Exploiting
the Holocaust
By Siddique Malik
Louisville, KY
Recently, bigots of all stripes
from various parts of the world gathered in Tehran,
under the comforting aegis of none other than
the world's "bigot-in-chief", the Iranian
president, Mahmoud Ahamedinejad. Speaker after
speaker said that the Holocaust did not take place,
or if it took place, it caused the death of a
lower number of people than recorded in history,
as if killing a "lower" number of innocent
human beings was acceptable. Deniers of truth
have no shame.
While venting their diatribes against the followers
of Judaism, not only did these individuals reveal
their intellectual dishonesty and hatred of humanity,
but they also highlighted some European governments'
hypocrisy. While Europe claims to be a citadel
of freedom of expression, some European countries
have made it illegal to even say that there was
no Holocaust. So much, for Europe’s commitment
to freedom of expression!
Why should it be a crime to be an ignorant of
history? Why not also make it a crime to be bad
at geometry and all other bodies of knowledge?
Today, would one be arrested, if one was in Europe
and said that the earth was square-shaped? Why
should only the subject of history be treated
as an endangered species?
When some European speakers stated in Tehran that
they did not enjoy freedom of speech at home,
and thanked Ahamdedinejad for giving them a chance
to express themselves, they had a point. Because
of the freedom-deficit caused by some European
governments' constricted vision, the racist, fascist
and bigoted government of Iran thought it could
claim to be the custodian of freedom of expression,
which it, most certainly, is not.
What are these European governments trying to
protect through their stone-age anti-freedom laws?
Are they afraid that the people might start to
believe that no Holocaust occurred? People are
not stupid; they know that the bigots' lies can
simply be countered with irrefutable truths? Why
should a bigot have to travel to Iran to prove
that he is a bigot? Why make it easy for governments
like that of Iran to hold a puppet show against
truth?
One may argue that America allows freedom of expression
but still David Duke, an American, went to the
Tehran meeting. True, but how many Americans besides
him, took this trip? If Europe mimicked the American
level of freedom of speech, hardly any European
would have gone to this meeting, and Ahamedinejad
would have been rebuffed.
I would like to quote from what Duke said in Tehran:
"In Europe, you can freely question, ridicule
and deny Jesus Christ. The same is true for the
Prophet Muhammad, and nothing will happen to you.
But offer a single question of the smallest part
of the Holocaust and you face prison". Unfortunately,
the bigot is right.
For the Tehran hatred meeting, I do not blame
Iran; one cannot expect fairness from a bigoted
regime. However, I blame those European governments
that feel no remorse in politically exploiting
the tragedy of Holocaust.
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