'No gas chambers' - Irving

[patrick1974]

That man has got some connections seriously wrong in his brain.They should've given him 30 years in that prison.

[jayhawker]

The man has to be an escapee from a loonybin!

[plant-pilot]

Some people, even historians have been forwarding their ideas of what happened in history for years. Even now some people try and grab any thread of a conspiracy from even the most recent events for whatever reason they feel they need to. We know they are wrong, they use flawed evidence and ignore counter-evidence when it doesn't fit their view of the world. It's always been that way and always will be.

It is their right to free speech even though we may call them loonys, misguided or 'flat earthers'. But they don't get arrested for it. Well not in a free and democratic society. Irvine and many like him are wrong. So are all the teachers who try and teach kids creationism rather than evolution, but they don't get arrested for trying to deny millions of years of the earth's history.

WW2 was about freedom from oppresion and the ability to say what you wanted..... even if what you believe is wrong, not arresting people with loony views.

[Owen]

So are all the teachers who try and teach kids creationism rather than evolution, but they don't get arrested for trying to deny millions of years of the earth's history.

I was leant some creationism DVDs to watch I'm now dubious about evolution.
After all how does something as complex as an eyeball accidently evolve?
I'm not saying I believe in Creationism but Evolution is only a theory too.

Back on topic....

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by plant-pilot

Some people, even historians have been forwarding their ideas of what happened in history for years. Even now some people try and grab any thread of a conspiracy from even the most recent events for whatever reason they feel they need to. We know they are wrong, they use flawed evidence and ignore counter-evidence when it doesn't fit their view of the world. It's always been that way and always will be.

It is their right to free speech even though we may call them loonys, misguided or 'flat earthers'. But they don't get arrested for it. Well not in a free and democratic society. Irvine and many like him are wrong. So are all the teachers who try and teach kids creationism rather than evolution, but they don't get arrested for trying to deny millions of years of the earth's history.

WW2 was about freedom from oppresion and the ability to say what you wanted..... even if what you believe is wrong, not arresting people with loony views.

Firmly agree with this.
The man's slipped from a writer of a few 'OK' books years ago to his current self-inflicted status as a bitter fool, only right that people should deride Irving's distasteful views but I've never understood the imprisonment thing, seems to me a sledgehammer to crack a rather unimpressive little walnut which has the side-effect of lending him 'martyr' status among his nasty little tribe of followers and other conspiracy theorists.
Laughing at him seems a far more effective tool to me, education being (hopefully) somewhat stronger than legislation in most cases.

(And Owen, I'd recommend Dawkins's 'The Blind Watchmaker' for further insight into evolution to counter some creation extremist's DVDs)

[Owen]

Dawkin's is worse than the anti-Christ so some Creationists I've met!

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by owen

Dawkin's is worse than the anti-Christ so some Creationists I've met!

Which only raises him up in my estimation .

[marcus69x]

With so many photos and personal accounts flooding the internet cosmos, how can anybody deny it. As said earlier in this thread, has he even set foot on Auschwitz? probably not, because he knows he'd prove himself wrong if he did. I agree with Sapper, the mans a prat.

I nearly gassed myself this morning. Must have been those fried egg sandwiches.

[WotNoChad?]

Freedom of speech is a noble cause of course, but in chasing that freedom it doesn't give anyone the right to break the law. Irving broke the law, knew he had broken the law and was foolish enough to visit the very nation where he knew he might be arrested for it.

[plant-pilot]

Originally Posted by WotNoChad?

Freedom of speech is a noble cause of course, but in chasing that freedom it doesn't give anyone the right to break the law. Irving broke the law, knew he had broken the law and was foolish enough to visit the very nation where he knew he might be arrested for it.

A fair point, but it could be pointed out that not all 'laws' are noble or fair. A country that says you aren't allowed to voice your views on a subject is not too far away from being the type of country that the world fought to get rid of. Many of the people deported to the camps were arrested for voicing their political ideas which were not the same as those in power. Others broke the 'law' in that their race, sexual orientation or mental health was not of the 'legal' standard. A slightly extreme comparison, but my point is valid.

Other countries have been denying mass murder for years. The victims of Stalin, Pol Pot, the Christians of Turkey and more recently ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, parts of Africa and Georgia. Much of this denial is State lead and unpunished. So why is denial of one mass murder event by an individual punishable by imprisonment and the denial of others by whole states ignored?

As the old saying goes....

I may disagree with what you are saying, but I will lay down my life for your right to say it.