Should it Be Legal To Jail Stupid People - Ask Vienna

Should it be legal to jail stupid people? It seems that question was answered when British Historian David Irving was sentenced to three years in jail in Vienna for denying the “Holocaust of European Jewry”. Irving not only espoused that belief, but also attempted to spread it through seminars, talk-show appearances, and writings. I remember clearly writing in to ABC when Irving appeared on one of the talk shows that airs on the network spreading his views, slamming them for letting him use their network to spread his poison. I thought he was dangerous, and his message was clearly an attempt to preach anti-Semitism hidden as intellectualism. Now, I am beginning to wonder if the attempts to silence his message could prove even more dangerous than Irving ever could.

I don’t agree with David Irving, but I also do not agree with jailing the man because I do not agree with him. As far as spreading bigotry – should the producers of television shows be put in jail for using a stereotype? Worse yet, will this sentence be the beginning of the end of critically rethinking what we have been taught especially if the outcome may offend a certain grouping. While denying the Holocaust is clearly akin to saying the sky is yellow as far as intelligent thought, history and historical fact always kept Irving and his group marginalized from true historical discourse. The only people who would have taken him seriously, let’s face it, didn’t like Jews in the first place. They were Anti-Semitic already, and right now they are looking at this verdict as a confirmation of their views (“You see how powerful they are – they can even silence someone’s first amendment rights”)

Personally, I have no desire to defend David Irving’s views and that is not the point of this article. My point is simply this – once we start saying certain topics are taboo, we have set a dangerous precedent that will kill any kind of re-examination of history at any point. What is also sad is that in their attempts to silence Irving the government of Vienna is acting like Nazis.