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blogs and google, tails wag dogs? | 7 comments

[new] The same rules do not always apply (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#4)
by Aileen on Tue Jul 8th, 2003 at 01:19:53 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
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As far as google or other search engines are concerned, I can say from experience that it is not at all difficult to access nazi propaganda even from google.at: in conjunction with a number of translations I have done (e.g. on Holocaust literature, women in Yiddish theater, stolen art and others) I sometimes need to check which terms are established in English in relevant literature, and some of those terms have led directly to web sites that make me feel sick, and it is scary to see what is out there and so easily accessible.
In terms of "freedom of speech" and the notion that everyone is entitled to "equal time" to air their opinions, I would say that the same rules can only apply equally, if the framework conditions are the same. This is not the case in Austria, and I imagine that the situation is at least similar in other European countries. Like most other "western" countries, Austria has the demographic problem of an "aging population". Keep in mind, though, that a person in Austria who is 65 years old now (i.e. a large portion of the population) was born in 1938, which was definitely not a good year to be born in. This person would have started school then (in a best case scenario) in 1944. By that time, any teachers that might have questioned national-socialist ideology had long since been replaced. Potentially dissenting voices had been silenced throughout society, in that those who might have raised them were imprisoned, murdered, forced to flee, cowed into silence by the very real threat of endangering not only themselves, but anyone close to them.
The period immediately following the nazi era was marked by chaos, uncertainty and foreign occupation by the victors, who were distrustful of both the local population and one another. Widespread poverty, fear, uncertainty, humiliation and shame are not conducive to developing critical thinking skills, and there was no past history of freedom of speech to build on, because Austria had already been under a dictatorship before the national-socialists came to power. The long and painful process of attempting to critically and honestly come to terms with the past has been left to subsequent generations, and this process is far from over. I would say that the laws against the distribution of nazi propaganda and revisionism are not a case of censorship, but rather a fundamental statement of the conviction of a society that says we reject the potentially consoling self-delusion that we are the victims of a leftist conspiracy that set us up as the "evil-doers" to cover up their own wrong-doings. As long as someone like Kurt Waldheim can still be elected federal president despite his questionable past by claiming "I was only following orders", as long as a public figure like Jörg Haider can continue to demonstrate how to incite and inflame old prejudices while remaining just barely on this side of legality (think about how many people there are around the age of 65, whose votes are courted by politicians), as long as the editor of a small local paper can publically express a wish to be able to send lesbians to the gas chamber (this led to a lawsuit and he was eventually fined, but the fact that it even had to be discussed was shocking enough), there can be no question of "equal time" for divergent opinions. Contrary to some of the jibes expressed in the reactions to the zdnet article, our children have no lack of opportunities to exercise critical thinking skills - far from it!
On June 14th, three prominent Austrian writers published an open letter to the government protesting against this government's shameful position towards the Israelistische Kultusgemeinde, the Jewish community of Austria. The letter begins with the statement, "For the annihilation of Jewish life in Austria there can be no recompense. The very least that could be expected from this Republic is that it is not the beneficiary, the accomplice to the crime...". Today another open letter to the government was published, signed by 78 prominent writers and artists, entitled "A Question of Self-Respect": "... it is a question of self-respect that the Austrian state must meet its ethical responsibilty to ensure the existence of the Jewish community ..."
There will be no counter-opinions published.
Is that "fair"?

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blogs and google, tails wag dogs? | 7 comments

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