Unbeknown to me and many others, right around the time there was a national furor over Facebook’s decision to allow groups promoting Holocaust Denial within its social networking borders, NBC was doing the exact same thing” within it’s “Universal” media borders.
It is being reported that NBC columnist and commentator Pat Buchanan’s personal website, Buchanan.org, hosted a forum entitled “Disinformation, Deception and Other Tricks” and within that, a thread called “Discussion about ‘The Holocaust. The thread discussions allegedly propagated the revisionist historical theory of “Holocaust Denial”
The entire forum section of the website was allegedly taken down hours after an op-ed by Menachem Rosensaft in the New York Daily News pointed out it’s existence. To date both NBC and Pat Buchanan have been silent despite calls for a public explanation of what, and when they knew about this and what, if any action will be taken with regards to Pat Buchanan.
There are striking similarities between NBC’s apparent indifference to the victim’s of human tragedy and the controversy over Facebook allowing groups promoting Holocaust Denial. Facebook argued that no matter how repugnant, Holocaust Denial is not hate speech as they define it. It is simply a controversial historical theory. We can expect Pat Buchanan to say almost the same thing(if he ever says anything). The big difference is that unlike Facebook, he arguably agrees with the Holocaust Deniers.
The most notable of his Holocaust Denial statements was in 1990. Buchanan challenged the mechanism by which Jews were gassed by the Nazis. He stated that it was impossible for 850,000 Jews to be killed by diesel exhaust fed into the gas chambers of Treblinka and other Nazi death camps.
Given Buchanan’s past inflammatory statements regarding Jews and the Holocaust, for him to claim(if he ever speaks) that he did not know of or condoned the discussion by inaction, is insulting to anyone with a brain. I suspect Pat is aware of every discussion taking place on his site. Why would he quash a discussion he believes in with no perceived consequences if he did nothing? The combination of arrogance, ego and commonality of belief are more powerful than a crack cocaine high.
I actually have no interest in hearing from Pat Buchanan on this controversy. He has made his views on Holocaust Denial and Jews clear over the years. Further debate on the subjects will not serve to enlighten him on antisemitism or millions dead. I do not see how he could say anything apologetic that would ring sincere after years of hateful rhetoric.
NBC is a different story. Like Facebook, they have a corporate social responsibility to not sanction either by action or inaction, hatred towards racial, religious and ethnic minorities. This includes antisemitism. Holocaust Denial serves no other purpose than to serve as a rallying and recruiting point for those who hate Jews.
Along with this social responsibility comes the obligation to not allow those who they pay to represent them to espouse these despicable views or allow them to be espoused in a forum under their control. CBS understood this well when they fired Don Imus. While Pat has the right to express certain views or allow them to be expressed on his personal site, NBC does not have to tolerate it when they are paying his bills and it reflects negatively on them.
NBC has the right to tell Pat that as long as they are paying him, he should refrain from expressing or allowing to be expressed on his web site, “views of hatred” towards racial,religious and ethnic minorities such as Holocaust Denial regardless of his personal views. Employers set policies and make such statements to employees in the realm of blogging and free expression on a regular basis. Pat also has the right to say he does does agree with that policy and walk. It boils down to the priories and social consciousness of NBC.
I would like to hear from NBC on these issues. Why the silence? Why so indifferent to this controversy? Why so indifferent to the existence of antisemitism and other forms of hatred on Facebook and in the Web 2.0 world in general. Did they ask Pat to take the forum down? How long did they know it was up? Is it NBC’s position that they did not know? Are they claiming it was Pat’s personal site so it was none of their business? Will they take any action to ensure that this does not happen again? Maybe NBC just doesn’t care unless the loss of big dollars are at stake.
Given Pat Buchanan’s popularity, we should not expect to hear anything from NBC anytime soon. That is, unless they determine that the controversy has reached critical mass and will negatively affect subscriber and viewers numbers and subsequently advertising dollars. Money has a way of muting or magnifying corporate indignation.
NBC’s silence as well as Facebook’s position on Holocaust Denial confirms a disturbing but all too common viewpoint in free-market principals.
In a tough economy, insentivity to the vicitims of human tragedy is a function of whatever semantics satisfy the masses. After all, just because money is stained with the blood of 11 million does not mean it is worth any less.
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May 25th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
disturbing, but not surprising, that a bigot and a multinational corporation would blithely ignore history in favor of arrogance and profits.
May 25th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
MSNBC has to come down hard on Buchanan. There is simply no place for Holocaust Denial, period. I grew up in an American Irish Catholic family, and in the world I grew up in, there was plenty of room for anti-semitism. But my father was the opposite, and from first-hand experience: during World War II, he was assigned to the US Typhus Commission, and his duties took him to newly liberated cities across Europe to eradicate outbreaks of Typhus, a disease common in war zones. It also took him to virtually every Nazi death camp as soon as they were liberated. He saw first-hand the concentration camps and the mountains of bodies. If my father ever was taught to harbor anti-semitic feelings, they were eradicated then.
You can tell Mr. Buchanan and anyone else that Holocaust did indeed take place. The horrors were real. The unthinkable number of deaths were indeed real. Just because you cannot imagine genocide on this scale being possible, does not mean it didn't happen. Truth be told, it did.
Are we as humans so depraved that we think it is okay to eradicate an entire race or creed from this Earth? If so, we as humans are a lesser species, not rulers of the Earth as we proudly consider ourselves to be. It infuriates me that in the Muslim world, it is perfectly okay to contemplate eradication of the Jews or anyone else who are, in their words, infidels. If Islam prides itself on being the religion of peace, this belief and denial of the Holocaust runs counter to all that they claim to be. And Mr. Buchanan, despite his arrogant, patrician-like attitude (I am sure he would tell you that he is more intelligent that you – just ask) shows himself to be a fool – and more – for even a tacit acceptance of Holocaust Denial.
Whenever I asked my father about what he saw in Dachau, Buchenwald, Auschwitiz, Bergen Belsin and other camps, tears and rage would form in his eyes. He saw it. He experienced it. He could never forget what he saw, or the often futile efforts to save people too weak to eat even mere broth. Tell Mr. Buchanan and others like him they are wrong.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:34 am
this all too often has to e exposed..what a tragedy that after all these year this still has to be done on a regular basis yet..good job brian…keep up the vigilance
May 26th, 2009 at 4:37 am
just as you should be allowed to post this, people should be allowed to post their inane holocaust denial theories.
Facebook, as a private corporation, as the right to decide whether to censor this or not.
I, for one, believe free speech, including hate speech and other forms speech unwelcome in polite society, is necessary for a healthy democracy.
boycott facebook if you want … besides, how many people would've ever even heard / known about the existence of these fringe holocaust denial groups on fb if it wasn't for the media and blog posts like this one? so silly.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Go after the advertisers, and Brian you are the best:) Thank you for all you post and do!
May 26th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I am always amazed by the attempts of persons to continue to to attempt to transform the truth into fiction by continually repeating lies.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I simply cannot understand how these idiots can deny such a terrible event in human history. I really do not see a point for Holocaust denial groups to be on Facebook, they only serve as a breeding ground for anti-semitism. Brian, very well said.
May 26th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
What else do you expect from people who employ the likes of Buchanan, Oberman and Matthews. They have an agenda…