H -°, L 22° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 4°There seems to be only one line of thought regarding how to treat Holocaust deniers. It’s the daily columns of condemnation and even “Holocaust awareness” demonstrations.
Instead of engaging Holocaust deniers, ignore them. There are three reasons to ignore those who deny the actuality of the well-documented Holocaust.
First is the unoriginal argument that giving attention to Holocaust deniers will only lend them legitimacy. If people outlandishly claimed that American slavery never happened, you would dismiss them without second thought. To contest their point creates conflict, which is a platform for controversy; controversy is the pretext to more discussion, which is what Holocaust deniers want. Thus, forcefully and prominently protesting their issue is self-defeating, detrimental even, because the undue attention acknowledges an issue.
Second, it allows people to be diverted from a real issue. In order to truly believe that the Holocaust didn’t occur and was instead a Zionist conspiracy of such proportions, one would need to be either mentally incapacitated or extremely self-delusional. I’m sure there are scores of other historical events and facts with much less documentation and evidence that Holocaust deniers accept as truth. One must then ask: “Why apply another standard to the Holocaust and claim that the evidence doesn’t suffice?” Clearly, there are exterior motives for which one would engage in such self-delusion, the most obvious being the use of Holocaust denial as a political device in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he is diverting attention from constructive thought about the issue. With this, we see that giving Holocaust deniers attention is regressive because it acquiesces to diversion from a real issue.
Third, and most importantly, in a certain respect it doesn’t matter whether the Holocaust happened. Noam Chomsky had this to say about the plausibility of conspiracy theories about U.S. government involvement in events like the JFK assassination or 9/11: “Even if it were true, which is extremely unlikely, who cares?” The point is, whether those conspiracy theories are true is irrelevant to contemporary reality. If, tomorrow, it were proven beyond doubt that the Bush Administration played a proactive role in 9/11, would we suddenly cease military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and give them our sincere apologies? No. If it were proven beyond doubt that the Holocaust was actually a grand illusion executed by Zionist nationalists to garner sympathy for Jews and ultimately create a Jewish state in Palestine, we wouldn’t overturn the international legislation concerning crimes of humanity, legislation which the Holocaust single-handedly induced.
Further, if it were proven to be untrue, would it change what the Holocaust has meant to us? No. If it were a hoax, the imagery, the stories, the survivors would still be symbolic of similar historical crimes of mass murder. Through these, we’ve already learned what depths of faith, dogma and delusion the mind is capable of, and the horrendous crimes that can be perpetrated through those psychological means. The Holocaust represents the frailty of perception and morality, the ultimate lowliness of which humanity is capable. It indicates that nothing is evil to the extent that humans are incapable of it.
Next time there is an explosion of Holocaust denial, ignore it. Talk about an actual issue, and understand that, in a certain respect, their argument doesn’t matter.
Kyle Barthel ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history.
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Why do journalists and politicians prevent Holocaust skeptics from being published or debated? Why are they afraid? Other skeptics about religion, cancer cures, the value of art, or political relevance are all debated in the media, however reporters are scared of presenting Holocaust skeptic’s arguements to the public. Are they afraid they’ll be fired? If Holocaust skeptic’s arguements have no validity, the public will see them as devious lies, and reject them. But first we need to hear them, and we’re not thanks to reporters, politicians, and historians who control print and TV media.
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There are people in Western countries that believe the Earth is flat or that lizardmen live within the hollowed out Earth. Minorities of the public prove themselves incapable of properly judging facts every day.
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General nontargeted expressions of anti-Semitism, although hateful, offensive and sometimes scary, are protected by the First Amendment and are not legally actionable. However, depending on the frequency, location and intensity, if a threshold is crossed which creates a hostile learning environment, there are possible avenues of legal recourse. For example, if the people holding the signs or conducting the mock checkpoints are blocking your access to class, then the school should respond and ensure your unimpeded access to class or other university locations. If you have been singled out on your campus and are the target of harassment, which has become so pervasive, persistent or severe that you feel insecure going to class or even walking across campus, you should immediately contact the police to file a complaint. If the harassment is based upon your race, color, or national origin and the university receives federal funding (most do), then the administration has an affirmative duty to prevent such an environment from continuing on the campus. Such harassment may be in violation of federal law. Many state and local laws extend this protection to race, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability as well. If you have registered a complaint about the hostile conditions that exist and your university takes no actions to eliminate the problem, you may need outside legal assistance. A school violates its legal duty to prevent a hostile environment when (1) there is a hostile environment, (2) the school has notice of the problem and (3) it fails to respond adequately to remedy the situation.
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Engaging deniers is like wrestling with a pig, at the end you are both filthy and exhausted � and you get the distinct feeling that the pig enjoyed the experience.
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Holocaust Heretics are not getting rich off of their heresy. The Holocaust propaganda people are making literally Billions of dollars, every year. We the western countries are paying billions of dollars of our tax money to the Holocaust propaganda extortion racket.
The Historians and professors such as Dr. Robert Faurisson are attacked in the streets by Jewish gangs and are beaten and nearly killed; and then they end up in jail for Holocaust Heresy. They have nothing to gain form their true words, except that, like Galileo, they feel that they are obligated to tell the facts and the truth, even if the Laws against Flat Earth Denial will put them in jail.
You think you have actual evidence for the Holocaust? Then check out the Nafcash website. They will pay you $10000 for any scientifically factual evidence for the Holocaust religion.