[Rembrandt_fan]

You wrote, "There are a great many far more dangerous antisemites out there."

Name one. A once briefly respected historian, Irving was/is one of those who attempt to lend a modicum of legitimacy to Holocaust Denial, whose proponents represent the intelligentsia of the white supremacist/neo-nazi/Aryan Nations fringe. The point of that particular exercise is to rehabilitate Adolf Hitler, who--according to Irving--knew nothing of any Final Solution--which, according to the deniers, probably didn't happen in the first place. Over time, no doubt, Stormfront types hope endless repetition of this particular Big Lie will allow the Hitler worshiping crowd to present themselves as simply misunderstood, victims of bad press, etc. In short, men like Irving hope to cover the stink, make their ideas more palatable, thus broadening their deranged, pathetic base.

As an aside, now-dead leader of the National Alliance, William Pierce, once complained of the mental instability of his followers, which struck me as incredibly funny, in a darkly ironic way: sort of like a Mafia boss complaining that some of his men are crooks.

Men like Irving and David Duke are the voice and the brain of men like Robert Matthews, who carry guns and kill people. Who is more dangerous, the man with the gun or the man behind the man with the gun?

If there's any justice in the world, Irving will do serious time. Dying old and alone in a prison cell is the very least he deserves.

[Age of Reason]

The point of that particular exercise is to rehabilitate Adolf Hitler, who--according to Irving--knew nothing of any Final Solution--which, according to the deniers, probably didn't happen in the first place. Over time, no doubt, Stormfront types hope endless repetition of this particular Big Lie will allow the Hitler worshiping crowd to present themselves as simply misunderstood, victims of bad press, etc. In short, men like Irving hope to cover the stink, make their ideas more palatable, thus broadening their deranged, pathetic base.

Perhaps.

But I am reminded that history is written by the victors.

[Uncle Fud]

After we've arrested and incarcerated every "imam", everywhere in the world, who is directly and explicitly calling for the mass murder of Jews, then I think you can go after David Irving. Not before.

[Cicero]

I'm not sticking up for Irving. The man is clearly a scum, a bigot, and a liar. I just wonder whether legal prosecution is the correct answer to such people.

Where we may disagree is that I don't think a resurgence of Nazism or right-wing antisemitism is nearly as big a danger in Austria today as leftist antisemitism. As a matter of fact, it's not clear at all that Nazi was, as liberals pretend, a conservative aberration. It resembles Communism much more closely than it resembles any kind of rational conservatism, and it is well known that Mussolini started out as a Communist.

The worst present danger to Jews in Europe is the coalition of leftists and Islamists. If the Jews once again have to flee Europe, I expect that is what they will be fleeing from--the sort of thing we have just seen in the French riots.

If there is any danger from the right, it is the constant habit that the socialists have of demonizing the right. They do this, basically, for political reasons, so the centrists will always feel obliged to form coalition governments with the left rather than the right. We saw that with Haider. If the socialists and centrists leave people no where else to go to solve the Muslim immigration crisis, for instance, then they will probably eventually turn to the bigots, because they are the only ones who are suggesting a solution. In other words, if something like fascism rises again, it will not be from nostalgia, but from desperation.