Holocaust denial is not a “mistake”, Mr. Zuckerberg. It has a clear purpose: negate, distort, minimize, and trivialize proven facts about the Nazi genocides against Jews, Roma, and others. The goal is to rehabilitate the racist, antisemitic, xenophobic ideology of Nazism. [1/8]
In order to remove the political taint from Nazism they argue: (1) The Holocaust didn’t happen (2) The Holocaust happened but not that many Jews were murdered (3) The Holocaust happened but Hitler didn’t do it (4) The evidence was made up by Jews. These CAN'T go together. [2/8]
To make Nazis—Nazis!—palatable, they argue: (1) The Holocaust didn’t happen (2) The Holocaust happened but not that many Jews were murdered (3) The Holocaust happened but Hitler didn’t do it (4) Jews made up all the evidence. One CANNOT believe these together. [3/8]
Deniers lie outright and distort evidence. They take documents and individual lines out of context, argue that postwar testimony from actual Nazis was all lies under torture, or purport a conspiracy. They are not “misinformed”--they intentionally lie. [4/8]
This is not a debate with two sides. There are serious historians excavating a variety of interpretations conveyed through sources. And then there are Holocaust Deniers who use lies, distortion, and myths of Jewish conspiracies. [5/8]
When one “side” rejects facts not because they can disprove them or interpret them differently, but because they don’t fit a bigoted world-view, those voices cease to have a legitimate role in conversation. [6/8]
To try to convince a Holocaust denier is to try to nail a pudding to the wall – impossible. To give their hateful and bigoted propaganda a forum is to advance their interest. To let their racist rhetoric stand is to endorse it as part of the discourse—to promote it. [7/8]
Nazism is not socially acceptable as an ideology, and it MUST stay that way. Because it is wrong in its very essence. The same way Holocaust Denial is wrong at its very core. Morally—and outright factually. No inch can be given to antisemites, racists, or their rhetoric. [8/8]
