[Reader-list] FW: Limits of discourse (query)

[Vijender Chauhan]

-----Original Message-----
From: H-Net Network for Independent Scholars and Scholarship
[mailto:H-SCHOLAR at H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Margaret DeLacy
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 12:56 AM
To: H-SCHOLAR at H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: Limits of discourse (query)

Dear all,

Knowledge is not always value-neutral; history is how we construct
narratives about ourselves and our societies, and as scholars and
teachers, we sometimes find ourselves drawn into acrimonious debates.
For
instance, I recently became involved in an online discussion with
someone
who denies the current narrative about the Holocaust that the gas
chambers
at Auschwitz were logistically impossible. His logic, to say the least,
left something to be lacking.

My questions are as follows:
1. How does one argue with someone who asks for free and open public
debate, but summarily dismisses any evidence which you employ to prove
your point?

2. There are many people who hold unpopular points of view on
controversial matters but nonetheless make important points - Charles
Shively on age-of-consent, for instance. If we say that one person may
express their views and another may not, where does this end, and does
it
stifle constructive public discourse?

Yours,
Ken Mondschein