NP Neo-Nazis on the Net

[davemarc]

Great post, Paul.  I agree on the essentials, but just want to add that the
cross-linking is an achievement in itself.  Zundel can claim whatever he
wants; Nizkor can respond; and vice-versa; and it's very easy for anyone
curious about the competing claims to make the comparison.  It's like (but
not the same as) having a small version of, say, Mein Kampf, accompanied by
a counter-argument.  I think Nizkor's come up with a great strategy for
recognizing the value of freedom of speech without passively allowing a
disgusting point of view to go it's own way.  Incidentally, there are
flag-burning related sites that use similar strategies.

d.
----------
> From: Paul Murphy <paul.murphy at utoronto.ca>
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: NP Neo-Nazis on the Net
> Date: Tuesday, July 15, 1997 1:17 PM
> 
> Davemarc writes, in response to my claim:
> 
> >> Nothing about the Zuendelsite is thoughtful. The links are there to
lend
> >an
> >> aura of legitimacy and reasonableness to hatred and extremist
agitation.
> >>
> >Not exactly.  First, the Zundelsite is thoughtful in the sense that it's
> >very carefully calculated and well thought out as...propaganda.
> 
> This may just be semantic hair-splitting to some, but I do want to draw a
> distinction between mere cunning (which the Z-site exhibits in abundance)
> and genuine ratiocination, an activity utterly foreign to propagandists.
> 
> >Also, the Nizkor people make it their practice to ask folks like Zundel
to
> >post links; Nizkor itself posts links to sites like Zundel's.  It's less
an
> >attempt at legitimizing than at acknowledging that there's something
> >representing a dialectic at work here, that there's a willingness to let
> >one's ideas stand up next to another's.
> 
> Though there's a difference between 'representing a dialectic' and
genuine
> dialectic. Nizkor underlines this difference in their "Open Letter to
> Zuendel-Site Visitors", available at:
> http://www.nizkor.netizen.org/features/z-open-letter/
> from which this excerpt comes:
> 
> >They want to call our cross-linking and their propaganda the first round
of
> >"debate." We reject that term: cross-linking is cross-linking, no more.
> 
> In short, the Z-site's gesture of magnanimity is sham, "nur zum Schein"
as
> the phrase goes in Zuendel's mother-tongue. It is in EZ's interest to
> present himself as concerned with open debate -- it makes him seem
> reasonable, and a martyr to political correctness whenever his rights are
> questioned -- but dialogue is outside of his ken.
> 
> Cheers,
> Paul
> 
>