Saturday, February 25, 2006

Phc (4)

David Irving has been convicted in Austria for the crime of "holocaust denial". I am not impressed with Irving's approach to history, but I am even more amazed that several European nations have laws against holocaust denial. This is a misguided use of the law. Law can place a restraint on evil, but it cannot make people good and it cannot change the way people think. Laws cannot change people's opinions, so it is foolish to use it for this purpose.

As usual, these governments do not practice what they preach. During the 1920s and 1930s, when million of people were dying in Soviet Russia, European governments turned a blind eye. They also ignored the millions of deaths that occurred in China during the 1950s. The massacre of millions Armenian during the World War 1 is rapidly being forgotten, because it is politically convenient.

European governments are very selective about the holocausts that they remember. They deny their existence when it suits them.


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