Comments on: David Irving Released http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/ "The freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form." Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:27:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Section 14 » Blog Archive » Sheik Mohammed’s Call To Jihad http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-400 Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:44:22 +0000 http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-400 [...] I/S also makes an “obvious” comparison to the David Irving case. I don’t think the comparison is as obvious as I/S makes out and it downplays Sheik Mohammed’s evil. Irving promotes a demostrably false version of history that many, particularly Jews, find offensive. As noted above, “giving offence is not harm”. Sheik Mohammed, while causing no direct harm himself, calls for others to do just that: “Teach them this: there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid. Put in their soft, tender hearts the zeal of jihad and a love of martyrdom.” [...] […] I/S also makes an “obvious” comparison to the David Irving case. I don’t think the comparison is as obvious as I/S makes out and it downplays Sheik Mohammed’s evil. Irving promotes a demostrably false version of history that many, particularly Jews, find offensive. As noted above, “giving offence is not harm”. Sheik Mohammed, while causing no direct harm himself, calls for others to do just that: “Teach them this: there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid. Put in their soft, tender hearts the zeal of jihad and a love of martyrdom.” […]

]]> by: Section 14 » Blog Archive » German Bid to Spread Fascism http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-391 Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:59:15 +0000 http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-391 [...] As I’ve said before, the best way to deal with holocaust denial is to discuss it openly: If bad ideas are going to be defeated it must be with better ideas. Imprisoning a person for the ideas they express does nothing to defeat the idea. It is by evidence and debate that we must come to the truth. [...] […] As I’ve said before, the best way to deal with holocaust denial is to discuss it openly: If bad ideas are going to be defeated it must be with better ideas. Imprisoning a person for the ideas they express does nothing to defeat the idea. It is by evidence and debate that we must come to the truth. […]

]]> by: Bernard Darnton http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-212 Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:08:39 +0000 http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-212 Chapter 8 is called "The Unlikeliest Cult: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the Cult of Personality". It investigates how the Objectivist movement came to operate as an Ayn Rand personality cult, asking the question <blockquote>How could such a highly individualistic philosophy become the basis of a cult, an organisation that thrives on group thinking, intolerance of dissent, and the power of the leader?</blockquote> Shermer doesn't dissect Rand's ideas other than some commentary on moral absolutism - as somebody debunking pseudo-science and superstition he is understandably sympathetic to her ideas about objective reality and her epistemology of reason. Instead, he discusses what makes a cult, how closely Ayn Rand's circle fitted that description, and the errors in thinking that led to that odd state of affairs. Chapter 8 is called “The Unlikeliest Cult: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the Cult of Personality”.

It investigates how the Objectivist movement came to operate as an Ayn Rand personality cult, asking the question

How could such a highly individualistic philosophy become the basis of a cult, an organisation that thrives on group thinking, intolerance of dissent, and the power of the leader?

Shermer doesn’t dissect Rand’s ideas other than some commentary on moral absolutism - as somebody debunking pseudo-science and superstition he is understandably sympathetic to her ideas about objective reality and her epistemology of reason. Instead, he discusses what makes a cult, how closely Ayn Rand’s circle fitted that description, and the errors in thinking that led to that odd state of affairs.

]]> by: Caskman http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-211 Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:00:33 +0000 http://www.freespeech.org.nz/section14/2006/12/21/david-irving-released/#comment-211 "Why People Believe Wierd Things" According to Amazon it has a section on Randian Positivism. Presumably he takes a pop at such beliefs (given I haven't read the book). Do you know what he says about it? “Why People Believe Wierd Things”
According to Amazon it has a section on Randian Positivism. Presumably he takes a pop at such beliefs (given I haven’t read the book). Do you know what he says about it?

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