It is gratifying to see counterknowledge calmly and ruthlessly being picked to pieces.
A group of Lebanese Muslims, made angry by a Facebook group which calls the Prophet Mohammed “a murderer”, have retaliated by starting their own group. It’s called “Based on the facts…There was no Holocaust”. There are 146 members of the group including, bizarrely, a member of the British Broadcasting Corporation network.
It would be easy to get very angry about this, and many Jewish contributors to the group’s wall do. One High School student exclaims that “it’s quite possible the people in this group are the biggest f***ing morons on the planet”. While one man, from the United Arab Emirates, rails against the group’s members: “you make the whole Arab world look like idiots!”
But one can sense that Mohamad Ali Al Zahabi, the group’s creator, is rather pleased by all this. He has started the controversy and, like most Holocaust deniers, he enjoys the fuss he is causing.
What he can’t deal with, however, is reasoned response from contributors who ask for a defence of his position. One such contributor, William Henderson, states:
“I believe there was a Holocaust.
If ‘the facts’ have actually brought you to a point where you can conclusively say “There was no Holocaust”, then let’s hear them and discuss why you believe that.
I look forward to constructively discussing this topic with you, or anyone else who chooses to message me.”
Henderson continues, replying at length to all questions directed at him by the Holocaust deniers. He uses historical evidence and, crucially, a wide range of sources. Here’s his reply to someone arguing that the crematoria at Auschwitz were built in response to a typhus epidemic which caused thousands of deaths:
“That’s a nice idea, but the first mention of triple muffle furnaces for new Crematoria buildings was in a letter to J.A. Topf and Sons [the firm produced which produced the equipment], dated October 22nd, 1941.
That’s six months before the Typhus outbreak even began.”
So, he rightly concludes, that piece of misinformation is no longer relevant.
The Facebook group “Based on the facts…There was no Holocaust” is only one example of pseudohistory on the internet – indeed, it is only one example of the appalling amount of pseudohistory on Facebook.
But the composed and thorough examination of the facts, demonstrated by Henderson and others, shows how easy it is to dismantle.
The only way to defeat counterknowledge is to engage with it.
If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter? You might also consider making a donation to the Counterknowledge.com fighting fund.
If the idiot would read the work of Dr. deborah Lipstadt and her latest book..History on Trial he would realize how insane it is to even try to deny the Holocaust.
Those who would declare the Holocaust a myth are in league with antievolutionists and flat-earthers. Except they also exude the particularly noxious odor of bigotry and hatred. Although I usually make any and all attempts to engage in reasoned dialogue, perhaps these particular peabrains are not even worthy or engagement in (or capable of) rational discourse.
So when you make fun of their prophet, its ok, but when they hit home on another touchy subject, its outrageous?
Irony and Contradiction all in one stupid package…nice.
Kovo: It’s not making fun of their prophet – Mohammed murdered non-believers, didn’t he?
RationalEyes: That is certainly one option. But not the best one. Counterknowledge, left untended, spreads faster than a bad rumour. Engaging with the bastards is the one way to shut them up.
So when you make fun of their prophet, its ok, but when they hit home on another touchy subject, its outrageous?
Whether a historical figure is or is not God’s prophet is a matter of faith– jokes about a revered prophet can be anywhere between playful yet well intended irreverence (even devout Muslims tell jokes) and hateful (if done in a way that dehumanizes said prophet or all whom followers.) However, since it deals with a matter of faith, truth is not at issue.
On the issue of Holocaust denial– it’s not only hateful, but it is a deliberate lie about well documented events that can be known to anyone no matter their religious beliefs.
It all depends on whether you place greater value on faith or on truth.
Kovo, why do so many Muslims automatically attack the Jews and deny their holocaust every time some individual one in the “West” disparages Islam? Is that logical? Or is it merely a form of “Muslim logic” – to target someone clearly unconnected with your bugbear, simply because that someone is a soft target generally hated by a wide range of other bigoted groups? What a pathetic way to address Islamophobia.
The “holocaust”, as you people understand it, is a work of epic fiction.
There’s holocausts and holocausts
WW2 20 million died
China Rev’n 20 – 80 million died
Russia – 20 million died
Armenian thing ? millions died
Congo – 3 million died
Jews as usual claiming everything, don’t make me laugh.
It is gratifying to see counterknowledge calmly and ruthlessly being picked to pieces.
A group of Lebanese Muslims, made angry by a Facebook group which calls the Prophet Mohammed “a murderer”, have retaliated by starting their own group. It’s called “Based on the facts…There was no Holocaust”. There are 146 members of the group including, bizarrely, a member of the British Broadcasting Corporation network.
It would be easy to get very angry about this, and many Jewish contributors to the group’s wall do. One High School student exclaims that “it’s quite possible the people in this group are the biggest f***ing morons on the planet”. While one man, from the United Arab Emirates, rails against the group’s members: “you make the whole Arab world look like idiots!”
But one can sense that Mohamad Ali Al Zahabi, the group’s creator, is rather pleased by all this. He has started the controversy and, like most Holocaust deniers, he enjoys the fuss he is causing.
What he can’t deal with, however, is reasoned response from contributors who ask for a defence of his position. One such contributor, William Henderson, states:
“I believe there was a Holocaust.
If ‘the facts’ have actually brought you to a point where you can conclusively say “There was no Holocaust”, then let’s hear them and discuss why you believe that.
I look forward to constructively discussing this topic with you, or anyone else who chooses to message me.”
Henderson continues, replying at length to all questions directed at him by the Holocaust deniers. He uses historical evidence and, crucially, a wide range of sources. Here’s his reply to someone arguing that the crematoria at Auschwitz were built in response to a typhus epidemic which caused thousands of deaths:
“That’s a nice idea, but the first mention of triple muffle furnaces for new Crematoria buildings was in a letter to J.A. Topf and Sons [the firm produced which produced the equipment], dated October 22nd, 1941.
That’s six months before the Typhus outbreak even began.”
So, he rightly concludes, that piece of misinformation is no longer relevant.
The Facebook group “Based on the facts…There was no Holocaust” is only one example of pseudohistory on the internet – indeed, it is only one example of the appalling amount of pseudohistory on Facebook.
But the composed and thorough examination of the facts, demonstrated by Henderson and others, shows how easy it is to dismantle.
The only way to defeat counterknowledge is to engage with it.
If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter? You might also consider making a donation to the Counterknowledge.com fighting fund.
