Happy Friday: Ol' Dave Actually Scores a Win!

A small but significant Holocaust-related victory for your humble Dave

Looking back over the years (and whatever else that appears) I’m struck by how little my internal needle has moved regarding social/political matters. In my majority-black high school, as much as I was everybody’s pal, I was nevertheless against Affirmative Action and “black privilege” and I was very pro-cop. I was that way then, I’m that way now. Immigration, abortion, crime…I was the same fella with the same opinions watching the L.A. riots as I was watching the Floyd riots 30 years later.

Generally, my views have been remarkably stable.

But Jeezus on a pony, have I come around on the issue of defamation law. I mean, I’m just totally a different guy on that topic now. 30 years ago, I’d be Frank Zappa (minus the diseased prostate) lecturing about “speech must be free of consequences criminal or civil! Let us fight words with words not penalties!”

Yada Yada Zappa.

Obviously, my views on criminalizing speech haven’t changed, nor will they ever; any governmental prohibitions or “consequences” for speech are bad and always will be. But I used to hold similar views regarding civil defamation law and how it’s almost impossible to win a case in the U.S. if you’re even slightly a public figure.

“Good! Let speech fight speech. Keep the courts out of it.”

Well fuck that, dude. Fuck that up the rectum with such force that you Zappa its prostate. I’ve been defamed so many times over the years, by major well-funded organizations and individuals, knowing that I can’t do a damn thing about it. The immunity that Sullivan gives to those who defame public figures, the impossibility in most instances of proving “actual malice,” has been used by the worst bullies on earth against me. And yeah, I take it personally; it’s what renders me unemployable.

Wikipedia, Media Matters, Amazon, the ADL, they can say whatever inaccurate, misleading thing they want about me, and to hell with the effects on my life. This shit doesn’t just happen to me, but you’ll forgive me if I’m primarily concerned with the fact that this shit happens to me. You know how many times over 35 years I’ve been libeled or slandered and the offending party — a reporter, magazine editor, TV producer — smugly told me “go ahead and sue; you can’t win and we’ll get court costs?”

I’m a crusader for “Dave likes to buy food and you need money to buy food and defamation keeps me from earning money.”

That’s my crusade. God bless you in yours; but this one is mine.

In early September I became aware that a new book was being published by Palgrave Macmillan (the UK arm of publishing giant Macmillan) titled Ethical Rehabilitation After the Holocaust, by one Paul E. Wilson (not to be confused with F. Paul Wilson who wrote The Keep; i.e. not to be confused with an actual skilled writer).

So who is Paul E. Wilson? Certainly not a historian. He’s an associate professor of religion and philosophy (Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Tennessee, 1989; Master of Divinity, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, 1985; Bachelor of Science, Johnson Bible College, 1973).

He currently teaches at Shaw University, a little-known HBCU in North Carolina, named after Robert Shaw, of course. Main focus: teaching black kids how to speak like a grizzled shark hunter (“yarrrr, I value my neck a lot more than three thousand EBT cards, chief”).

This is Wilson’s actual photo on his Shaw U page. He looks like he’s crying, doesn’t he? Like, while trying to teach philosophy to Daquans, he’s regretting every choice he made in life.

HBCUs apparently don’t pay well enough for professors to afford a phone with a high-quality camera

Wilson: “Today we’ll be discussing Heidegger.”

DeTrytus: “Maaaan, fug dat hi-degga, I’m a high negga!”

(thus commences ten straight minutes of everyone in class screeching and high-fiving each other, as Professor Wilson silently weeps)

So in his Holocaust book, Wilson wrote:

“Some prominent hardcore Holocaust deniers include the following: David Irving, Paul Rassiner, Mark Weeber, Robert Faurisson, Bradley Smith, and David Cole.”

You all know my work. Can you imagine, can you comprehend, the sheer level of incompetence, ignorance, and lack of research skills it takes for a professor to call me a “prominent hardcore Holocaust denier?” It’s the exact opposite of the truth.

I reached out to Professor Weepington, to ask why he would describe me in such a false and defamatory way.

No response, probably because his students were playing keep-away with his phone.

Now, if I had to deal with this defamation in U.S. courts, I’d be boned like a trout. “Mr. Cole, can you scan Professor Wilson’s mind with s Star Trek-style thought reader to determine with factual assuredness that he harbored actual malice toward you when he wrote the passage in question? No? Then as a public figure you’ve wasted this court’s time with your frivolous suit. I hereby award Professor Wilson, the real victim in this case, court costs and compensatory damages. You’re not just unemployable but fiscally poorer now, Mr. Cole.”

