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Why hate speech is punishable by law in Germany
Deutsche Welle ^ | 02/22/2025 | Peter Hille

Posted on 02/22/2025 10:43:34 AM PST by Olog-hai

Freedom of expression is guaranteed in Article 5 of the Basic Law, the German constitution, which also makes clear that this freedom has limits in order to, for example, to protect young people, privacy or personal honor.

The protection of personal honor plays a particularly important role in the German legal system, said lawyer Ralf Poscher, director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg. “This originates from the time in history when notions of honor were even more important. They were then embraced by the middle classes too, and were incorporated into our legal system.”

It is a criminal offense in Germany to insult others, and it is also illegal to spread lies that demean others. That means freedom of speech is much more restricted in Germany than, for example, in the US, says Nadine Strossen, a professor at New York Law School. A former president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Strossen is known as a strong advocate for free speech. […]

The debates about the limits of freedom of expression have intensified since the rise of social media. It has become possible for anyone to publicly express their opinion — even if that means spreading hate and agitation.

According to a study sponsored by Germany’s Family Ministry, almost one in two people in Germany have been verbally abused online. A quarter of respondents said they have been subjected to physical violence and 13% to sexualized violence. Of those surveyed, 55% said they were less likely to take part in discussions as a result. …

(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Computers/Internet; Local News; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: aclu; europeanunion; eussr; fourthreich; freespeech; germany; iownofreedom; personalhonor; socialism; strosser
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1 posted on 02/22/2025 10:43:34 AM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

Because authoritarian bullcrap is in the DNA of Germans.
Every modern bad governing idea came from Germany. Prussian bureaucracy, Marxism, Nazism.

They should stick to highways, cars, sausages and beer.


2 posted on 02/22/2025 10:47:20 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2025... RETURN OF THE JEDI...)
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To: Olog-hai

Oh, ok. They have historically had a dysfunctional national psyche. What’s the excuse for the English, Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians, who heritage can’t lean on this feeble crutch offered for the Germans?


3 posted on 02/22/2025 10:47:52 AM PST by j.havenfarm (24 years on Free Republic, 12/10/24! More than 10,500 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: DesertRhino

Once all the Germans were warlike and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then

-Tom Lehrer


4 posted on 02/22/2025 10:49:39 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Olog-hai

And all that high-minded sophistry in the article is put to the lie with one simple truth. The moslem invaders are free to do as they please. And they go way beyond “insult”.


5 posted on 02/22/2025 10:49:52 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2025... RETURN OF THE JEDI...)
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To: dfwgator

Lol, THAT didn’t age well.


6 posted on 02/22/2025 10:54:18 AM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2025... RETURN OF THE JEDI...)
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To: Olog-hai

Let’s get real for a moment shall we? This isn’t about protecting anybody’s honor. This is about criticizing the ruling regime and its policies.


7 posted on 02/22/2025 10:57:02 AM PST by FLT-bird
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To: Olog-hai

Who decides what the “limits” of free speech are? To protect personal honor? That could mean anything.


8 posted on 02/22/2025 10:58:47 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Olog-hai

Brief excerpt from Lohengrin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jj-PaqFrBc


9 posted on 02/22/2025 11:03:44 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Olog-hai

Funny how the boundaries of Free speech are limited by Sharia Law. You could almost believe they have already been conquered . Again.


10 posted on 02/22/2025 11:05:05 AM PST by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: Nateman

Germany will eventually become a Turkish colony.


11 posted on 02/22/2025 11:06:47 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
  1. Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.

  2. These rights shall find their limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons and in the right to personal honor.

  3. Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free. The freedom of teaching shall not release any person from allegiance to the constitution.
German Basic Law, Article 5
According to this, it’s the powers that be who decide the “limits” of free speech (which is of course oxymoronic on its face).

This article reads too much like the USSR constitutions:
In conformity with the interests of the working people, and in order to strengthen the socialist system, the citizens of the USSR are guaranteed by law:
  1. freedom of speech;
  2. freedom of the press;
  3. freedom of assembly, including the holding of mass meetings;
  4. freedom of street processions and demonstrations.
These civil rights are ensured by placing at the disposal of the working people and their organizations printing presses, stocks of paper, public buildings, the streets, communications facilities and other material requisites for the exercise of these rights.

1936 constitution Article 125

In accordance with the interests of the people and in order to strengthen and develop the socialist system, citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly, meetings, street processions and demonstrations.

Exercise of these political freedoms is ensured by putting public buildings, streets and squares at the disposal of the working people and their organizations, by broad dissemination of information, and by the opportunity to use the press, television, and radio.

1977 constitution, Article 50
The glaring contrasts between these declarations of rights to free speech and the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment are quite stark. It’s clear why Obama hates the US version and likes the other versions as outlined above instead because they are self-nullifying.
12 posted on 02/22/2025 11:08:28 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: DesertRhino

Not just modern bad ideas. German ancestors were instrumental in the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages that followed.

We should have let the germans and russians bleed each other dry, then nuked all of Europe.

Western Europeans are responsible for much of the evil in the world since the 1500s.


13 posted on 02/22/2025 11:10:11 AM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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To: All

There’s more to German history then WWI & WWII. In fact, one could argue if you consider German history as a whole German behavior in the 20th century was an aberration. In Medieval & Renaissance Germany many German cities were free cities and run by commercial interests - guilds, etc. not by authoritarian kings. They had a saying that went something like breathing in a city was free air. Also, there’s a German folk tune (Goes back to the 12th century) that expresses Medieval\Renaissance German life -
Die Gedanken sind frei (My thoughts are free!)


14 posted on 02/22/2025 11:27:40 AM PST by Reily (a)
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To: DesertRhino

Except for the cars. Those are overpriced fall apart plastic junk now.


15 posted on 02/22/2025 11:27:48 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: clee1

Western Europeans are responsible for most of the evil how?
I’d argue it’s less than everyone else on the planet. But I guess if you worship the Mad Mo’ Moon god like the mussies, I can see why you’d argue as such.


16 posted on 02/22/2025 11:33:38 AM PST by SPDSHDW (Execute Order 66....)
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To: Olog-hai

It’s either a holdover from the days of the monarchy, the Nazi regime, or both, and heightened even more after they got their asses kicked for a second time.


17 posted on 02/22/2025 11:36:46 AM PST by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Olog-hai

There is no such thing as “Hate Speech”. Anyone thinking there is, or could be, should be sorted out for body parts since they are a waste of oxygen.


18 posted on 02/22/2025 11:40:17 AM PST by Aeneas2112 (Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war. Donald Trump)
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To: j.havenfarm

“What’s the excuse for the English, Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians, who heritage can’t lean on this feeble crutch offered for the Germans?”

Electing women.


19 posted on 02/22/2025 11:52:18 AM PST by BobL (The people who hate Trump demand that you hate Russia)
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To: SPDSHDW

Oh no, the mooslimes get their share of the blame.

But the Europeans colonized the world for profit (and the Catholic church), killing millions in the process, and subjecting the world to their continuing mismanagement. Then 2 world wars, a disasterously expensive cold war protecting their worthless asses...

I could go on and on. Learn some world history and you’ll see where I’m coming from.


20 posted on 02/22/2025 11:54:45 AM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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