But Irving is hardly a lone wolf in the academic wilderness. There can be little doubt that Holocaust denial will gain strength once there are no more victims alive to supply eyewitness testimony about Nazi atrocities. The need to remember is made all the more critical by the existence of well-known political figures who at various times express sympathy for accused Nazi war criminals or doubt the extent of the Holocaust, such as Patrick Buchanan and Louis Farrakhan. If we are unwilling to brand scientific nonsense as just that, and if when empirically verifiable falsehoods become subjects for debate, then the whole notion of truth becomes hazy. The need to present both sides of an issue is necessary only when there are two sides.
Similar laws exist in most Western democracies.
Of course, Dodd hadn't countenanced Irving, who himself is living proof that one may be both a scholar and a bigot.