Free to be ignorant, free to hate

The Devil’s Kitchen has flagged to me another piece of EU tomfoolery – this time an(other) attack on freedom of speech through banning Holocaust denial. Now this issue has been addressed with more detail and clarity than I think I can muster here (not least at the Kitchen) but this is an important issue and I reckon the more publicity we can give it the better, not least because the Mainstream Media seems to be dodging this issue in a strikingly myopic way.

I have never understood the desire to ban Holocaust denial. Don’t get me wrong, I think the vast majority of Holocaust deniers are neo-Nazi Anti-Semites who should be strongly told fuck off and take their glaring ignorant opinions with them, but I maintain the best way to do that is to let them speak. If you listen to someone try to deny the Holocaust, then you have a myriad of ways to argue against them. Allowing Holocaust denial is not to condone the Holocaust – in fact it has the opposite effect – you allow the Holocaust Deniers to provide you with the evidence to show that they are utterly, utterly wrong. Let an ignoramus speak and you will prove they are an ignoramus. Deny them their right to speak and you have a martyr.

Of course, the EU don’t see it this way. But it is not just the banning of Holocaust denial proposed in this legislation – it is a far more wide ranging than that. The EU is trying to control the way people think. They want to stop people from hating and making other people hate. But they don’t want to do it in a positive way through eliminating ignorance through education. Oh no. It has to be done negatively – and it is not even a case of trying to restrict what the citizens of the EU do, but actually what they think. It really is that basic.

And this legislation, as deeply concerning as it is on detailed evaluation, it not the sum total of the problem. This is simply not being reported by the media. There is pretty much radio silence on this – and all other areas of the EU – from the press in this country. Much is made in Euro-sceptic and Euro-nihilistic circles of how unaccountable the EU are. But it is not just about the way they are elected and the numbers of people who vote in those elections. It is true that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. But how can we be vigilant when we do not get to hear of fundamental decisions affecting crucial areas such as freedom of speech?

Issues like this have to be publicised and have to get to as wider an audience as possible. Otherwise we will wake up one morning and find that we have lost all of our autonomy to the growing EU superstate.