Recently, CNN, CNET, and a lot of other news websites posted a story on how Facebook, after the constant appeals of its members, deleted two Holocaust Denial Groups. Is Holocaust Denial wrong, Yes, but is deleting groups on requests of other members wrong, Yes.
Holocaust denial started back in 1947, when the first war-crime trial was held. Pleading not guilty on the stand can be considered denial can't it? In fact, it was not just the perpetrators but throughout and after the war, the American people and government refused to believe that the holocaust was happening. Why? Because who can believe that man is capable of such inhumane crimes. However, Holocaust denial now is completely different. Now it is not a denial because you do not want to believe, but because you sympathize with the ideals. Does that mean you hate Jews? No. But to some extent, the very fact that you think they and other victims are capable of producing such fiction can be considered racism. Those are just my views. Disagree? Be sure to comment.
But how can someone deny something that so obviously happened. Well, holocaust denial supporters have 3 main claims that they believe debunks the entire "myth" of the holocaust.
- The Nazi's never intended or made legislation to kill minorities
Nice try. Historical videos of Hitler's speeches long before video editing was even possible can be translated to show clear legislation, policy, and discourse against Jews.
- The Holocaust was Allied War propaganda to increase hatred of Germans and military size.
Nope. Historically, we have testimony from members of congress and the president at the time that they did not believe the holocaust and had no intention of helping those in need. Would the fabricators of a myth really let it fall away like that?
- The numbers are extremely exaggerated.
Even if we don't look at the so-called "controversial" directly holocaust related numbers based on German Documentation, just looking at demographics at the time, in all countries affected by the genocide, we can see the 6 million people vanished into thin air. You can deny the holocaust if you can provide another explanation for this. And no, it wasn't aliens ;].
So, the holocaust happened, and denying it is probably very disrespectful, hurtful, and just plain immoral to any survivors, the victims and a lot of other people who care.
But is this facebook audible a play at morality, or is it just an expansion of common capitalist agenda. Well, Facebook claims they took the groups down because of incessant racism and hate language in the posts. Okay, fair enough, they censor pornographic images and this is just as detrimental to the mentality of viewers. However, shouldn't this policy be universal? Does Facebook only decide to delete groups when it is a serious threat to there market value, oh wait, they aren't public. But still, it appears that facebook only deleted these groups so it would not lose any clicks to the annoying context-based adds that popup on every page.
Oh, how could you say such a thing! Well, I can, so stop denying it like the Holocaust deniers and look at the facts. There are atleast 17 KKK groups on facebook, why haven't they been deleted. If facebook is as politically centered as they claim to be, why haven't they clicked their magic mouse and erased all history of the Ku Klux Klan off their servers. Well, their terms of service, and they themselves claim that they only delete content if it violates these terms, which include hate language and racism. So, I decided to look at the Ku Klux Klan group page. Sure, the description looks innocent enough, until it comes to the part about how all whites should have the right to own slaves, but even that is not as bad as whats to come. They you scroll to the comments. Hundreds of non sarcastic comments such as "I hate N_ggers" or "REDNECK POWER SLAVES FOR LIFE".
So facebook, what are you going to say about that. I am fine with your policy against racism, but are you really against racism, or just against profit loss.
Oh and By the Way, for any KKK supporters reading this, "Redneck" is a derogatory term for people from the south which usually comes with the image of an unintelligent, uneducated, lazy person with a thick accent that nobody cares about. So next time, you may want to check your term usage.
But anyway, I really have no opinion on any of this, I just hate corporations that disguise their greed with morality. Ie. GREEN CAPITALISM.
And yes this post will be controversial, so COMMENT! I really want to hear what you have to say!
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>>>>>My view is that a "systematic" Jewish holocaust was impossible because the Nazis had no objective and reliable ways of identifying Jews and non-Jews. The issue of Jew identification should be considered central to holocaust studies but has been largely ignored.<<<<<
ReplyDeleteWithout a reliable method, they just killed everyone and anyone that they suspected. There are stories, and plenty of them, of neighbors ratting out their friends. Although, the Nazi's may not have had a reliable method of confirming religious views, and that is why many also escaped, I view "systematic" as portrayed by the thought out and architected rail lines leading into Aushwitz. The Nazi's moved people (not just jews), faster than anyone has done to date, even with todays technology.
In addition, it wasnt a systematic jewish holocaust at all. It was just a "systematic in the sense that it was well architected" genocide of many races, not just jews, and other political, religious, and racial adversaries.
The issue at hand is, your view is not denial, what is denial is saying that the Germans never killed anyone, or they didnt want to.
Regardless, the holocaust was detrimental morally and inhumane, and therefore should be treated as such. Although facebooks actions are wrong, i would have to disagree in that i think that pure holocaust denial is extremely wrong and irrational.
Of course we dont have the exact facts, but we have enough to learn from it and make sure it doesnt happen again, and this comes in the way of that.
oh and Larry, make sure you Subscribe!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to have a site where these things can be discussed. Larry Fafarman, who is a holocaust denier, censors every post on his own blogs that he is unable to answer. This includes his absurdly titled "Association of Non-censoring Blogers).
ReplyDeleteGreat post, very though provoking. My thoughts on this:
ReplyDeleteDenying the Holocaust is not, and should not be a crime; as Voltaire wisely puts it: "I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I'm surprised that denying the Holocaust is illegal in 13 or so countries (the majority of which are in Europe); although I personally have no doubt that the Holocaust did occur, I think that in this situation, freedom of expression trumps the truth.
And keep in mind, it's not only the, for lack of a better word, "small" people who deny the Holocaust. The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad frequently denies the Holocaust in public. Then again, Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust could possibly be in response to the not-so-great relationship between the Palestinian and Israeli people...My point is that there are people who deny the Holocaust, well, big whoop, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen. People have the inherent right to express that belief providing that they don't employ violence to get it across.
Is denying history really a bad thing?
ReplyDeleteIf it is, then the US also carries out bad things.
The US also purposefully omits parts of history that it doesn't want people to see. Even though we're a "free country", we still have censorship, which will always be inevitable. It's impossible to condemn censorship if you practice it yourself.
Denying the Holocaust is something that's over exaggerated, and doesn't deserve all the controversy. The Holocaust has been all but solved and there isn't much left to discuss about it except to teach it.
So in effect, facebook hasn't done much at all because there isn't anything about the Holocaust worth being spoken about because almost everything has been spoken.