Elie Wiesel attacked

[Chad_A]

Per Comcast.net:

 

"SAN FRANCISCO - A man who approached Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust scholar Eli Wiesel seeking an interview at a San Francisco hotel last week later roughed him up, police said.

 

Police are investigating the incident in which they say a man, who may have been a Holocaust denier, approached Wiesel in an elevator at a peace forum at the Argent Hotel Feb. 1 and requested an interview.

 

When Wiesel consented to talk in the hotel's lobby, the man insisted it be done in a hotel room and dragged the 78-year-old off the elevator on the sixth floor, police Sgt. Neville Gittens said.

 

The assailant fled after Wiesel began to scream, and Wiesel went to the lobby and called police.

 

Gittens said investigators were aware of a posting at an anti-Semitic Web site in which a man claimed responsibility for the attack, but declined to comment further.

 

The Web site is registered in Australia. Australian police said they had not received a request from U.S. officials seeking help in the investigation.

 

Wiesel couldn't be immediately reached for comment at Boston University, where he teaches, or through his institute in New York.

 

Wiesel, who survived the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during World War II, has worked for human rights in many parts of the world and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986."

 

 

Glad he's ok; "Night" is one of the books that I dare say has changed my life in one way or another. I can't believe this whole Holocaust denial movement.

 

[billcoe]

I can't either VW. and what kind of piece of garbage coward attacks an old man.

[Dechristo]

I can't either VW. and what kind of piece of garbage coward attacks an old man.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I can't either VW. and what kind of piece of garbage coward attacks an old man.

 

The same kind of people who deny the holocaust (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad).

 

 

[Dechristo]

Arrest made in attack on Wiesel

[sexual_chocolate]

I can't either VW. and what kind of piece of garbage coward attacks an old man.

 

The same kind of people who deny the holocaust (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad).

 

 

for thinking minds, such as yours.

[Stonehead]

Who benefits from what was alleged to have been said? Is Iran really itching to get into a war? With Israel? With the US?

 

Who's beating the war drums here?

 

Does the government of Iran want to go to the brink of armed confrontation or is it certain elements within the government? Do the people want to go to war?

 

 

[Stonehead]

Per Comcast.net:

 

"SAN FRANCISCO - A man who approached Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust scholar Eli Wiesel seeking an interview at a San Francisco hotel last week later roughed him up, police said.

 

Police are investigating the incident in which they say a man, who may have been a Holocaust denier, approached Wiesel in an elevator at a peace forum at the Argent Hotel Feb. 1 and requested an interview.

 

When Wiesel consented to talk in the hotel's lobby, the man insisted it be done in a hotel room and dragged the 78-year-old off the elevator on the sixth floor, police Sgt. Neville Gittens said.

 

The assailant fled after Wiesel began to scream, and Wiesel went to the lobby and called police.

 

Gittens said investigators were aware of a posting at an anti-Semitic Web site in which a man claimed responsibility for the attack, but declined to comment further.

 

The Web site is registered in Australia. Australian police said they had not received a request from U.S. officials seeking help in the investigation.

 

Wiesel couldn't be immediately reached for comment at Boston University, where he teaches, or through his institute in New York.

 

Wiesel, who survived the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during World War II, has worked for human rights in many parts of the world and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986."

 

 

Glad he's ok; "Night" is one of the books that I dare say has changed my life in one way or another. I can't believe this whole Holocaust denial movement.

 

In the court of public opinion, it's clearcut. What happened based on this media report was an old man got roughed up, an injustice.

 

But did this other man commit a crime? Jail for German Holocaust denier

[joblo7]

propaganda! old coot pushed! wow! some died, long time ago.lets fuck up the planet for that.imperialism and zionism meet at power-sharing.

[Stonehead]

I hate injustice. Period. But what is truth? Should we keep an open, inquisitive mind, asking questions, revising our theories of what the world is? Is history once written, set in stone? I get set in my ways but occasionally I get the bug. What if everything I thought was true, was actually questionable?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I can't either VW. and what kind of piece of garbage coward attacks an old man.

 

The same kind of people who deny the holocaust (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad).

 

 

for thinking minds, such as yours.

 

How many languages do you speak fluently? I know little about Farsi, but am highly dubious about the "distinctions" made by the authors of that little piece. You can not simply translate word-for-word; idioms must be translated as a unit, and this author is trying to do the former. Perhaps, you find the arguments compelling because they allow you to rationalize (and excuse) hate speech which is inconvenient to your world-view. I recall similar treatment of various discussions about what Khrushchev "really" meant when he said the USSR would "bury the west".

 

BTW, I've got no rose-colored glasses when it comes to Israel, and have plenty of criticism for how that nation was founded and how it has conducted itself over the past 30 years.

 

[sobo]

...But did this other man commit a crime? Jail for German Holocaust denier

 

Yes, according to current German law on the subject, he most certainly did.

