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Nazis in Germany

edited November 2006 in Everything Else
So I listened to an old podcast of Geeknights and somehow you started talking about how Germans don't let Nazis demonstrate on the street and that that would be a bit Nazi too. I just want to clarify this so that you guys don't get a bad impression of teh Germany.

Germany doesn't let them march up for lots of reasons:

1. When they march up they start shouting "hi Hitler" all over the place.
2. They smash cars etc.
3. There are no Nazis in Germany really, only people who belong to the Nazi party (NPD, DVP). So they start promoting a party which never should really be legal.
4. They piss on Jew monuments etc.
5. They start insulting black people or people from other countries.

But they still demonstrate. I'll tell you how. So lets say they want to demonstrate in Leipzig (which they do once a year). They go to the town hall, no. They go to court in Leipzig, no. They go to a court in the outskirts of Leipzig or Saxony where mostly Nazis kind of control everything, yes. So they march up in Leipzig....

This may make Germany look like a horrible place. But everyone who is not a Nazi hates Nazis. Most Germans think that since the Nazis did so much bad things it is their fault, the Germans. Now this makes no German want to be proud of his country.

After being off topic let me say that if this material is offensive to anyone (like in Germany) I'm sorry. Sorry for the bad grammar but I'm tiered ;)

Comments

  • Let's list some reasons why banning such demonstrations (unpleasant though they may be) is bad

    1) freedom of speech. They can say "heil Hitler" wherever they want.
    2) presumption of innocence. Sure arrest and prosecute anyone who actually smashes a car, but don't assume every whackjob will do it
    3) I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but freedom of association I think is a sufficient response. Also isn't a member of the Nazi party by definition a Nazi, or does that word not mean what I think it means?
    4) see point 2
    5) see points 1 and 2.

    Hate speech laws are a very tricky thing that I think should be avoided, as they make us a bit like the thing they're trying to prevent. We want to prevent people denying the holocaust, so we prevent them talking about the Nazis in a positive way. People should be free to make their stupid claims, and then when people look at the evidence they'll see the claims are stupid.
  • I am opposed to to the laws but I can see how Germany would be a little bit sensitive about the whole Nazi thing.
  • Trust me, we definitely do not think bad things about present-day Germany. You provide too many good board games for us to hate you. However, I do think the laws about freedom of speech there are not perfect. I mostly agree with what EsonLinji said. I agree it might be true that the Nazi party causes violence whenever they march. I agree they are bad dudes. However, Nazis in Germany should be handled the same way that we handle the KKK in the US. They have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else. Very few people like them, and they cause trouble. We let them march, we let them say what they want, we let them buy and sell things freely. When they cause trouble with violence or vandalism, then we arrest them for that. It is not necessary to limit free speech to control these people. You just have to have lots of police around whenever these people are going to exercise their rights.
  • edited November 2006
    I guess one problem would be that we have more Nazis than you have KKK...
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • I agree they are bad dudes.
    Dudes bad enough to rescue the president... From ninjas?
  • Nazis = BAD.

    Geeks = GOOD!
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