Representative Press Blog

Not Libel?

As evidenced on Lipstadt's own blog, people do get the wrong idea because of Ms. Lipstadt's use of the term "Holocaust denier."

As I pointed out on her blog, Ms. Lipstadt has made people think that Irving denies that Jews died in camps or were killed in camps. For example, the "Jewish Press Online" compared Irving's opinion to "denying that African-Americans were enslaved." You can see how outrageous that is, Lipstadt has succeeded in libeling the man.

And not wanting to be libeled by Ms. Lipstadt is not the same as trying to "silence Lipstadt".

And to compound the wrong of giving people the idea that Irving denies that Jews died in camps or were killed in camps, Ms. Lipstadt tries to keep him from getting a fair hearing which could clear it up! (so people can continue to get the false impression) If not her intent, will Ms. Lipstadt issue a press release that clears it up for the people who are mislead by her term? Will Ms. Lipstadt issue a press realize that says, "Just to be clear, Irving does not deny that Jews died in camps or were killed in camps." If not, why not? It is wrong to knowingly label a man so that many people think he denies that that Jews died in camps or were killed in camps. Ms. Lipstadt is a game player, she cannot honestly say that people are not getting the wrong idea when she uses the term and that it is causing unnecessary anguish for many people. As evidenced in this blog, people do have the outragous notion Irving denies that Jews died in camps or were killed in camps and that is Lipstadt's doing and it is grotesque, manipulative and dishonest.

Lipstadt seems to be enjoying her dirty work, she writes with childish enthusiasm, "AP Wire and bloggers catch the C-Span-Spin Wave!"

Trying to explain it to Richard:

Richard, as I have tried to explain, what Deborah Lipstadt is doing is wrong .

Irving is a man that believes that Jews were killed in great number and has documneted specific conversations of Germans talking aout the shootings. Irving is a man who believes that the Jews died in concentration camps. Irving is a man who believe that Nazis not only killed Jews with mass shootings but also killed Jews in concentration camps.
Now does that sound like a "Holocaust Denier?

If your first reaction to what I am writting is that I must be wrong about what Irving thinks then you prove my point that using the term "Holocaust Denier" to describe David Irving is grotesque, manipulative and dishonest.

Irving wrote, "If this biography were simply a history of the rise and fall of Hitler's Reich it would be legitimate to conclude "Hitler killed the Jews." He after all had created the atmosphere of hatred with his speeches in the 1930's; he and Himmler had created the SS; his speeches, though never explicit, left the clear impression that "liquidate" was what he meant. For a full-length war biography of Hitler, I felt that a more analytical approach to the key questions of initiative, complicity, and execution would be necessary. Remarkably, I found that Hitler's own role in the "Final Solution"-whatever that was-has never been examined." -David Irving London, January 1976
and January 1989

What Deborah Lipstadt is doing is wrong, she is CREATING the false impression that Irving and others think that Nazis did not kill Jews. She has done harm, causing unnecessary anguish with her arrogance and dishonesty.

and Richard's "Lipstadt caliber" response:
"Representative Press, it is amazing that you alone have discovered that Mr. Irving is not a Holocaust denier. And it is even more amazing that you sent Richard Cohen an email telling him that. Pray tell us how you managed to do that when there has never been an email address for Mr. Cohen posted on the Washington Post website. I guess your imaginary email is as accurate as your imaginary discovery about Mr. Irving. I don't know what you are smoking, Representative Press, but it can't be good for your heath. " comment on Roger Simon's misguided article (the result of Washington Post's Richard Cohen's inaccurate article March 17, 2005: "Fairness" at C-SPAN

example of Mr. Cohen's innaccuracy: He writes that "To Lipstadt's statements about the Holocaust, there was Irving's rebuttal that it never happened -- no systematic killing of Jews, no Final Solution and, while many people died at Auschwitz of disease and the occasional act of brutality, there were no gas chambers there." Now simply look at what Irving wrote above, Irving mentions the Final Solution! Look at what Irving said at the Libel Trial, "I do not deny that there was some kind of gassing at gas chambers in Birkenau, it is highly likely that there was." (Emphasis mine. For the layperson it should be explained with regards to the words "Birkenau" and "Auschwitz" that it is often refered to as "Auschwitz-Birkenau" or the "Auschwitz camp at Birkenau") and keep in mind that Irving said this at the trial with Lipstadt, the trial Lipstadt's book is about!