(I wrote my rant before I saw Eric's much different rant :-)
At 01:32 PM 04/11/2000 -0700, Eric Cordian wrote:
>Colin writes:
..
>> How exactly is he the victim, when he would never have been fined if
>> he hadn't brought the suit himself?
>
>Being called names like "Holocaust Denier" and incurring the ire of Jewish
>organizations is effectively an end to ones career.
Irving? Being a Holocaust Denier _was_ his career.
If he hadn't incurred the ire of Jewish organizations,
he'd be yet another unknown curmudgeon ranting in the corner,
heard only by his neighbors, with nobody much buying his books,
instead of brownshirts all over the world buying them and
spouting them to the web.
>Under British libel law, it is not even necessary for alleged libel to be
>untrue. It is only required that the person be harmed by it, which makes
>this particular decision all the more remarkable.
Sounds like you're agreeing that the alleged libel _was_ true?
>All over the fact that the Jews claimed not to like the tone of his works,
>or the fact that he talked about some Jews dying from non-gas-chamber
>related causes.
No, all over the fact that he didn't like the tone of the Jews who
disliked his work enough to write about it.
>He can now join Professor Rind on the list of "denied persons" who made
>the mistake of articulating perspectives the sheeple have been carefully
>trained not to listen to.
I don't think governments should be arresting people for speech like his;
that makes them too much like the governments that committed the
atrocities that Irving and his like pretend don't exist or matter.
But suing people who disagree with him and question his motives is
pushing his thumb way too hard on the chutzpah scale.
Furthermore, because British libel law so strongly favors the accuser,
and because at least some of the accused were foreigners,
they had to spend way more on their libel defense than they would in the US,
or than he spent on his attack. Which he almost certainly knew before
bringing the suit; even if it were declared a draw that would have
punished them far more than him.
Thanks!
Bill
Bill Stewart, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
