Sakashiro
This certainly appears to be the reason for the attorney's decision. And that is exactly why it looks politically motivated. A smear campaign using Nazi symbols doesn't magically turn into art just because it targets the "right" person. Think what you will of Gauland; he was a member of Merkel's conservative party for 40 years. In fact he joined the party at a time when Merkel was still busy propagating Marxism in East Germany's FDJ. If he's indeed a Nazi and/or antisemite, one has to wonder how he managed to remain undetected in that party for four decades.

However, if the attorney was actually concerned about an outdated court precedent as he claimed, the proper thing to do would have been to pass the case on and give the court an opportunity to overturn that precedent. Rejecting the case achieved the opposite: the outdated decision remains in effect; legal certainty ("Rechtssicherheit") has not been established.

Alleine die gewählte Form der Satire erlaubt hier nach hiesiger Auffassung keine andere Form der Bewertung.

Sakashiro
Unlike Gauland, who fled to West Germany after his graduation from high school, Merkel arranged herself with the socialist regime. At least that is what people claim who were around her at the time.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-book-suggests-angela-merkel-was-closer-to-communism-than-thought-a-899768.html

And frankly, your idea that displaying someone with a swastika or the Nazi salute is anything other than a smear campaign is preposterous. Depicting opposition members or foreign leaders with a swastika doesn't take courage. Depicting Merkel with a hammer and sickle does. Good satire punches up, not down.

As far as I can tell, Gauland's views haven't changed. On the contrary, they seem forever stuck in the CDU's past. If you look at the party's slogans from the 1990s and earlier about topics such as immigration, you'll find they are almost identical to AfD's. Gauland hasn't moved to the right, but his former party has moved to the left. Even the Social Democrats of the 1970s were further right than today's CDU.

Rebecca Hail

Sakashiro

Rebecca HailYou can go to a random german AfD facebook group and will find hundreds of pictures that depict Angela Merkel as Hitler within an hour.

Sure, but how many of these have been mistaken for art by a state attorney?

There is no bias for Merkel and you presenting 3 cases out of 100000+ within the last ten years doesn't prove that. The political censorship in Germany does not have the intent of supporting the government and the government has no influence on these trials. It has the intent of hindering undemocratic far-right and far-left ideologies like communism and nazism.

Sakashiro

Rebecca Hail

Sakashiro


Sure, but how many of these have been mistaken for art by a state attorney?

There is no bias for Merkel and you presenting 3 cases out of 100000+ within the last ten years doesn't prove that. The political censorship in Germany does not have the intent of supporting the government and the government has no influence on these trials. It has the intent of hindering undemocratic far-right and far-left ideologies like communism and nazism.

You say there's no bias, no legal double standard at play here. Gauland with a swastika and Trump with a Nazi salute got a pass because the law provides exceptions for artistic and/or satirical expression, you say.

Prove it.

Show me an example where Merkel with a swastika or a Nazi salute was recognized by German courts or state attorneys as art or satire.

Just one will do. Feel free to cherry-pick.

If you can do that, I will concede that I was wrong, that there's indeed no double standard and no politically motivated censorship in Germany. Deal?

Rebecca HailI'm not going to look through hundreds of cases relating to §86a just to look for the one particular case you accept as evidence. You're showing the same stance as a flat earther here, flat out ignoring all arguments except the ones you want to hear and repeat a baseless claim over and over and over again.

Do you in all honesty think that I'm the one who needs to disprove your claim? That's not how a discussion works. And no, the three cherrypicked cases you provide are not proof or evidence. They're something you tried to twist to fit your narrative and since that doesn't work you try to shift the burden of proof now.

You are the one arguing against generally accepted facts, so you are the one that needs to proof it. Either provide backing for your claim that Germany has a politically motivated censorship that is biased for Angela Merkel in form of a study or a similiar analysis and stop cherry-picking points you respond to or admit that your claim is baseless.

This is exactly the kind of behaviour that Aleksander criticized. At this point I'm more inclined to believe that you don't want to change your opinion.

XeknosMost folks enjoy watching arrogant know-it-alls getting smacked down.

Sakashiro
When I provided four cases as evidence, you claimed I cherry-picked the ones that supported my argument and ignored all the others. Yet you can't bring up even one counter-example that proves me wrong? Whom do you think you're kidding?

The flat earther is you, Rebecca. Not only are you ignoring all accounts of people who sailed towards the edge and found that it doesn't exist, you also don't have the balls to put your own theory to the test. For example, you could produce a picture of Merkel draped in the German flag and doing the Nazi salute, as a parody of the Stern cover I showed you earlier, and post it online where other Germans can see it. Parody is a form of satire, so you should be fine. But of course you'll never do that, because you know full well police would kick your door at 5 o'clock in the morning and grab your computer to secure evidence.

Ironically the easiest way to prove that you're not living in an authoritarian regime is to compare your own leader to Hitler and get away with it. That is precisely what people in the U.S. have done. Call it the litmus test of authoritarianism if you will. Remember this the next time you see an oh so courageous German magazine comparing a U.S. president to Hitler.

You say the laws in Germany are the way they are to prevent another rise of extremism. I guess this is also why Germans aren't allowed to burn their flag in public as a symbol of protest (§ 90a StGB).

