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The Left and Free Speech

http://euobserver.com/9/22630
The European Commission has condemned a French parliament vote in support of a law criminalising denial that Armenians suffered genocide by the Ottoman Turks, saying the move is likely to hinder open dialogue on Armenia in would-be EU member state Turkey.
...
 The socialist-drafted law was passed by 106 votes to 19 in the lower house and found favour on both sides of the poltical divide with 49 centre-right MPs backing the bill although President Chirac's conservative government has spoken out against it.
Note carefully, socialists in France have outlawed a point of view. The Armenian Genocide is not something I am familiar with though it's been in the news a lot lately. Based on other first-hand reports of the behavior of the Ottomans in WWI I give the claims the benefit of the doubt.

But the point here is not that some people in Turkey or elsewhere want to deny it. It's that freedom of speech includes the ability to say and believe some pretty horrible things. Socialists -- leftists -- in the US, these people are known as "progressives" -- are banning a point of view. This is consistent with US progressives attack on privately-owned TV stations at the last election, when they tried to get the FCC to shut down some stations whose owner aired opinion editorial spots they didn't like.

It seems socialists/progressives all over the world are of the same stripe - put tape on the mouth of anyone they don't like.

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