European Irony

So... most of the world in recent weeks has seen the troubles caused by some Danish cartoonists' representations of Islamic religious figures, no doubt. And in the wake, there has been a widespread upswell of support in Europe for 'Freedom of Speech' being one of our fundamental values.

It was something of an irony this week, therefore, when 'historian' David Irving was jailed in Austria for three years (subject to an appeal to increase that term) for saying the Holocaust didn't happen.

Not doing anything about it, not mocking anyone, but getting on a stage for a lecture and addressing the possibility that it's a propoganda myth. I don't agree with him, don't get me wrong, I think the man's a complete plank. I think the world would be better off laughing at him for being a plank than 'martyring' him by putting him in jail and treating his idiocy as though it were in some way significant or valid.

But what really galls me is the sheer, blatant hypocrisy of modern European politics. Freedom of Speech... so long as you say what we like.