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I'm from Shetland, Shetlink www.shetlink.com/forum/ is a discussion forum I post on. When a forum member started a campaign of Holocaust denial it ended up with letters to the local paper, genuine threats of litigation and me emailing Anthony Julius, the lawyer who fought the David Irving case who got his team of legal eagles involved when Shetlink accused me of libelling them.
1st letter to Shetland Times
Shetlink (www.shetlink.com) is an internet site containing Shetland news, classified ads and ‘What’s On notices etc. The Shetlink site also hosts a forum where all manner of topics (not just those with a Shetland focus) are discussed. This forum is regulated by a number of site moderators who try to ensure that topics are discussed within Shetlink’s own terms and conditions and within the law.
It is with a certain amount of dismay that I see this forum used to promote Holocaust denial in much the same way as race hate sites such as Stormfront do, in particular, questioning the veracity of the usage of gas chambers in the camps. As a Shetlander, a relative of Holocaust survivors, a history graduate and someone who cannot abide racism I hope you can understand that I find this offensive.
There is no serious academic questioning of the use of gas chambers to achieve the genocidal aims of the Nazis. This is a matter of historical record. There are questions about their use primarily on the level of particularities and specifics which may never be known to historians, in part due to the efforts by Germany to keep the Holocaust secret. There are many such questions about many specific details of the war and indeed all areas of human history.
There will always be those who choose to hate others and there will always be those who try to use the guise of historical research or academic study to legitimise their feelings, the most well known case in point being that of David Irving whose methods and motivation were discredited in the Irving- Lipstadt libel trial.
Why Shetlink’s staff choose to allow this method of Holocaust denial a platform despite a number of requests from myself not to (following exhaustive rebuttals on the forum), and in view of their own terms and conditions, and in regards to the laws concerning incitement to racial hatred is a question I have at the time of writing, not received an answer to.
lib319
Aberdeen
Response
Offensive to Shetlink.
We write in response to lib319's letter "Why allow the platform" in last week's Shetland Times.
Mr lib319 makes a number of unsubstantiated accusations against Shetlink users and moderators of promoting racism and racial hatred by allowing debate on the Holocaust.
To compare a community website such as Shetlink, where a wide range of subjects are discussed by a diverse group of people, to a far right white supremist website such as Stormfront is wildly inaccurate and offensive to Shetlink members.
Mr lib319's complaint to the Shetland Times seems to echo that of one anonymous Shetlink user in particular who regularly accuses swathes of other people of racism and Holocaust denial. But when asked to evidence his claims, he is unable to provide examples.
Regretfully it seems that this divisive strategy has now spilled over to the pages of the Shetland Times.
We urge folk to read the debate for themselves before accepting Mr lib319's uncorroborated claims.
Shetlink Mod team (Pooks, Njugle, Peeriebryan, Trout, Fjool)
Response 2
Dear Sir
Please find attached my submission for your Reader's Views page, a copy of which follows my name and email address.
lib319
[email protected]
Shetlink’s moderators are mistaken if they thought I was accusing them of racism and promoting racial hatred or comparing Shetlink to a white power website like Stormfront in last week's Shetland Times. Shetlink is hosting a substantial amount of Holocaust denial material (often verbatim) within the bounds of discussing the Holocaust, of the type that is found on far right racist sites.
As such this 'discussion' has now taken the form of some of the most prejudiced and offensive anti-Semitic material being continually posted on one side and a continual rebuttal on the other side.
To say there is no evidence of this offensive material is also in error. I am happy to provide a concise list of points to any readers interested and this list is also available (as of evening of Thurs 10) at the end of Shetlink’s Holocaust discussion pages.
I can only assume the difficulty Shetlink’s staff had in reading my letter was also the case when reading their own website. Hopefully a more concise and collated list of offensive material will prove to be more accessible for Shetlink’s moderators from which they can then decide if it is acceptable or if indeed they are under any obligation to host any more of it.
lib319
Aberdeen
As such the Holocaust thread was pulled www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11208 . Which wasn’t exactly what I wanted but I regarded it as a victory anyway. Some of the discussion spilled into the Israel thread here if anyone is interested.
www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1120&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
It is 30 pages though.
