Yesterday I received an email by a person I do not know. It was a reaction to my having appeared on one of David Duke’s talk shows on April 30, 2012. He wrote, among other things: “I am concerned that Germar Rudol[f]’s image as a reputable and objective scientist will be irreparably damaged by his association with David Duke.” This was followed by five lines of invectives which I will not repeat here. In reaction to this I wrote the following which I want to share with everyone who wants to listen. So here I go:
This is neither about me nor about David Duke. It is not even about reputation, as neither of us have any to lose in the eyes of the public at large anyhow. It is about ostracizing others. We, as victims of such societal ills, should be very careful before we do this to others.
You criticize me for talking publicly with a person of alleged ill-repute. David will be criticized the same way for talking to me by some of his adherents who think revisionism unnecessarily encumbers his/their political struggle. So here we all go, diminishing the ranks of our potential listeners and supporters in order to allegedly look better – to whom? Those who denigrate us daily?
You – and everyone else, for that matter – should not judge me by the persons I talk to, but by what I say to them. Keep in mind that I will talk to anyone, everyone, who wants to and does talk to me in a civilized manner. One of the things I have learned during my ordeal is that we should NEVER allow our persecutors to define who we are permitted to talk to. Allowing this to happen is like rubber-stamping their acts of persecution as valid, legitimate and appropriate.
And this is something I will never agree to.
Being free to speak with whom we damn well please to speak is also a very important part of the very concept of free speech. It should also be a basic principle of humanness: speak with and listen to each other rather than harm and kill each other. It would behoove our societal and political leaders well to listen to that advice. But most of them are deaf in that regard, I’m afraid…
Next week I’ll be interviewed by Carolyn Yeager. I hope that no one will freak out over that one, although I figure some may cringe. That’s life.
