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Path: utzoo!utcsri!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!acton
From: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Zundel
Message-ID: <1003@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Apr-85 20:24:21 EST
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.1003
Posted: Sun Apr  7 20:24:21 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Apr-85 22:43:18 EST
References: <890@ubc-vision.CDN> <6@aquila.UUCP> <997@ubc-cs.UUCP> <578@lsuc.UUCP>
Reply-To: acton@ubc-cs.UUCP (Donald Acton)
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 46
Summary: 

In article <578@lsuc.UUCP> dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) writes:
>
>Unless I'm mistaken, this is a thinly-veiled reference to the Zundel
>trial. Let's have it out in the open then. I take it, Mr. Acton, you
>consider the prosecution of Ernst Zundel to have been improper because
>it limits his freedom of speech?

If there is one thing that both right and left wing dictatorships have in 
common it is that they rely on a censored press and media to keep 
information from the people. The sign of a government going bad is its
attempts to control what the people may see and read and hence 
they are trying to control the thoughts of their subjects. The only
way for the citizens to recognize what is happening is to have the
idea of freedom of speech so firmly implanted in their mind that they 
view it as an inviolable right. The first signs of a government trying to 
tinker with freedom of speech would then signal to the people that the
government was corrupt.  Hopefully,  something could then be done about it at
the ballot box before any irreversible harm had been done.

To ensure that one can tell when freedom of speech is being encroached 
upon, we must allow free speech even if that means letting people like
Ernst Zundel publish the things they do. Nothing forces you or anybody 
else to believe the things that are published and nothing stops you from 
using a photocopier to publish your own opinions and thereby deliver
the "real" truth to the masses.

I have also heard the argument that we can rely upon juries to protect 
our freedom of speech. Needless to say I don't agree with this assertion 
but not because I don't trust juries but because I don't trust governments.
As an example of possible abuse let's consider what is happening to 
Dr. Henry Morgentaler. In every province where he has tried to open an 
abortion clinic he has been charged, but the juries, in the last few years, 
have never convicted him. How long can this harassment continue before 
the law is changed or he gives up? Now transplant this to freedom of speech 
where you are always in court for something you said but are always
acquited. How many times do you go to court before you start saying 
"I can do without this hassle", and give up. I know some people would 
always be willing to take the trouble to fight but the vast majority
of us would probably just let the government have its way.

I would also like to point out that Ernst Zundel's trial, which was an 
attack on everybody's right to free speech, is not the only example of 
the government's suppression of freedom of speech. Books like "The Red Pony"
and "Flowers for Allgernon" are also banned in some school district
and municipal/county libraries. Where does one draw the line? 

      Donald Acton