[Vision2020] David Irving - Caution

[Melynda Huskey]

Dear Dick (and all),

Freedom of speech is not the guarantee of a venue.  Mr. Irving does have the 
right to express his views, however peculiar; the use of the Mark IV (or any 
other privately owned business) in which to express them is *not* a right.  
Let him stand on a street corner and speak his mind.

Moreover, the right to express a view is not the same thing as the right to 
express a view without a challenge.  David Irving may legally say, as he did 
in a speech in 1991: " Ridicule [of the Holocaust and its survivors] alone 
isn’t enough, you’ve got to be tasteless about it. You’ve got to say things 
like “More women died on the back seat of Edward Kennedy’s car at 
Chappaquiddick than in the gas chambers at Auschwitz [Applause]."   But if 
he says such a thing in my home town, he'd better expect that I won't sit at 
home placidly nodding over my knitting.

Ignoring violent extremists of any stripe is not an effective strategy.  
They most often interpret silence as tacit approval or encouragement.  Do we 
want Moscow to become a haven for neo-Nazis and white supremacists through 
our unwillingness to speak up against them?

Valuing diversity of thought, of identity, and of experience does not mean 
that we cannot distinguish between harmful and valuable ideas.  Nazism, 
anti-semitism, and racism are harmful to us all, and it's our obligation as 
citizens to say so clearly.

Melynda Huskey

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