Even though Wilson lives in the U.S., his book is published by a UK company. Hence, UK defamation law applies. And in the UK, the burden of proof in a defamation case is on the defendant. The accused defamer is the one in the hot seat, not the poor bastard he lied about.

Unfair, you say? Not free-speechy enough?

Yeah, I used to be like you. Principle over harm. Until I became the sumbitch being harmed.

Like a leftist white guy saying “defund the cops and empty the prisons!” Then that guy gets robbed and beaten by a newly-released inmate. And if he’s smart, he realizes the error of his initial thinking.

Immunity to defamation suits only encourages the bad guys. Bad guys who do bad things to decent people.

Knowing that my chances in UK courts would be good, and knowing that my employability status doesn’t need yet another piece of high-profile misinformation about my work, I reached out to Palgrave Macmillan:

I have spent the past 30 years speaking out against Holocaust denial. Calling me a “prominent hardcore Holocaust denier” is the exact opposite of the truth, and defamatory. The passage in question also contains two proper-name spelling errors – one rather egregious: “Paul Rassiner” is actually Paul Rassinier, but that error of a dropped “i” might be excusable if not for “Mark Weeber,” rather than Mark Weber. How could a name like “Weeber” not sound an alarm for a copy editor? Was there even a copy editor attached to this book? I’ve known people to spell it “Webber” rather than Weber, but “Weeber?”

My point being, I think that sentence as a whole demonstrates sloppiness and lack of attention to accuracy. But of course my sole concern is the inclusion of my name.

I consider Wilson’s false statement to be on a level that demands some manner of redress.

It took about a month — Macmillan is a huge company with many levels of management — but this week I was informed that my name will be dropped from the book and an erratum issued. It’s a “print on demand” book, so it’s not like there are stacks of already-printed books containing the error. The book will now be printed without the defamatory passage.

No way…no way this would’ve happened in the U.S. Not with our laws that give de-facto immunity to defamation. But I’d have slaughtered Macmillan in a UK court; I knew it, they knew it.

And for once the truth about Dave prevails.

So sure, as before, I’m against all European-style speech criminalization by the government. But in civil court, I do think the defamed deserve a better shot. Everyone right and left lies about everything these days, and I think it occasionally needs to be pointed out that this is not a victimless matter. It’s why I was 100% in favor (as I made clear in my columns) of the judgment against Alex Jones. That asshole (and his even worse co-conspirator Jim Fetzer) felt so immune regarding defamation that it meant nothing to them to repeatedly call the parents of Sandy Hook victims “shills” and “crisis actors” whose children are still alive, or imposters, or specters that never existed in the first place.

No thought was given to the emotional toll on those families. Not once did Jones or Fetzer pause to say “dear God, what if I’m wrong? What must it be like for the families if what I’m saying is false?” No, the verbal terrorists terrorized, thinking “hey, it’s America! We can say what we want about crime victims. We’re shielded! Privileged! Untouchable!”

But the courts “touched” the shit out of them, and good. Sure, Jones survives, because his supporters keep feeding him money. But trust me, folks. Walk a few steps in the shoes of someone who’s routinely defamed, someone who loses jobs, income, and sleep because of large-platform liars who care about nothing but their bad takes, and your perspective will change. You cheer Jones only because you haven’t been victimized by his kind.

Jones supporters are hardly “based.” They’re more like rich white leftist “defund the police” supporters. It’s all abstractions to them; zero empathy for victims…until they themselves get mugged or raped. And then they either stubbornly retain their “principles” (“I forgave my rapist DaSquerious and lobbied for his release because I’m willing to suffer for the cause anti-racism”) or they reevaluate their principles (“maybe I should think of the other women he’s gonna rape if released and factor their real-world harm into my vaunted principles”).

Which I have done. I would welcome UK-style defamation laws in the U.S. I’d welcome SCOTUS taking a new look at Sullivan. Government should never criminalize speech, but civil court’s a good place to spank the shit out of habitual liars. And even in the plaintiff-friendly UK, a weak defamation case, like the one David Irving brought against Deborah Lipstadt, has no guarantee of prevailing. UK law simply gives a fighting chance to the genuinely-wronged but cash-poor, like me.

I wish that were the situation in my own country.

That said, our system is unlikely to change; lying is big business here. Everyone from the NY Times to Musk’s beloved Twitter Nazis profits by it. But for me, I’ll be toasting my small victory in the UK with…sadly…coffee, because I’m still having to be sober ‘til next month. But a victory’s a victory, and a toast’s a toast.

And you can toast with me by buying me a beer!