 

...German law which bans Holocaust denial...

 

...ban Nazi symbols like the swastika, which, like denying the massacre of the Jews, is already outlawed in Germany...

 

OTOH, do I believe that the Germans, or any state for that matter, should even have a law banning what one may wish or may not wish to believe? An emphatic NO! That is government legislating your individual thinking, and that, too, is wrong.

And the Germans are already taking up the cause to make Holocaust denail a crime across the entire EU. And some people think it is only our own civil liberties that are being challenged/removed here in the USA...

 

I find myself being reminded of the words of wisdom from Voltaire...

[Stonehead]

The fact that he was tried and found guilty in a German court of law pretty much says it all. He got the maximum sentence of five years for the 14 counts against him. Apparently, there is speech considered so vile and provocative that it warrants this punishment. Doesn't this amount to blatant censorship?

 

If the evidence is so undeniable wouldn't most people just laugh and consider this man a fool? What rational person would take his ideas seriously?

 

If Martin Luther was alive today, he would probably be labeled an anti-Semite and consequently thrown into prison.

[tvashtarkatena]

Hate speech laws in the United States draw the line at direct intimidation or intent to threaten. For example, the Supreme Court has ruled that burning a cross at a KKK rally is protected speech, but burning a cross across the street from a black family is an intended threat and therefore not protected.

 

Other countries, such as Germany, have stronger hate speech laws that do not require such specific intimidation or intent. A nazi tattoo that would be legal in the US would not fly in Germany. Similarly, public speech, such as denying the holocaust, that would be allowed in the US would not be allowed in Germany.

 

This is consistent the history of 1st amendment protections (speech, press, religion, assembly), which have typically been stronger in the US than other countries.

[sobo]

...Apparently, there is speech considered so vile and provocative that it warrants this punishment. Doesn't this amount to blatant censorship?

 

In this country, yes. Not so in Germany. See tvash's comments. ^^

 

...If the evidence is so undeniable wouldn't most people just laugh and consider this man a fool? What rational person would take his ideas seriously?

 

You hit the nail square on the head, there. Again, it's irrational people, like all extreme fundamentalists, that help to keep his writing career alive.

[joblo7]

" like the ussr was 'illiminated' , israel was a bad idea and should be wiped out the face of the earth." ...... irani president.

 

[Bill Slugg]

virendra7

I'm trying to get a handle on this Jewish hatred thing. Christians and Muslims hate the Jews because the Jews were compliscit in the cruscifiction. But wasn't it actually the Romans who did the deed?

How come Christians/Muslims don't hate the Romans?

 

And to stir the pot a bit further. How come advances in cooking technology, such as sufficient heat, don't allow Jews/Muslims to change their position on pork?

[joblo7]

i dont see it as all based in hate.

 

eating meat was a necessity of ancient man.for us to kill some home grown animal to survive is barbaric, cruel. we do it because we still like to feel like an animal.

[joblo7]

do you get a handle on this american hate thing? people dont hate us as christians as much as they hate us as imperialists/conquerors. same for all groups who are despised. never are they innocent to the degree they profess. like joe middle america will always be surprised he is hated all over the world because HE did nothing...

he voted.

[Dechristo]

It seems, generally, the higher the conciousness or awareness of the human (in their own estimation), the lower the conciousness of the living being required as acceptable for their consumption.

 

V7, it sounds like you estimate your own awareness to be relatively high and require a reciprocal low awareness for your consumption: you draw the line between animals and plants, yes?

 

I don't care about all that too much. Once, I did. Vegetarian for eight years, macrobiotic for three of 'em.

 

Nowadays, I might eat a human if I had to.

 

Of course, I'd draw the line somewhere above Kevbone...

[tvashtarkatena]

Eat me, DC.

 

Da way I look at it is this: things eat each other. That's nature's way. Humans invented domesticated animals and plants for consumption using the brain that we evolved for whatever reasons. Fine. As long as those animals and plants are raised sustainably and responsibly, Let's eat, beyotch!

[ZimZam]

Bar-B-Que Kevbone w/ a side of Pink. plop..plop..fizz..fizz

[ivan]

Bar-B-Que Kevbone w/ a side of Pink. plop..plop..fizz..fizz

even a meat-eater's gotta draw the line somewhere...

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

i dont see it as all based in hate.

 

eating meat was a necessity of ancient man.for us to kill some home grown animal to survive is barbaric, cruel. we do it because we still like to feel like an animal.

 

Wrong. We do it because the animals are tasty.

 

And there's nothing "cruel" about it, especially when it comes to fruits des mer. Do crustaceans or mollusks really have "feelings"?

[tvashtarkatena]

The main problem with Veganism is, well, just look what kind of mates you wind up with.

 

Perhaps that's why it's a relatively new phenomenon from an evolutionary standpoint, available only in population sizes gargantuan enough to support such nonsense.