Germany Wishes for “Free Speech Zones”

As much as I complain about the ever increasing restrictions our speech here in America, I had absolutely no idea how bad it has become elsewhere.

Take a peek at this article by Germar Rudolf.

So what is the truth about Germany today? The truth is that in Germany

– folksingers are threatened with imprisonment for singing peaceful songs;
– a professor who writes his disbelief about certain historical events in a footnote, written in Latin(!), in a scholarly anthology(!) was prosecuted and threatened with jail, and the anthology was confiscated and burned;
– a judge, writing a well-founded, but highly controversial book on historical topics, saw his book confiscated and burned, his pension cut, and his PhD title withdrawn as a result of this;
– a history teacher was sent to jail for uttering historical dissent in a private letter to a high-profile personality;
– a professor criticizing internationalism was kicked out of his job, harassed, prosecuted and driven into suicide;
– a historical dissenter was sent to prison for more than two years just because he published peaceful, scholarly historical material;

Holy shit! Imagine, being a scientist or a historian and getting arrested for having a different belief and *gasp* publishing it! That’s exactly what happened to a man named Ernst Zundel, a well known holocaust denier. Say what you want about his beliefs and the merits of his work, but think of the precedent that this sets. History cannot be debated?

At least in this country, even the completely moronic can still have opinions. Publishing said opinions will only subject them to ridicule if they truly deserve it. However, they won’t be imprisoned because of it.

posted Nov 10th, 2005 by rickrajter
  • http://www.opentorrent.org OpenTorrent

    “History cannot be debated?”

    I hate to say it but history could easily be changed/rewritten in the time span of about 3-4 generations. This is just a guess and not founded on fact… but it seems plausible.

  • http://goldenliberty.blogspot.com AB

    At least in this country it’s only the people who don’t like the current administration or say that they’re muslim and they don’t like the administration. “First the came for the communists…”

  • http://www.ioerror.us/ IO ERROR

    History rewritten? Such a thing could never happen! We are at war! Eurasia is our enemy! Eurasia has always been our enemy! Big Brother loves you!

  • http://historicalexactitude.blogspot.com/ Margaret

    Did you know that Germar Rudolf, who wrote the above, is scheduled to be deported back to Germany on Monday to serve a 5-15 year jail term in Germany, although he is married to an American and has applied for status as a political refugee? His lawyer is trying to appeal it at the Supreme Court—don’t know if they will take it or not.

    Please let others know about this. Our government’s cooperating in this is a sign of how close the US is to going the same way as Germany.

  • http://www.mrz.com Mr. Z

    see irwin schiff for example

  • http://www.mrz.com Mr. Z

    “At least in this country, even the completely moronic can still have opinions. Publishing said opinions will only subject them to ridicule if they truly deserve it. However, they won’t be imprisoned because of it.”

    Rick,

    I’m very disappointed that you could even post this blatent lie. Unless I see you post an apology to Irwin Schiff for saying such an outright untrue statement I will have forever lost all respect for your opinions.

    Thank you very much.

    Mr. Z

  • rickrajter

    Mr. Z

    Ahh, but there is a subtle difference.

    You can have any belief you want (currently, though hate crime legislation is almost bordering on “thought crime”). Now I believe Irwin’s interpretation of the law is correct. However, let me diagram this out for you.

    If I believe that it’s not against the law to show up to your door and shoot you. Is that a crime? Well, unless it somehow puts you in imminent danger of actually being harmed, well no. ACTING on a belief is different.

    Now there are 2 notable exceptions that I will admit to as falsifying my statement. But remember, these are currently the exception and not the rule of thumb… yet. Obviously the banning of Irwin’s book, as well as the confiscation of Larken Rose’s theft by deceptions video still sting the minds of many in the tax honesty movement.

    It was exaggeration or hyperbole. Obviously exceptions exist. But being Nixonesque and changing my statements to account for just one instance proving an absolute claim wrong makes for many weak statements :)

    Lastly, there are many levels of truth. Technically we have freedom of speech (as beautifully described by my copy of the Constitution). Yet there are examples upon examples when this has been disproved by law enforcement or court decision. Am I then to say we have freedom of speech or not? One one level, yes we do have it. On the other hand, yes, you will get arrested in some circumstances.

    Don’t get so upset. I’m on your side, trying to expose corruption.

    Cheers

    -Rick

  • John

    Rudolf and Zundel are merely modern day Galileo’s – there is no question whatsoever that the holocaust story has been distorted, most of what people think they know is erroneous bullshit.

    Stephen Hawking said, “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.”

  • rickrajter

    Exactly

    Thomas Jefferson’s theoretical belief in a free press soon foundered on the reality, and he came to despise it. He advised one young man never to read newspapers, since it was better to be ignorant than misinformed.

  • michelleshinghal

    A “free press” is only found in a venue such as ours. A ‘discussion” between those interested in the debate. Yes, we want traffic, but if we are off truth, we lose our audience. Only in an open forum, do you discover that which makes men better than animals-truth and reason.

    So, to the recipients of the Jefferson quote: Read the paper- it is better to fight lies with truth- especially before it becomes accepted history- and therefore, your children’s truth.

  • EH

    Germany today is proof that so-called liberals who talk talk talk about democracy and freedom can be just as dangerous to all of that as the “fascists” they claim to despise.

  • http://google Steve

    Germar Rudolf is an antisemitic, neo-nazi Holocaust denier.
    He is now where he belongs. Because of people like Germar Rudolf, about 50 million died in WW2. Free speech is all well and good but we don’t need any more Hitlers.