i have posted on numerous holocaust related books, fact and fiction on The Reading Life. Today I got a comment saying the German concentration camps were not death camps and Jews were paid for their work. They referred me to a documentary, on YouTube, called Hellstorm Documentary which is a total attack on the allied war efforts, very anti Jewish and anti Russians. I posted the comment with a note saying posted in interest of free expression. Should I have posted it or deleted, the comment was anonymously left? The documentary makes no mention of the Holocaust or the fact that Germans started the war.
Mel u
Ambrosia Boussweau
The Internet is a free-speech zone overflowing with good, bad, and ugly speech. Dangerous people with bizarre and unpleasant opinions rely upon the Internet as an outlet because no sensible people would put up with those opinions in a face-to-face dialogue. And so it goes.
ReplyDeleteI am always baffled by holocaust deniers. I feel that the internet does a great job of being able to find wonderful information, but also does give an outlet to people with bizarre opinions that can't be backed up by fact.
ReplyDeleteMel, I'd have deleted the post. Free speech in the U.S., at least, applies only to government interference in speech. Individuals, corporations, organizations of any kind do not have a guaranteed right to speak and post about anything they want.
ReplyDeleteWhile there are laws against Holocaust deniers in Germany, France, and maybe the UK (not sure of that), the U.S. actually allows pretty much anything but again it disallows the government from blocking speech, not individuals, such as yourself, or organizations such as corporations, media outlets, etc.
So, you have no obligation to pass on their post and more importantly I think you've an obligation to not pass along anti-semitic propaganda and propaganda that promotes a clearly erroneous (and erroneous with an agenda) take on history.
The one exception, in my opinion, is if you posted your own commentary on their propaganda, putting it into context.
michael alenyikov
I probably would have deleted it as "spam" because I think you would have to have your head under a rock to make this kind of allegation but I know it's a thing now. So it's really up to you because it's your blog and you have the right to post or not post what you see fit
ReplyDeleteI deleted the post. I think there is an organized group behind efforts to,post comments on blogs suggesting the horror of the Holocaust is either a total hoax or grossly exaggerated.
ReplyDelete