I have to confess that two weeks ago I stopped reading some parts of the newspapers, I was really tired of only reading about wars, money, death and health problems. Today, I tried again and here are the results. It is from BBC, and it is sad, so sad, like a nightmare… Why? I don't have an answer. This should not happend. To read the full text go to bbc.co.uk
The rise of Hate 2.0
| By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News |
The number of hate and terrorist websites has increased by a third in the past year, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organisation put the figure at more than 8,000 in its 2008 report Hate 2.0. It said the presence of such sites "demeans and threatens African Americans, Jews, immigrants, gays and virtually every religious denomination".
And the number of so-called hate sites is growing fast, while the use of social networks to push controversial messages is also on the rise.
In May this year, Facebook became embroiled in a row after a number of Holocaust denial groups were set up on the site.
Critics said Facebook was propagating anti-Semitism, others said that free speech was a cornerstone of society and Facebook should keep its hands off.
At the time, Barry Schnitt, a spokesman for Facebook, said it should be "a place where controversial ideas can be discussed".
"The bottom line is that, of course, we abhor Nazi ideals and find Holocaust denial repulsive and ignorant," he said.
"However, we believe people have a right to discuss these ideas."
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A few days later, the site had closed two of the groups, Holocaust is a Holohoax and Based on the facts... there was no Holocaust. It said they had breached the firm's terms of service.
But there are still plenty of other Holocaust denial groups on Facebook: Holocaust is a Myth, 6,000,000 for the TRUTH about the Holocaust, The problem of forged Holocaust photos, and Holocaust Deniers, to name just four.
Denial outlawed
In a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp in June this year, President Barack Obama criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had called the Holocaust a "great deception".
"To this day we know there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened, a denial of a fact or truth that is baseless, ignorant and hateful," Mr Obama said in a brief address.
Holocaust denial is illegal in 13 countries, including France, Germany and Israel. It was also a crime in Slovakia, although this law was repealed in May 2005.
The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom have all rejected Holocaust denial legislation.
In Europe, citizens are covered by the European Convention on Human Rights which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression."
But it adds that governments can restrict free speech, among other reasons, in the interests of national security, to preserve public safety and for the prevention of disorder or crime.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the BBC that it was not a freedom of speech issue.
"Holocaust denial is a perfect example of how a hateful idea was incubated on the internet. It promotes hatred, it promotes violence and it's a kind of precursor to genocide.
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"It's not the idea that needs to be scrubbed; it's fact that the internet elevates crackpot theories to a level it doesn't deserve.
"These sites aren't about the discussion of ideas; they are about getting people to subscribe to the ideal of hate."
But speaking to the BBC, Douglas Murray, director of think tank The Centre for Social Cohesion, said that society should be able to accept any point of view, even if that view was proven to be false.
"You have to allow different opinions, even lies, as long as they don't incite violence. Otherwise what is true becomes dogma and then becomes incapable of being defended," he said.
