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Path: utzoo!lsuc!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!dmcanzi
From: dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi)
Newsgroups: net.columbia,net.politics
Subject: Re: Censorship in Canada (Zundel, access to The Real Facts)
Message-ID: <2115@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Feb-86 13:47:00 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.2115
Posted: Sun Feb 23 13:47:00 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Feb-86 20:54:41 EST
References: <6396@utzoo.UUCP> <162@calgary.UUCP>
Reply-To: dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 48
Xref: lsuc net.columbia:834 net.politics:3379
Summary: 

In article <162@calgary.UUCP> radford@calgary.UUCP (Radford Neal) writes:
>> The individual refered to is doubtless Ernst Zundel, a rabid neo-Nazi
>> who lives in Canada but is not a Canadian, and who has stated publicly 
>> and repeatedly that
>> 1. Hitler remains one of his heroes.
>> 2. There is an international Jewish conspiracy, etc.
>> 3. The Holocaust is a Jewish lie, etc.
>> This Zundel has repeatedly published anti-semitic hate literature 
>> and supports and is financially supported by 
>> a variety of neo-Nazi groups.  He was jailed because actively inciting
>> hatred against any identifiable group in Canada is illegal.  
>> (Zundel may be deported after his release from prison.) [Richard Snell]
>
>The above is correct, except that Zundel was convicted of "spreading false
>news", not inciting hatred. The "news" referred to was the claim that the
>Jewish Holocaust was a hoax.

Most of the verbiage that goes out over the net about Zundel is based
on things the poster read about Zundel (a) on the net, (b) in the
newspapers.  The people who depend on source (a) are doomed to repeat
each other's mistakes, most likely with volume and vehemence increasing
over time.  Source (b) is generally lacking in relevant details, making
it impossible for the reader to form an informed opinion.  (When the
newspapers do manage to provide the reader with enough information to
make a decision, they are accused of bias.  They just can't win, eh?)

The people who favour censoring Zundel generally call what he wrote
hate literature.  Those who oppose censoring Zundel are more likely to
call it false news, or something similar.  The difference between hate
literature and false news is the difference between "The Jews are vile
sub-human scum, let's kill 'em" and "The holocaust never actually
happened, it's all a gigantic hoax".  

In order to find out the real facts of the case, it would be necessary
to lay hands on the court transcripts and Zundel's book (in order to
decide whether it's hate literature or false news).  I vaguely recall
that transcripts are hideously expensive.  (Can anybody tell us what
the cost is?  In addition to the cost, a great deal of spare time for
reading is required.) Zundel's book can't be obtained legally, and I
have no idea how to go about obtaining it illegally.

Two important pieces of evidence that one might use to judge the
government's actions are quite difficult to obtain, and it's the
government's actions that have made them so.  Hmmm.
-- 
David Canzi

"I wept because I had no woman, until I met a man who had no hands."