February 23, 2006
It's not just Holocaust Denial, God Damn it!
One of the things which really irks me are historical hair-splitters who claim things like "Hitler was never democratically elected to power."
For all the Monday-morning-quarterbacking, Hitler was -in fact- legitimately elected to his defined job of Chancellor, according to the Weimar Republic.
And, despite the revisionist whining, the leader of the NSDAP followed all proper parilmentary rules and procedures while gaining the office of Chancellor.
The mistake the other parties made was that they expected Adolf to actually honor his promises.
What truly cemented the Nazi victory was a parlimentary vote to provide the Chancellor with a 1-year "emergency decree" of absolute power, which was allowed by the Weimar Constitution. That is what gave Hitler legitimacy.
The ultimate flaw was that German citizens trusted their rulers, not to mention what those rulers claimed. The very definition of American government has been, since the introduction of Federal power, has been the dispersion, dilution, and distrust of central power.
Despite the clamor in some quarters, Hitler gained power in a legitimate manner, in the same fashion that Oswald acted alone.
Sometimes ugly things happen, and you can't alibi them away, no matter how bad the flavor.
That said, Dean is entirely correct to state that incitement to riot is not protected speech.
In fact, John Irving nails it quite nicely. Claiming the Holocaust didn't happen is vile (but protected) speech. Saying "X did (or did not) happen, therefore we must attack Y" is not protected speech.
It's the difference between bitching about the New York Times publishing pictures of the "piss Christ," and burning down their central offices over the same question.
As I review, while I disagree with the contention that "Hitler was never democratically elected to power," it is entirely correct that Germany had a wide variety of speech-control laws in effect, and in fact Hitler was not allowed to speak in public for six or seven years after the Beer Hall putsch. We can all see how well those laws worked...
Hell, I live in Cincinnati: the city which is legally obliged to allow the Klan to put of a cross on Fountain Square at Christmas. It's not "racist;" the cross references Romans 12.
In other words, one (or more) groups had a hissy fit because the Klu Klux Klan wanted to put up a cross on Fountain Square with a Bible citation. Their objection? "It's the friggin Klan, guys!"
You see, that's the whole point of free speech. It's free. As in "ufettered," or "not officially controlled," or even "not according to what those in power consider appropriate."
In fact, while trying to recall which verse the "Cincinnati Klan cross" mentioned, I encountered a Cincinnati Post story which mentioned the "Black Fist, which has held protests against alleged police misconduct and racism, blame(s) the group which displays the menorah."
In other words, devout Jews displaying the menorah during a holy season are empowering racism. That's a "bad thing!"
Is it possible to find a better example of why "hate speech" laws are a bad idea?...
One of the more popular talking points on the right for the past couple of years involves mentioning that Wilson (the "idealist," "war to end wars" president) actually jailed anti-war commentators. Compare this to the Bush administration.
Despite all provocation, the Bushies haven't thrown people into jail just for criticizing them; Hell, if that were true, we wouldn't see any movies made for the next twenty years! Still, the liberals worry about suppression of speech.
And -in this case- the liberals are right. You can't (or shouldn't) throw someone in jail just because they said something you don't like, disagree with, or find morally/legally/politically/religiously objectionable.
If Andrew Sullivan wants to advocate unrestricted sodomy, that's his right. If Pat Buchanon wants to blame our war dead on faggots, that's his right. Even if he is a vile hypocrite...
If The Daily Kos wants to blame every unfortunate event in the United States of America on George W. Bush, that's their collective right; although I reserve the right to mercilessly ridicule them about it.
On the other hand, it's the God-given (er, apologies to the athiests out there {g}) right of every American citizen to make life a living Hell for our elected representatives, even if I don't agree with them, or they with me.
But, you see, that's the difference between Weimar Germany and classical America. They thought they had "throttled" and silenced Hitler. Hence, they were unprepared for his later popularity, and most politicians had no idea who they were dealing with. Most of them (most likely) would never have voted for that emergency decree, if they had a decent idea of his actual goals, publicly stated in Mein Kampf.
That's the bottom line. The function of free speech is to shine a bright light on every claim, every accusation, every statement made in the public arena. Only then can we contradict the obfuscation, misdirection, and unpleasant hatred of all stripes, whether from Ann Coulter, Ted Rall. Jimmy Carter, or Fred Phelps.
After all, only slugs fear the bright light of day, no?
UPDATE: added a link to Greyhawks excellent Daily Post.
February 10, 2006
No good deed...
...goes unpunished.
That saying sounds funny, until you run into a real-world example.
Some dimwit JAG (judge advocate general, AKA armed forces lawyer) decided that open-tip rounds were the same as hollow-point rounds. The difference is that open-tips are designed for accuracy, while hollow-points are designed for greater damage after impact. The latter also violate the Geneva Conventions.
The dilweed in question, known only as "Maj. Card," decided the twain were one and the same thing, and banned the use of open-tip rounds by snipers.
One man, Sgt. Arthur J. Hushen (a sniper currently serving in Iraq) blew the whistle on this decision, and his citation of of a 1985 US Army memo helped to reverse the ban.
Alas, after this Sgt. Hushen was accused of violating security for identifying the 4th Infantry Division on the internet. He was later cleared after issuing his own statement, but has still been removed as team leader, and all sniper duties.
It's a good thing he didn't do anything, wrong, or anything, no?
Hat tip, and a big thanks to Blackfive for covering this...
Crew Quiz
It seems to have beome a habit of mine to riff off of the Vodkapundit lately. Well, he's a good read... :)
Anyway, he tipped me off to an interesting quiz. I was kinda bummed I didn't score higher for the Falcon, but at least I didn't get stuck in the "happy, happy; joy, joy" world of Star Trek! Heh.
 | You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com |