Compare and Contrast
RockyMtnCougar
smile. Love them or hate them, those old "compare and contrast"
questions that we all had in grade school made each of us search for
our own words to describe how two subjects are both similar to one
another and different from each other.
An example of such comparison must have happened in the mind of the
first alt.revisionist to think of taking his show on the road and
bringing revisionist postings to sci.skeptic. Surely one thought in his
brain (well...misfiring neuron in his neural cortex might be more
accurate) was "I am 'skeptical' about the history of the Holocaust,
maybe I'll find allies who can battle the people who believe in history
in sci.skeptic!" The contrast came when he started posting and found
out the hard way that even without The Usual Suspects from a.r.
stepping in he was being torn seven ways from Sunday by the sci.skeptic
Regulars.
For both edification and educational purposes I've undertaken to
compare and contrast two different "revisionists", one possibly found
in sci.skeptic and the other the Holocaust denier found so frequently
in alt.revisionism.
Comparison
"Fraud", "Hoax", "Lie". I've seen these words repeated ad infinauseum
by Joe Bellinger, Scott Bradbury, Chris Carpenter, Matt Giwer, Tom
Moran and the other haters normally infesting Usenet at
alt.revisionism. The same words, though, appear in the words of another
form of "revisionist". The Flat-Earther.
"The facts are simple," says Charles K. Johnson, president of the
International Flat Earth Research Society. "The earth is flat."
"You can't orbit a flat earth," says Mr. Johnson. "The Space Shuttle is
a joke--and a very ludicrous joke."
(Source for FES quotes: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/fe-scidi.htm)
Here we see denial at work. Mr. Johnson calls the Earth being flat a
fact and says that the Space Shuttle can not orbit the Earth.
For all but members and prospective members of the Flat Earth Society
these claims are ludicrous. They are so far into the fringe that it's a
wonder their tassels don't fall off.
Below, too, we see denial at work.
"The gas chamber in Auschwitz, which they show to the tourists, is a
fake built after the War by the Poles."
"I don't give speeches to Neo-Nazis."
(Sources for the statemtents (both appear in interviews on Australian
media, the transcripts of which are located at:
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/australia/2gb-transcript-1196.html
and
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/australia/2bl-transcript-1196.html
Both of these statements are by David Irving. On the surface they
appear innocuous, yet are just as vacant of truth as the more bizarre
sounding statements by Johnson.
Irving is refrencing in the first sentence the gas chamber in
Crematorium I at Auschwitz which was restored after the war. It had
been converted to an air-raid shelter by the Nazis a short time before
they had to abandon the camp. In invite the skeptical to look at the
actual documentation on his claims found at Nizkor. Irving's own
website doesn't contain the letter from the Auschwitz museum employee
that Irving interviewed and based his statement upon.
The second statement regarding his not addressing Neo-Nazi groups was
made only 2 months after he gave an address to a Neo-Nazi group! My,
what a short memory for a "historian" to have...
We can therefor see that both Flat Earth believers and Holocaust
deniers have made statements in interviews which are utterly and
completely false.
Contrast
To me, the most striking difference between the lunatic fringe of the
Flat Earth Society and the deniers of history like David Irving is in
the heart of the believers.
The Flat Earth Society spins its cock-eyed little wheels over how we
are being deluded by the "conspiracy" to keep the flat-earth secret
from becoming public. They lay their blame on both scientists (in
general) and religion (in this case the Church of England) for
defrauding the public.
Holocaust deniers, though, have a more pointed goal. The rantings of
Tom Moran and Matt Giwer are posted to sci.skeptic, as are the
un-original reposts of the lies told by others that Chris Carpenter
puts on the newsgroup. These anti-Semitic rants accompany Holocaust
denial the way stink follows manure. David Irving's website has
multiple mentions of how he and others are being persecuted by the Jews.
If the two groups were to be represented on the typical school
playground the Flat Earthers would be the quiet, weird kid who is
generally left alone by the others who don't understand him. The
Holocaust Deniers would be the swaggering bullies who are prone to yell
insults and attempt to intimidate others yet run away crying if anyone
stands up to them.
The danger inherent in the latter is quite evident. When a Buffor
Furrow acts out on the hate he's been listening to then it is easy to
see which set of nuts is poisonous.
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