08 November 2005

Pseudoscience in politics spreads to Germany, stopped in its tracks

Ernst Zuendel, German citizen and long-time Canadian resident, claims that the Nazi death camps were a Jewish conspiracy to extort money from the German government. In Germany, denying the Holocaust is a crime, and after US deportation to Canada (for violating immigration laws) and then Canadian deportation to Germany (for being a threat to national security), he is finally facing charges in the successor to his home country of West Germany, which he originally left as a draft dodger. Among the charges is one of using "'pseudo-scientific' methods to try to rewrite the accepted history of the Nazi Holocaust, in 14 pieces of written work and internet publications." (CNN) I'm glad their government at least understands that pseudoscientific approaches shouldn't be harnessed to support political views.

5 comments:

utenzi said...

What is going on with your 4-29 record? You have a great blog here. Freakin' weird.

Maybe it's like in your other post where you're referring to anti-science sentiments. Working in a university environment I don't see it very much, but when I read polls on what the public believes... it's scary!

zandperl said...

"4-29 record"? I'm not sure to what you're referring. Thanks for the compliment!

Make sure to check out my latest post for more scary shit the public believes. I'm also working on a post on scientific illiteracy in this country, but I want more data/sources to back it up first. I am also in academia myself, but at a community college, where we are a lot more in touch with "the common man."

I have to admit get a number of my ideas from The Esoteric Science Resource Center (sclerotic_rings) - not so much that it'd be pointless to write my own blog, but enough that I should probably dedicate a post to him. He's got good stuff, and I think he's actually a journalist or writer, so check him out too.

utenzi said...

I'd not seen that site before, ZP. I'll check it out later this morning before I go to bed.

As for the 4-29, that's your record on Blog Explosion's Battle of the Blogs.

zandperl said...

4 and 31 now. :-P People vote for flashy blogs with original layouts, not interesting blogs with original content. Part of that is due to the format - the first 15 people to register a vote get credits for voting, so anyone who takes the time to read the content will not gain credits for it. Not sure why I keep bothering wasting credits on it... I guess I'm guaranteed 15 pageviews for 10 credits, but they're less likely to read the page than people who surf through.

utenzi said...

You're quite right, ZP. I've got a winning record but probably mostly due to the pretty picture at the top and my occasional pictures of pets. Certainly not when I post anything serious--which I do once or twice a week.

I agree with the type of folk that pass through also. It's rare that I get a comment from anyone from Blog Explosion--and on the occasions I read more than a couple of posts on the competing sites, I lose out on getting points. LOL Just like you observed, ZP. But since it's only a third of a point or so....