Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Big Media Takes More Notice of Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Denial

The title link is to the AP story, and the BBC story is here. The problem with the coverage you are now going to see is that it will focus on the standard aspects of this kind of story--the reactions of other world leaders and so forth--and do an extremely poor job of giving the reader background on holocaust denial, Neo-Nazi propaganda, and the Arab and Muslim world. The fact is that Ahmadinejad is repeating ideas that have been percolating through the Arab and Muslim world, even in the supposedly moderate regions, for decades. Holocaust denial is not just a prominent theme of Neo-Nazi propaganda, but rather its central pillar. Beyond making denier claims, Ahmadinejad also exhibits denier mannerisms--endless posturing as a victim of censorship, for instance. Freedom of speech allows Holocaust deniers to operate quite openly in the U.S., and one has to wonder if Ahmadinejad even knows it. It will be interesting to see what further coverage is like.

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