I had no idea that denying the Holocaust is a crime in several European countries. Even though I'm still not going out of my way to read the news, the free-speech dork in me saw the headline on my homepage and investigated. The free-speech dork had to satisfy the history dork, who can explain as well as empathize with the laws' social significance. Irving knew Austria's laws and knew he was breaking them, so a jail sentence shouldn't be a shock.
Whether or not the law should mandate national identity and speech is a larger issue. I know what I'd do (or am doing!) on this side of the Atlantic. But I feel like this specific issue is one of those dicey topics where if you're not part of the cultural ingroup, you should just shut up. Sometimes you have to do that. (Obviously, other times you shouldn't.)
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