Daily Musings — 17th February 2017
I have to start with a very shocking radio broadcast I heard.
Vanessa Feltz stood in for Jeremy Vine on his regular show on BBC Radio 2. One of the segments looked at the story of Denial — a film starring Rachel Weisz. It tells the story of a court case with David Irving suing Deborah Lipstadt for declaring him a Holocaust denier.
It was shocking as a producer for the show discussed some of the comments sent in essentially denying the Holocaust ever occurred after a January show. I couldn’t possibly repeat the vitriol aimed at the show, but if you really want to listen to it the link is here. Forward to one hour seven minutes. It is rather concerning that in 2017, people will deny that one of the worst events in human history ever occurred.
What is terrifying, is that they find it acceptable to say these things. As a free speech fundamentalist, this is where the line gets crossed. Holocaust denial is as Lipstadt argues — “alternative facts” or “lies”. At its’ heart is antisemitism, a deliberate attempt to mislead people and vilify Jewish people. The fact that people find it acceptable is a sad indication of just how poor some people view Jewish people in this day and age. We have population figures, we have testimony from survivors and bystanders as well as confession from guards and soldiers who took part in it, all saying it happened. It’s an historical fact.
In political news, Tony Blair is telling people to “rise up” against Brexit. Now, this is just unacceptable. His claims people didn’t know what they voted for is just wrong. Both sides made it clear it was all in or all out before the 23rd June. It’s also very counter productive for Blair himself to get involved — the Chilcot Report left his reputation in ruins, as it was expected.
On a more lighthearted note and it feels very difficult saying that having discussed Holocaust denial, Brexit and the Iraq War. It is my younger brother’s 12th birthday, which does make feel slightly old. But I always think if you overthink things, time flows faster, but if you just relax and enjoy life, it doesn’t seem so bad. I’m still 19, I can realistically hope I’ve still got three-quarters of my life to go. I do feel that I’ve been alive for a long time, when I think more carefully about it. So if you’re growing up and feeling old, just don’t overthink and relax, it’ll make you feel less anxious, hopefully.