(Sat 21st May 2011, 19:45, More)
I'm from Shetland, Shetlink www.shetlink.com/forum/ is a discussion forum I post on. When a forum member started a campaign of Holocaust denial it ended up with letters to the local paper, genuine threats of litigation and me emailing Anthony Julius, the lawyer who fought the David Irving case who got his team of legal eagles involved when Shetlink accused me of libelling them.
1st letter to Shetland Times
Shetlink (www.shetlink.com) is an internet site containing Shetland news, classified ads and ‘What’s On notices etc. The Shetlink site also hosts a forum where all manner of topics (not just those with a Shetland focus) are discussed. This forum is regulated by a number of site moderators who try to ensure that topics are discussed within Shetlink’s own terms and conditions and within the law.
It is with a certain amount of dismay that I see this forum used to promote Holocaust denial in much the same way as race hate sites such as Stormfront do, in particular, questioning the veracity of the usage of gas chambers in the camps. As a Shetlander, a relative of Holocaust survivors, a history graduate and someone who cannot abide racism I hope you can understand that I find this offensive.
There is no serious academic questioning of the use of gas chambers to achieve the genocidal aims of the Nazis. This is a matter of historical record. There are questions about their use primarily on the level of particularities and specifics which may never be known to historians, in part due to the efforts by Germany to keep the Holocaust secret. There are many such questions about many specific details of the war and indeed all areas of human history.
There will always be those who choose to hate others and there will always be those who try to use the guise of historical research or academic study to legitimise their feelings, the most well known case in point being that of David Irving whose methods and motivation were discredited in the Irving- Lipstadt libel trial.
Why Shetlink’s staff choose to allow this method of Holocaust denial a platform despite a number of requests from myself not to (following exhaustive rebuttals on the forum), and in view of their own terms and conditions, and in regards to the laws concerning incitement to racial hatred is a question I have at the time of writing, not received an answer to.
lib319
Aberdeen
Response
Offensive to Shetlink.
We write in response to lib319's letter "Why allow the platform" in last week's Shetland Times.
Mr lib319 makes a number of unsubstantiated accusations against Shetlink users and moderators of promoting racism and racial hatred by allowing debate on the Holocaust.
To compare a community website such as Shetlink, where a wide range of subjects are discussed by a diverse group of people, to a far right white supremist website such as Stormfront is wildly inaccurate and offensive to Shetlink members.
Mr lib319's complaint to the Shetland Times seems to echo that of one anonymous Shetlink user in particular who regularly accuses swathes of other people of racism and Holocaust denial. But when asked to evidence his claims, he is unable to provide examples.
Regretfully it seems that this divisive strategy has now spilled over to the pages of the Shetland Times.
We urge folk to read the debate for themselves before accepting Mr lib319's uncorroborated claims.
Shetlink Mod team (Pooks, Njugle, Peeriebryan, Trout, Fjool)
Response 2
Dear Sir
Please find attached my submission for your Reader's Views page, a copy of which follows my name and email address.
lib319
[email protected]
Shetlink’s moderators are mistaken if they thought I was accusing them of racism and promoting racial hatred or comparing Shetlink to a white power website like Stormfront in last week's Shetland Times. Shetlink is hosting a substantial amount of Holocaust denial material (often verbatim) within the bounds of discussing the Holocaust, of the type that is found on far right racist sites.
As such this 'discussion' has now taken the form of some of the most prejudiced and offensive anti-Semitic material being continually posted on one side and a continual rebuttal on the other side.
To say there is no evidence of this offensive material is also in error. I am happy to provide a concise list of points to any readers interested and this list is also available (as of evening of Thurs 10) at the end of Shetlink’s Holocaust discussion pages.
I can only assume the difficulty Shetlink’s staff had in reading my letter was also the case when reading their own website. Hopefully a more concise and collated list of offensive material will prove to be more accessible for Shetlink’s moderators from which they can then decide if it is acceptable or if indeed they are under any obligation to host any more of it.
lib319
Aberdeen
As such the Holocaust thread was pulled www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11208 . Which wasn’t exactly what I wanted but I regarded it as a victory anyway. Some of the discussion spilled into the Israel thread here if anyone is interested.
www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1120&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
It is 30 pages though.
(Sat 21st May 2011, 19:45, More)