this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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I am noticing a rise in Holocaust denial with the rising anti-Zionism coming out of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Many of these YouTubers, tiktokers, and podcasters point to the writings of David Irving as proof. I know he is a holocaust denier and an idiot, but I would like to read it so I could point out the exact flaws in Irving’s “evidence” and stop getting the comment “You haven’t even read it!”. I also don’t want to send a penny to this author, but also don’t want to break the law in getting access to it.

How would you go about this situation?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

https://annas-archive.org/search?q=david+irving

edit: on the ebooks topic, i've had a pretty good experience with the kobo libra color ereader along with calibre, but it's a miserable experience trying to read graphic novels on it-- any recommendations (that are not amazon/apple/android/google) for an ereader that can do graphics well?

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

You could just buy the book second-hand. Authors don't get any of that money, and you'll be able to get it for much cheaper than new.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

Just break the law lol. The law is made up horseshit 😆

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

You could probably pirate it from somewhere

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (5 children)

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Just live your life

Anyone with enough money to influence society already has enough money to influence society. Given them another $3 doesn't make you complicit

If they have problematic views but aren't pushing them on society... Well, no one is perfect.

Ultimately, voting with your wallet is a lie. Best sellers aren't the best books, they're the ones boosted by publishers and public figures. Just like the record industry - there's people who are literally choosing the winners and losers

What's the ultimate ethical implication of using ketchup at McDonald's vs buying a dipping sauce? There certainly is one, tiny as it might be. Use that energy to do good things, you'll make a far greater difference calling a senator than buying a lifetime of books

Or just sidestep it all and pirate it or check it out at a library

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I bought a book about communism yesterday off of Amazon.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Threw out Gaiman's books , needs to be purged from history ( except Good Omens of course, because of Pratchett)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Rape women.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Ugh, of course those people would point to any source that supports their current claim, without vetting the source itself. They'll even tell you that of course they don't support antisemitism, while spouting that antisemitic Irving shit all day, and that's okay because they pick and choose only what they agree with out of the rhetoric. As though they couldn't find sources that support their point without the concomitant antisemitism.

First and foremost, then, I'd go about this by not denying the genocide in Gaza and not saying stuff such as "I bet you love Palestine" like it's a pejorative, spacecadet.

My second point would be to recognise that there is no moral or ethical reason not to pirate Irving's works. If you were able to find it at a library, it would be there because someone paid a publisher for the copy and likely some kind of library license. Some of that goes to Irving. There is no way to deny him profit and acquire his work legally. So, pirate it. Fuck that guy.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Do you have to agree with everyone you give your money to? What sort of economy would that be?

Buy the book on the premise that you want access to the content he spent energy and time to produce. Just like you’d pay to get access to any kind of content that you want to consume because it is the fair thing to do.

Or get it at the library like everyone else said.

Pirating it is not ethical of course, but furthermore it becomes hypocritical and intellectually dishonest if you would criticize some else for pirating content produced by any other author.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't think people expect that you have to agree with everyone you give money to, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to try to avoid sending money to a Holocaust denier specifically for his Holocaust denial

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

But the OP wants access to that content. It doesn’t matter what the content is, what matters is someone wrote it and they are entitled to payment from those who want to consume it.

Alternatively they could just not read it or ask the people they are debating to send them a copy if they possess one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I have some big news for you about libraries and second hand book stores.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think the question includes a discussion of whether or not that access is worth sending money to the author, right? Like, even if OP completely agrees with your position about the author deserving money for access and also wants access, they may want to both avoid sending money to the author and to avoid stealing it more. Of course you mentioned the possibility of finding it in a library and someone else in the thread suggested finding it second hand, which are probably both preferable solutions here if they are practical

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I just don’t think there’s any room for debate. You can get it on loan, rent it, buy it secondhand or buy it new. Anything else would be unethical.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

That's fine, that just means the ethical question is now "is accessing it in one of those ways worth the consequences of doing so?" You might well say yes or, as others in these comments have, argue that the consequences are negligible. You might say no. It's still a relevant debate in the topic OP is asking about even if we completely accept your position about which ways of getting access are ethical

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do you have to agree with everyone you give your money to? What sort of economy would that be?

Probably a pretty nice one, actually.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yeah isolating yourself from everyone you disagree with is awesome, truly nothing bad ever comes out of it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ergo we should feel obligated to give money to people who we believe are actively harming the world?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You are not obligated to read the book.

You should feel obligated to nothing except to remunerate people fairly for their work if you want it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Sure, I am obviously not obligated to read the book, but what I was specifically responding to was the following remark:

Yeah isolating yourself from everyone you disagree with is awesome, truly nothing bad ever comes out of it.

which in turn was a response to the following:

Do you have to agree with everyone you give your money to? What sort of economy would that be?

Probably a pretty nice one, actually.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

I would start by asking Anna if she has the book in her archive.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Download a book? Illegally? Online? Through a popular torrent website?

I would never do such an illegal and terrible thing!!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 days ago (3 children)

That method is horrible because the author wouldn’t make any money off of it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Yeah that would be bad. I think we can agree that if there's one thing that's even more important than the ideology of an author, it's definitely capitalism, which is conveniently not an ideology at all, just one of the fundamental laws of the universe. That's why it's important to not pirate things for ideological reasons.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

You could… hahum… found it there, lying on the internet… hum

[–] [email protected] 54 points 3 days ago (4 children)

go to a library and borrow it?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Not at local library

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Do most public libraries have holocaust denial works?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In the UK, certainly. It's not the library's job to censor what the borrowers want to read, even if it's David Icke.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Some do, and inter-library loans are a thing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

highly doubt it, but i've seen some similar cases..

i would just pirate tbh

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Furthermore, since it's very likely that this author is not going to make really complex points, you could just go to the library, skim through it for an hour or two, and take notes on the two or three points worth quoting. (Or go all old-school and make photocopies of a few pages....). This way there is no record of your use of this book anywhere

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I utilize Libby and local libraries but it’s not available.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

Legally, you could buy a used copy if you could find one.

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