Tolerate the intolerable

As human rights go, the freedom of speech can be one of the most difficult to stomach. The problem with free speech is it must not only apply to good ideas, but also to bad ideas and truly, terribly ugly ideas. It takes a steadfast citizenry to uphold the concept of free speech in the face of offensive opinions, and as offensive opinions go, it doesn’t get a whole lot worse than Holocaust denial.

David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader, is infamous for denying the Holocaust and promoting other nauseating ideas like racial segregation and white supremacy. While on a speaking tour in the Czech Republic last week, Duke was first imprisoned upon suspicion of denying the Holocaust and then deported without charges.      

Some countries in Europe currently have laws banning Holocaust denial. In the Czech Republic, conviction can result in up to three years in prison.  

While the Holocaust was absolutely one of the darkest events in human history, and those who deny it are highly worrisome, Holocaust denial laws make me a little queasy.

To be fair, the scars Europe bears from World War II are much deeper than ours. While the United States certainly sacrificed a lot in the war, wasn’t fought in our backyard. I appreciate the desperation to prevent anything like the Holocaust from occurring again, and I do agree that attitudes of denial are likely born from hatred and bigotry. Despite that, I don’t think criminalizing an opinion, no matter how unpopular, is the right course of action.

First of all, it is a slippery slope. What constitutes denial in the first place? Many extremists like Duke acknowledge Nazi persecution of Jews but claim the number of victims to be in the thousands, not millions. How many fewer victims must someone claim before their thoughts are labeled denial? And if Holocaust denial is illegal, what about denial of other atrocities – the Srebrenica massacre for example, or the Armenian genocide? Freedom of speech doesn’t work on a sliding scale. As soon as one topic is made off-limits, the floodgates are open to the justification of outlawing others.  

In our country the only limit placed upon free speech is it does not incite criminal conduct. For this reason, you can still get in trouble for yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater or joking about bombs in the airport security line, even though technically you should be allowed to say whatever you like. While it is theoretically possible that attitudes of Holocaust denial incite violence, proving such causation is virtually impossible.

I’m sure the Czech people are saying “Good riddance!” to David Duke, and I certainly don’t blame them. But in the end I have to disagree with his arrest and exportation, because, no matter how abhorrent his opinions are, I believe he has the right to express them just like everyone else.