breaking the ice

I cannot understand why France passed this bill making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide by Ottoman Turks. There are similar laws in France, Austria, Germany and may other European Countries that punishes deniers of the Holocaust. This is clearly limiting the freedom of speech. Now where do I see the difference between the Holocaust denial law and the denial of the Armenian genocide bill?
Well, the holocaust denial bills were all passed between 1945 and 1950 in the countries that were part of the holocaust – right after World War II had ended. The Armenian Genocide bill is passed almost 90 years later in a country that had nothing to do with the Armenian Massacre though the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
As a clear civil libertarian I can accept that in context and time it was important to pass holocaust denial bills, but it would be strange to me if Hungary or Portugal would now pass a bill making its denial illegal.
I am convinced a law that tries to forbid anyone to think or say something cannot be successful.
I am in favour of increasing the pressure on countries that violate human rights and deny previous violations, I am fully aware that not all diplomatic measures are full used in this respect, I am happy to see that there is a public debate about it, but the suggested French bill will help no one. As a friend said to me on Thursday, it will be as relevant as a Danish newspaper publishing Jesus cartoons. It will be missing the point and failing to address the real issue.