINO Tom]

No (Supports free speech)

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No, but Holocaust deniers should be publicly humiliated to a great extent.

They do that on their own.

[Del Tachi]

No (Supports free speech)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

No, but Holocaust deniers should be publicly humiliated to a great extent.

They do that on their own.

That's why I don't believe punishing Holocaust deniers, as much as I abbhore those bastards, does any good. It only brings them more exposure.

[Thunderbird is the word]

No (Supports free speech)

[windjammer]

Yes (authoritarian free-speech hater)

[DemPGH]

No. I support ridiculing nonsense, not banning it.

Anyway, I'm not sure how you effectively ban nonsense.

[Mechaman]

No, but Holocaust deniers should be publicly humiliated to a great extent.

They do that on their own.

That's why I don't believe punishing Holocaust deniers, as much as I abbhore those bastards, does any good. It only brings them more exposure.

And if there is anybody who has the right to be pissed at these people it is you.  Quite a testament to your ability to look past any gut reaction and consider the actual implications of said policy.

[Illini Moderate]

No, that would be a bit ridiculous. . .  free speech. Although Holocaust deniers are pieces of human garbage they still have the right to speak their mind

[DavidB.]

Ingemann gave the perfect answer here:

This is really one of those issue with a naive black-white dichotomy not only not make a lot of sense, but also show that the keeper of such opinions is a little simple.

Was it a good idea, that Germany, France and other countries made such a ban after WW2; yes. Would it make a lot of sense to make the same law in Denmark, Sweden or Finland after WW2; not really. Do Germany or France need to keep it today; not really. Do it harm anybody that they keep this law; yes some pretty horrible people. Do I care that these people are harmed by this law; not really. Is abolishing the law worth the whining and international condemnation from Jewish organisation and Israel; again not really.

Conclusion: Keep the law if it already exist, but don't create such a law if it doesn't exist.