Should Holocaust denial be a criminal offense?

[ingemann]

This is really one of those issue with a naive black-white dichotomy not only not make a lot of sense, but also show that the keeper of such opinions is a little simple.

Was it a good idea, that Germany, France and other countries made such a ban after WW2; yes. Would it make a lot of sense to make the same law in Denmark, Sweden or Finland after WW2; not really. Do Germany or France need to keep it today; not really. Do it harm anybody that they keep this law; yes some pretty horrible people. Do I care that these people are harmed by this law; not really. Is abolishing the law worth the whining and international condemnation from Jewish organisation and Israel; again not really.

Conclusion: Keep the law if it already exist, but don't create such a law if it doesn't exist.

[ingemann]

At this point laws like those in Germany only make the far-right's persecution narrative believable and give them more of an audience than they'd have otherwise, which the bourgeoisie don't really mind because the fascists always end up being the people they pay off to put down any challenges to the system if worse comes to worse for them. (see, Germany 1933-45, Italy 1921-43, etc)

I would more buy that, if anti-semitism was the major cause of the German extreme right. If we look at the violence commited by the German extreme right, the victim has rarely been Jewish, in fact if we look at violence against Jews in these countries, it's rarely the extreme right which are behind it. So I doubt they really care much about the whole ban against Holocaust Denial.