Thursday, September 14, 2006

A Name I've Never Heard Before

Canadian authorities have sentenced Edmonton's resident wingnut, Reni Sentana-Ries, to sixteen months in prison for operating a "hate Web site."

Note that I don't put that phrase in sneer quotes because I don't think that such sites exist. I know that they do. Rather, I question (again) the judgment of putting people in jail for their political beliefs, no matter how repugnant.

Consider: I've been in the Holocaust denial refutation business for going on seven years now, and I've never heard of this guy. I mean never. There are other Canadian deniers who have crossed my radar, notably Manitoba's Lubomir Prytulak (a Ukrainian-Canadian who believes no war crimes were committed in Ukraine during WWII) and, of course, Ernst Zündel (who is standing trial in Germany as we speak for denying the Holocaust -- another idiotic move).

But Sentana-Ries? Never heard of him. If that's the case, then (not to toot my own horn) how dangerous can he be?

Canada has made this mistake in the past and, unfortunately, will likely continue to make this mistake, bringing publicity to people that otherwise would be men wearing tin foil hats and operating Web sites that no one reads. (Note that I only fit one of those two criteria.)

2 comments:

Mae Travels said...

"...bringing publicity to people that otherwise would be men wearing tin foil hats and operating Web sites that no one reads. (Note that I only fit one of those two criteria.)"

You wear a tinfoil hat? Or I, a reader, am no one?

I found your site when I searched for my father's village (where the family "disappeared" in the early 40s). Your post gave more details about the village than I had seen before, which you provided as evidence for what is denied.

Sometimes I am disappointed when you call your opponents names. But I keep reading. Thank you.

Kiwiwriter said...

My tin foil hat fits fine, thank you.

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