Cirrus@Austlit

'A Thazkan academic named Stamis is invited to the Braxiatel Collection to deliver an address on his controversial claims that the Thazkans' near-genocide of the Rentali people never actually happened. Rentali protesters ask Benny to use her influence with Braxiatel to ban Stamis from the Collection, and after seeing horrific footage of the Thazkan atrocities, Benny commits herself to their cause. However, Braxiatel refuses to ban Stamis from stating his views, and Suze Mathers, the conference's organiser, also insists that Stamis has a right to speak. Benny angrily conducts further research into the history of the atrocities, and finds a paper that Stamis wrote as a young man completely contradicting what he's saying now. When she confronts him and threatens to go public, Stamis reluctantly explains that, as a young man, he saw his government beginning to repeat the mistakes of its past. By this time, the horrors had become a distant memory, and even the Rentali didn't appreciate the danger of what was happening. Stamis thus publicly stated that the holocaust never happened, stirring up outrage on the Rentali homeworld and alienating himself from his colleagues, friends and family; however, as a result of the negative publicity, the Thazkans began backing down from their more extreme positions, and history has not repeated itself. At Stamis' request, Benny destroys the only copy of his original paper, even though they both know he will continue to be derided as a hatemonger.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n10.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11