No, they have a right to their beliefs and they have a right to speak about them publicly.
It's amazing the answers of some people: they should go to jail, they should be forced to talk to "survivors" (whatever that means) and tour the camps, the should be made fun of, they shouldn't be allowed to publish their ideas, they should be threatened with losing their jobs, the government should keep tabs on them, lock them in a gas chamber, blah blah blah.
That's a lot of hate. Who knew so many people were afraid of dissenting opinions? *rolls eyes*
While you're at it, why don't you also advocate locking up people who don't share your religious beliefs, your political ideologies, or your favourite colour?
2007-02-04 03:29:16
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answer #1
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answered by Venin_Noir 3
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An historian who questions the existence of the Holocaust is not an honest historian. There is just too much evidence out there not to know that this happened and was as horrible as it sounds.
You can put a person in jail for libel -- which is writing untruths about another person, or for slander--which is speaking untruths about another person.
In this case we're talking abou 6 million Jews and a very large number of other people (such as the mentally retarded of Germany, some journalists, some Christian ministers, indeed anyone Hitler felt a threat to his vision).
The problem is who has the standing in a law court to bring suit against an historian telling lies on such a scale. And the worst of it is, is that if you tell a lie long enough a lot of people begin to believe it. Especially if it makes them more comfortable than the truth.
I heard of one historian who earned a seat at a university for writing a paper on premise that there were no cannibals and head shrinkers. Again this is in the face of overwhelming evidence that these practices occurred and still occur, and not just when people are up against death, but as cultural practices.
So go figger. It doesn't say a lot for academia.
Hey ho, Maggie.
2007-02-04 11:23:08
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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No one should go to jail for "questioning" anything. The fact that you question something first of all does not mean you deny it happend. You cant deny the holocaust happend, it happend. Fortunately we have this thing called freedom of speech so we should have the right to question whatever we want. Approximately six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust
(that many people dont just disapear) though estimates by historians using, among other sources, records from the Nazi regime itself, range from five million to seven million.About 220,000 Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) were murdered (some estimates are as high as 800,000). Other groups deemed by the Nazis to be "racially inferior" or "undesirable" included Poles (6 million ,Serbs (estimates vary between 500,000 and 1.2 million killed, mostly by Croat Ustaše), around 500,000 Bosnians, mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Africans and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Check out this picture for proof http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nordhausen_camp.JPG
anyway i guess the issue isnt wether or not it happend because it did, the issue is that people are actually still questioning/denying the fact that it happend. I guess they should take a little fieldtrip to Europe to see that concentration camps reallly existed. My grandfather was in one.
2007-02-04 01:32:06
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answer #3
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answered by No need to be rude people, dam 1
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This is one of the most controversial issues of the last 40+ years.
Essentially, there is overwhelming and irrefutable proof that the Holocaust happened.
The Nazis were excellent record keepers and, in one sense, ensured that the whole of humanity would remember the appalling atrocities committed against Jews, Catholics, blacks, homosexuals, gypsies, the intellectually-challenged, 'enemies of the state' of whatever type and anyone else they decided was not a true 'Aryan'.
The problem is the notion that dissenters - historians or no - should go to jail for their teachings/beliefs... after all, no one in the West is locking-up Christians or those who advocate Creationism as their preferred reality.
Doesn't your Constitution guarantee "freedom of speech"?
2007-02-04 01:04:33
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answer #4
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answered by cwoodsp 2
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No. I'm going to pharaphrase something from one of my favorite movies, An American President: To live in a democracy you've go to want it bad. You have to be willing to allow someone to scream at the top of his lungs beliefs that you find disgusting and against everything you've spent a lifetime believing. Mainstream historians do not believe the Holocaust was a hoax. They are not taken seriously by those in power to change things. Don't give them anything, not even your hatred or protest.
Years ago, there were rallies in various Northeast States by the KKK, trying to drum up support. Outraged by this, people showed up in many towns to protest them. The result? They got what they wanted - media coverage, and they would schedule more rallies in those same towns. In my little New England town ten years ago, there was a rally on the town green, bunch of guys in white sheets holding up signs that said, white power, blah, blah, blah. Nobody stopped. Nobody protested. They never came back.
2007-02-04 01:00:17
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answer #5
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answered by PDY 5
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Real historians would never question the holocaust. But censoring those who to lie is dangerous to us all. There have been those in the past who tried to warn us of occurrences and were very unpopular for their trouble. I do not believe in censorship for any reason.
Those who deny the holocaust have axes to grind, historians do not. They let the chips fall as they may, good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable. If they inject their opinions then they forfeit their right to be called historians.
2007-02-04 01:03:59
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answer #6
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answered by bigjohn B 7
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it's dangerous to tell people to shut up, and it's even more dangerous to shut them up by force.
i think if historians of any time, place or whatever want to have credibility they need to go on questioning, getting to the bottom of this and that. that includes the holocaust.
yes. it most definitely appears that there was a holocaust. but the more these (at least formerly) academics question it, the more debate it inspires, the more we all learn.
cue shooting nbc star.
2007-02-04 02:14:58
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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but ittupidity were a crime, yes. Fortunately the First Amendment
guarantees freedom of speech not only to people who have to demonstrate their ignorance by saying stupid things out loud, but
it guarantees the same rights to the rest of us.
The people who deny the horrors of the Holocaust are the same kind of people who say that the moon landings never occurred.
The only audience for those people are people of like minds.
(The word "minds" being of course highly debatable.)
2007-02-04 01:27:26
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answer #8
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answered by charliecizarny 5
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i dont think jail would do anything. we cant tell people how to think and behave and who is worthy to live free can we?......
unfortunately there will always be people who dont want to believe the truth-its easier isnt it? just to pretend and convince yourself that a 'human being' could not have done that to so many people. as long as they are not someone in power who have the ability to manipulate young minds let them talk until they are out of breath. what difference does it make if the few morons out there dont want to accept something so terrible in human history? as long as the masses remember and dont let others forget thats about the best we can do. when we start to punish people for disbelieving in something, dont we become what it is that we hate so much?
2007-02-04 01:02:05
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answer #9
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answered by cwhl 3
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Absolutely Not! What about Freedom of Speech, what about Academic Freedom? If we lose those things then we have become the Nazis.
If you disagree with holocaust deniers, you have YOUR FREEDOMS that you can use to debate with them, you can prove them wrong if you like.
The "send 'em to jail" advocates are really just lazy. Debating them takes time and you have to use your brain.
2007-02-04 11:03:13
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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