It looks like Germany is cracking down on hate speech, that is, anything that might offend or insult someone. Especially politicians. Insty covers it here. And CBS 60 minutes highlights it here.
Watching the 60 Minutes segment was chilling. The German prosecutors say that a large portion of the German pubic has quit engaging online because of hate speech. More likely, a large portion of the populace has quit engaging because they don't want the police banging on their door in the early morning.
Hate speech is free speech. It may be deplorable or detestable, but it is free speech. The only antidote is universal condemnation, not pre-dawn police raids. Germany has tried that once. They called it Kristallnacht, followed by The Night of the Long Knives.
Germans should know that history often rhymes. They should be very careful about criminalizing speech.
3 comments:
All the time people thought that reunification meant that West Germany was taking in East Germany...
When it's becoming clear that East Germany took over.
The new Stasi are here!
Some people never learn. And…History has a history of repeating itself. That’s why folks should study…History!
juvat
Did you see Vance's speech in Munich about this?
Ironically, some politicians were banned from that conference because of their speech.
Jonathan
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