# Opinions on Holocaust denial laws in Europe?



## Mr. Demiurge (Jun 18, 2014)

kadda1212 said:


> Unfortunately such books and articles would be very popular. Two years ago a man called Thilo Sarrazin wrote a book about how the people in Germany become more and more stupid because of the migrants from Turkey. It was full of racism, but it sold really good because it was such a scandal. And just a few months ago a really popular writer called Guenter Grass wrote a "poem" called "Was gesagt werden muss (What must be said)"... people discussed weeks and weeks about it on TV talkshows. So, if it was allowed to publish a book in which somebody denies the Holocaust it would definitely sell. And that's really dangerous.


Banning such thoughts and statements, or punishing those who speak them, doesn't get rid of them. When you prohibit someone from saying something, you aren't proving them wrong; you're just revealing that you're scared of what they have to say, which allows them to view themselves as martyrs of government persecution. This is especially true in the Internet age, where all such views can easily be found online without the government being able to do much about it. 

Really, it's depressing to me that the lesson many Germans take away from twelve years of National Socialist totalitarianism is 'we must make sure the government can imprison people for believing the wrong things.'


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## Hero of Freedom (Nov 23, 2014)

Mr. Demiurge said:


> Banning such thoughts and statements, or punishing those who speak them, doesn't get rid of them. When you prohibit someone from saying something, you aren't proving them wrong; you're just revealing that you're scared of what they have to say, which allows them to view themselves as martyrs of government persecution. This is especially true in the Internet age, where all such views can easily be found online without the government being able to do much about it.
> 
> Really, it's depressing to me that the lesson many Germans take away from twelve years of National Socialist totalitarianism is 'we must make sure the government can imprison people for believing the wrong things.'


But what if they use it to spread propaganda in a way that they make people believe it? Its already happening and people like Anders Breivik and Dylann Roof appear because of it. How else to deal with propaganda other than banning it?


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## Noir (Jun 20, 2014)

This thread is 3 years old...


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