The counterpoint to this line of reasoning is the fact that Europe has had laws banning neo-Nazism and such speech for like half a century, and no slippery slopes have thus far been encountered.
This is incorrect. Most of Europe has free speech:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises."
Your quote is lacking the second part of the Art.10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 which describes how free speech is not "unlimited":
"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."
Are you claiming there are no laws banning holocaust denial in Europe? If you're not, then there's nothing incorrect about the statement you were countering.
Comments
The counterpoint to this line of reasoning is the fact that Europe has had laws banning neo-Nazism and such speech for like half a century, and no slippery slopes have thus far been encountered.
This is incorrect. Most of Europe has free speech:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises."
Your quote is lacking the second part of the Art.10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 which describes how free speech is not "unlimited":
"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."
Are you claiming there are no laws banning holocaust denial in Europe? If you're not, then there's nothing incorrect about the statement you were countering.