Letters: ...and the paradox of it

In the context of France’s law against denying the Armenian genocide, The Los Angeles Times published an edit on 21 December, 2011 that said the Bill goes against the spirit of free speech rights. But if denial of Armenian genocide is an individual’s right to his or her opinion, what about Holocaust denial? Would it be legal to deny the Holocaust too? If so, is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad right in denying the Holocaust and, consequently, the justification for Israel’s creation?

Not too long ago, a school teacher at Los Angeles Unified school district – Patricia McAllister – was fired for her anti-Semitic remarks, as was John Galliano of Christian Dior. Would it be correct to argue that McAllister is entitled to her opinion about American Jews — hateful or otherwise? All this only points to the fact that consistency, leave alone clarity, is one thing that is lacking in terms of defining where the limits of free speech lie. We need more debate on this issue.

Raghu Seshadri Chennai

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