Resistance is Phutile

Irving = Icke.

Oh, how the world works in mysterious ways.

Notorious British Nazi apologist David Irving has been banged up in a Viennese jail. For those that don't know, Irving has famously argued that the Holocaust was a 'fantasy' and that Hitler had in fact somehow endeavoured to protect the Jews.

Bit of a wanker, then.

As you might imagine, anyone classifying themselves as 'liberal' has for one reason or another taken offence to Irving's views over the years.

So it may surprise you that the liberals of Austria are the ones opposing his incarceration, citing his rights to freedom of speech, while the Austrian government that, according to the Guardian, has the worst record of all when it comes to bringing Nazi war criminals to justice,
enforces the strict ban on any denial of the Holocaust.

I really laughed when I read this:

(Irving) was barred from the country but, an inveterate risk-taker, he flew from London to Basle in Switzerland this month, rented a car and drove to Vienna.
The idea was to meet up with a bunch of student radicals from an extreme right fraternity. Their hobbies include dressing up in funny clothes and little pillbox caps, then drawing blood by slashing one another's cheeks in fencing duels. They've been at it since Bismarck's day.

Speaks for itself, really.

The photo's for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the pillbox hat.

The thing is, the liberals petitioning for Irving's freedom have a point, don't they? There is a side of me that thinks the only people capable of creating a liberal, just democracy are brutal authoritarians. But the reality is freedom of speech means exactly that. To martyr a man like Irving seems not only potentially inflammotary but also self-contradictory.

No society is ever going to be flawless. But in all honesty I think modern democracy is by far the best option as yet discovered, and so it must be taken whole heartedly, no half measures. Irving is scum, but if he really wants to go and dress up in 'funny clothes' and play sword fights with a bunch of goons perhaps the best idea would be to just ignore him, rather than put the spotlight on him.

Irving has written a variety of books on the war, which have been published and advertised as 'real' accounts of those dark years.

But the reality is they come off looking like the works of a nutjob, offering his 'insight' into the world, which will (never) change your way of thinking forever.

Well, I'd prefer him to continue looking like some Nazi-loving version of David Icke rather than a 'political prisoner', championed by liberals who protest for his right to spout abhorrent views that they themselves detest.

Edit:

Well, the comparison may have been well observed, but it was also, it seems, a little slack. A Nazi-loving version of David Icke would, in fact, be David Icke. The following quote comes from one of Icke's books:

why do we play a part in suppressing alternative information to the official line of the Second World War? How is it right that while this fierce suppression goes on, free copies of the Spielberg film, Schindler's List, are given to schools to indoctrinate children with the unchallenged version of events. And why do we, who say we oppose tyranny and demand freedom of speech, allow people to go to prison and be vilified, and magazines to be closed down on the spot, for suggesting another version of history?

Scary stuff. If you're interested in any of this check out this link:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/jimminyjack/7374.html

posted by Phu @ 12:21 pm