Friday, December 23, 2011
France is about to pass a law making it a crime to deny that Turkey committed genocidal acts against Armenians in the early 20th century. Apparently it already is a crime in Switzerland and Slovenia. This is not unusual in Europe. Sixteen countries make it a crime to deny the Holocaust, for example.
In America, of course, that pesky First Amendment gets in the way of our passing similar laws, allowing idiots to run around denying that vaccinations are good for children, or that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Too bad. We could use some legislation preventing people from denying things.
The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 103 years. I am sure the Chicago City Council would like to make denying the “curse of the billygoat” punishable. After all there is no way a team could have inept ownership and bad players for that long. The City Council might get carried away, however, and pass a clearly unconstitutional penalty provision requiring convicted curse deniers to watch games at Wrigley Field. That would obviously be cruel and unusual punishment.
Entire television shows on the History Channel (which based on their new programming should be renamed the “Weird Occupations and Strange People Channel”) have been devoted to debunking the denial that American actually sent men to the moon. Congress could put a stop to such nonsense if not constrained by the First Amendment.
Americans, clothed in their constitutional right to be morons, deny things like O.J. Simpson’s guilt (and don’t get me started on his trial), Jimmy Hoffa’s murder, and Shakespeare’s authorship. An entire subculture gets truly exercised trying to deny global warming and humanity’s role in creating (or at least exacerbating) it. Many of those same people deny Obama’s Hawaiian birthplace. A few good laws could shut them up.
Why stop with denial legislation? Countries should equally punish those who promote absurd ideas like the existence of Sasquatch and the qualifications of Michele Bachmann to be president. As far as I am concerned, all those people who claim to have been taken prisoner in a UFO should be charged with criminal impersonation or something similar. After all, the feds passed a law making it illegal to claim to be a military veteran. UFO POW is similar, don’t you think?
Americans are pretty gullible, after all, and might be susceptible to some of these outrageous claims. A friend of mine claims to have been a big fan of Milli Vanilli. Oops. People believed Sidd Finch could throw 160 miles per hour, that Martians landed in New Jersey, and that Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman. It is surprising America has survived without such legislation as long as we have.
People in America have denied all kinds of things which might lead to the problems these other countries apparently fear will happen without their muzzling free speech. American groups deny the Holocaust, and we have neo-Nazis, but so far they have not bombed the Capitol and made their leader president. Groups still claim that separate but equal worked just fine, that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were innocent, and that the Elders of Zion were behind 9/11. All that stupidity has not caused massive unrest. The rest of us just shrug our shoulders and move on, giving no more credence to the spouting of this garbage than to the headlines in the National Enquirer (unless you believe Elvis is still alive and the father of Jennifer Aniston’s twins).
Most people think the Turks slaughtered millions of Armenians, and whether some Frenchmen, or Swiss, or Slovenians choose to say they didn’t won’t change anything. Truth seems to win out most of the time and free speech is the best way to get the truth out. I just had better be careful what I say when I go to France. They might pass a law making denial of the genius of Jerry Lewis a crime.
In America, of course, that pesky First Amendment gets in the way of our passing similar laws, allowing idiots to run around denying that vaccinations are good for children, or that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Too bad. We could use some legislation preventing people from denying things.
The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 103 years. I am sure the Chicago City Council would like to make denying the “curse of the billygoat” punishable. After all there is no way a team could have inept ownership and bad players for that long. The City Council might get carried away, however, and pass a clearly unconstitutional penalty provision requiring convicted curse deniers to watch games at Wrigley Field. That would obviously be cruel and unusual punishment.
Entire television shows on the History Channel (which based on their new programming should be renamed the “Weird Occupations and Strange People Channel”) have been devoted to debunking the denial that American actually sent men to the moon. Congress could put a stop to such nonsense if not constrained by the First Amendment.
Americans, clothed in their constitutional right to be morons, deny things like O.J. Simpson’s guilt (and don’t get me started on his trial), Jimmy Hoffa’s murder, and Shakespeare’s authorship. An entire subculture gets truly exercised trying to deny global warming and humanity’s role in creating (or at least exacerbating) it. Many of those same people deny Obama’s Hawaiian birthplace. A few good laws could shut them up.
Why stop with denial legislation? Countries should equally punish those who promote absurd ideas like the existence of Sasquatch and the qualifications of Michele Bachmann to be president. As far as I am concerned, all those people who claim to have been taken prisoner in a UFO should be charged with criminal impersonation or something similar. After all, the feds passed a law making it illegal to claim to be a military veteran. UFO POW is similar, don’t you think?
Americans are pretty gullible, after all, and might be susceptible to some of these outrageous claims. A friend of mine claims to have been a big fan of Milli Vanilli. Oops. People believed Sidd Finch could throw 160 miles per hour, that Martians landed in New Jersey, and that Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman. It is surprising America has survived without such legislation as long as we have.
People in America have denied all kinds of things which might lead to the problems these other countries apparently fear will happen without their muzzling free speech. American groups deny the Holocaust, and we have neo-Nazis, but so far they have not bombed the Capitol and made their leader president. Groups still claim that separate but equal worked just fine, that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were innocent, and that the Elders of Zion were behind 9/11. All that stupidity has not caused massive unrest. The rest of us just shrug our shoulders and move on, giving no more credence to the spouting of this garbage than to the headlines in the National Enquirer (unless you believe Elvis is still alive and the father of Jennifer Aniston’s twins).
Most people think the Turks slaughtered millions of Armenians, and whether some Frenchmen, or Swiss, or Slovenians choose to say they didn’t won’t change anything. Truth seems to win out most of the time and free speech is the best way to get the truth out. I just had better be careful what I say when I go to France. They might pass a law making denial of the genius of Jerry Lewis a crime.
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