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Czech Republic media outlets are reporting that infamous U.S. white supremacist leader David Duke was arrested in Prague earlier today on suspicion of denying the Holocaust and promoting the neo-Nazi movement, crimes punishable by up to three years in prison in the Czech Republic.
According to a Prague newspaper, Duke was taken into custody at the Black Eagle, a Prague restaurant, shortly after arriving in the country at the invitation of Czech neo-Nazis.
I think European laws on free speech are not as strong as they should be... Duke is an ass and a bastard but he should be able to say what he wants... but, at the end of the day, you need to know the laws of the land that you are in... Europeans don't play that mess.
No, they won't hang him. They're too soft hearted on capital punishment to hang people anymore. Let's just hope they'll keep him out of our country forever more.
I think European laws on free speech are not as strong as they should be... Duke is an ass and a bastard but he should be able to say what he wants... but, at the end of the day, you need to know the laws of the land that you are in... Europeans don't play that mess.
Well, I think that when you have 22 million killed and your nations left in ruins as a result of an evil ideology they might have a different perspective on the issue of shouting fire in a crowded theater.
I think outlawing Holocaust denial is a bit too much and doesn't deserve imprisonment. Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 13 countries, and those laws are absurd.
If I met a fellow American who denied our history of participating in the most extensive and devastating genocide known to man, then I would just think that they are an idiot, but shouldn't be jailed for. Perhaps it may upset some Native Americans, but that is the price of free speech and free thought.
I firmly believe we must not infringe on any person's First Amendment rights. Therefore, as far as I am concerned he can speak him mind. Agreement with what he says is not mandatory and I certainly don't. With that said, Duke is a class A a-hole. And, since this happened in the Czech Republic, if they have laws against what he advocated/spoke, then so be it - 3 years in jail.
The Nazi party and/or the promotion of any Nazi organization is also illegal in Germany, and has been (at least in the former West Germany) since shortly after WWII. As someone who has spent considerable time in the Czech Republic, I can tell you that free speech is very highly protected there. (Unfathomably they did not outlaw the communist party after it fell in 1989.) It's just that some political ideologies are not just opinions or points of view, they are parts of unspeakable criminal traditions and are rightly, in my opinion, banned from public display. If you wanted to sit in your apartment over there and sing Lili Marlene while getting all teary-eyed staring at your black-velvet Hitler portrait (as no doubt many do here) nobody would bother you, but do it in the street and you are recognized as a public menace and will be treated as such.
It is a positive and admirable part of our culture that we are forgiving and tolerant, but some things it is wrong to forgive. Not only wrong, but also dangerous and foolish.
It may be helpful to keep in mind that different countries have different laws. Do not try, for example, to stick up for your right to chew gum in Singapore. You can do it, if you're willing to pay the price. Just like everywhere else.
I applaud the authorities who are holding Duke. May they send him to the uranium mines until his satanic grin can no longer be wiped off of his face.
Let's see...he opens up his big mouth in the wrong country and gets arrested? Next question: who cares?
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