A Dictatorship of Truth

Recently France has decided to pass a law making it a crime to deny that Armenians were persecuted by the Ottoman Turks. The Armenian Genocide happened between 1915 and 1917, and hundreds of thousands of Armenians were deported from Anatolia and Mesopotamia and that over 1 million died as a result of these deportations. The Turkish government still maintains that this did not reach the scale of genocide, and they have strongly protested the actions of the French in passing this legislation. They say that they may take action against France (whatever that means, probably economic) in response to this legislation. It greatly concerns me that France would pass a law effectively limiting the right of free speech, even if what is suppressed is denial of a ghastly event that actually happened in the past. This is the same as laws that prohibit denial of the Holocaust: its censorship, and it actually seems like a form of weakness. For instance--

A case has not been truly refuted until it has been stated in its strongest form:

1. Forced migrations do not constitute genocide.

2. The deaths among the Armenian population were due to famine and the turmoil of World War I.

3. The graves in the desert were dug due to the difficulties of travelling through desert conditions.

The verdict of historians is unanimous about Armenian genocide (except for Turkish historians), and the fact is that if there is a forced migration that results in hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of deaths then it is genocide. The Turkish authorities deported the Armenians to desert regions to cover up the mass graves, and this has been proven.

The above are all facts. It bothers me (despite the good intentions behind this legislation), that the people who have the truth on their side feel the need to prevent those who cling to myths and outright falsehoods from expressing their incorrect and irrational views. Its not a sign of strength to stifle opposition to something, its a sign of weakness. Let me say again that I think denying genocide is absolutely despicable, its the cens0rship that I am against. Let us counter falsehoods with facts, lies with truth, and discrimination with tolerance. Those who deny history can live in their own little world based on discredited lies, and by their very expression of their views they will be denied the opportunity to implement them.

As for the Turkish government and the Turkish people, they must admit that the genocide happened and stop sugarcoating the unpleasant facts about their past. Its only by admitting that one's own past is not flawless that the journey through which a society has travelled to reach the present is thrown into starker relief.