Madam, - Whatever one's views may be of David Irving as a "historian", what are we to make of his being jailed for claiming, 17 years ago, that the Holocaust did not occur?
In light of the continuing mania over the Danish cartoons and their republication in several European countries in the name of "freedom of expression", the timing would seem especially unfortunate - well, unless one happens to be a radical Muslim cleric in search of more reasons to inflame his flock.
A convincing argument could surely be made that Europe - seen as we are as a single, godless, entity by some in the Muslim world - might be more than a little guilty of picking and choosing the particular freedoms of expression it chooses to protect. - Yours, etc,
AP MCGEADY, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Madam, - "I don't agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it". The recent freedom-of-speech controversies suggest that Voltaire's belief is now a minority view.
David Irving, an elderly Nazi apologist, has been sentenced to three years in an Austrian jail for expressing an opinion (an odious one admittedly). The prosecutors now want to appeal the sentence, thinking it too lenient, while Irving will appeal against its severity.
The whole case seems to hinge on comments he made while speaking in Austria in 1989. Irving has made similar comments in a variety of countries, including Ireland, in the intervening years, but it is unlikely that he would have been given a custodial sentence in any other country bar Austria or Germany, as these countries have the most stringent Holocaust denial laws in Europe.
Is this case simply an expensive exercise in futility, succeeding only in giving Irving further publicity, and thus sharing his despicable views with a new generation of right-wing youths? Does anyone seriously believe that anyone who holds the same malign opinions is suddenly going to have a change of heart, and renounce their despicable anti-Semitic views? Surely the jailing of this elderly Nazi sympathiser will succeed only in turning him into some kind of right-wing hero. Video footage of the final day of the trial showed reporters and photographers jostling for the best shot of the stooped and weary looking Irving. He looked so stunned at the sentence he had received that even I felt sorry for him. I find his opinions abhorrent in the extreme, so I can only imagine the sympathy that his plight is evoking in the hearts of Nazi thugs all over the world.
In order to quench a fire, you remove the oxygen that feeds it. It seems to me that the best thing to do with Mr Irving would be to simply ignore him. Let him live in a vacuum, lauded by bigots, but ignored by right-thinking people. - Yours, etc,
COLETTE BROWNE, Lios na Gréine, South Douglas Road, Cork.