Amata says Gauland deserves to be mocked because he's an antisemite, and Germany is committed to the fight against antisemitism for obvious historical reasons. Fair enough. So tell me, why is it that Germans can publicly burn the Star of David in the streets of Berlin without at least getting mocked a little?

Germany's leading politicians have universally condemned the burning of Israeli flags and symbols in Berlin amidst recent demonstrations ...

Oh well, another double standard. Hypocrisy seems to be all over the place in that little country of yours.

Synthya WylderI can only speak of the freedom of speech & expression - what we in the U.S. know as described in the First Amendment in our Constitution - & the classic question over whether such freedom of speech covers, say, yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

IMO, such freedoms, liberties, come with a requirement to use them responsibly.

If said person would abuse that 1st Amendment by yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater, for example, without good, valid, justifiable cause, they'd be arrested, charged with a number of crimes & tried in a court of law.

Our Constitution & Bill of Rights was born after a revolution & in response to what the Colonies suffered under the rule of the English crown.

I suppose, each countriy's constitution, those countries that have them, were born as a result of prior events.

AFAIK, the U.K. has no constitution... but the U.S. Constitution & much of the basic concepts of law & rights stemmed from the Magna Carta, which was written in England.

A bit ironic... & likely, neither here nor there.

Dear Minister Chen Shizhong:

A few days ago, masks generously donated by Taiwan have arrived in Germany. For this, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for the very close and complete mutual trust cooperation over the past few weeks. German society also appreciates Taiwan’s assistance.
Taiwan's donation of masks is very welcome because Germany is one of the European countries affected by the new Corona virus. The masks delivered on April 9, 2020 have been quickly distributed to medical personnel in my country who urgently need masks.
Since a few weeks, our country has devoted all efforts to combat the rapid spread of the virus among the people. At present, epidemiologists have found that the epidemic in Germany is gradually slowing down, allowing us to plan carefully and gradually to return to a normal life, although there may still be some restrictions. In this regard, Taiwan’s experience in successfully fighting the epidemic has also benefited my country a lot.
I personally thank Taiwan again for its assistance and wish the people of Taiwan good health.

Amata LireinThe German Government DID in fact thank Taiwan for the support by sending masks to Germany.

Effie Trinket

Aleksander Majjam

Saka: Judge, after seeing my evidence today, I will convince you that the moon is a crescent shape, and not round like most idiots believe.

That reminds me of the story of Happiness Stan, who wondered why the Moon hung sometimes full moon all scintillating dangly in the heavenly bode and other times only half.

Sakashiro
Freedom of expression and censorship are topics I feel strongly about. My husband is from a country that has recovered from its own period of authoritarianism. Germany, while never getting tired of pointing fingers at others, keeps kowtowing to the Chinese communist regime by not recognizing Taiwan's independence, to a point that the German government didn't even have the courtesy to say "thank you" after Taiwan had donated millions of protective masks.

So I'm not exactly an avid fan of Germany and particularly Germans trying to lecture me about topics such as censorship. I do not enjoy these debates, in fact I regret even responding to Rebecca at all. I should have realized early what she was on about.

Sakashiro

Amata LireinThe German Government DID in fact thank Taiwan for the support by sending masks to Germany.

Der Grad an Verlogenheit, den du und Rebecca hier zeigt, ist beachtlich, aber nicht wirklich überraschend. Schau mal auf das Datum des Briefes. Du weißt ganz genau, dass dieser erst auf Druck von Teilen der Öffentlichkeit überhaupt zustande gekommen ist. Die Lieferung der Masken erfolgte bereits am 9. April 2020, eine publikumswirksame Übergabe wurde aus scheinheiligen Gründen abgesagt, wohingegen sie bei einer vergleichbaren Lieferung aus China problemlos stattfand. Hier ist das Video der denkwürdigen Pressekonferenz vom 15. April, in der Journalisten versuchten, dem schäbigen Verhalten der Bundesregierung auf den Grund zu gehen.


Möchtest du, dass ich den Inhalt ins Englische übersetze, damit die anderen hier eine Vorstellung davon bekommen, was bei euch in Deutschland so abgeht? Glaub mir, in Taiwan hat man dieses Duckmäusertum durchaus als solches zur Kenntnis genommen. Der spätere Brief zur Schadensbegrenzung hat da auch nicht mehr geholfen. Ihr schwafelt von Freiheit und Demokratie, vom Kampf gegen Extremismus, und prostituiert euch zugleich für ein menschenverachtendes totalitäres Regime, das Millionen von Menschen auf dem Gewissen hat und noch heute Konzentrationslager betreibt. Und nein, die Nichtanerkennung von Taiwan schützt nicht Taiwan, sondern eure Profite aus dem Handel mit China.

Kurz gesagt: Ihr seid durchschaut. Eure Scheinheiligkeit und Verlogenheit ist ekelerregend. Und wie du dir inzwischen vielleicht denken kannst, bin ich über die Vorgänge in Deutschland sehr gut informiert. Wir können also gerne noch weitere schmutzige Details über euer ach-so-vorbildliches Land besprechen, falls du und Rebecca darauf besteht.

ColdSteel60When you’re new to Inara and have no idea what’s happening.

[img=640x480]https://frinkiac.com/meme/S08E08/802984.jpg?b64lines=SEVZLCBJJ1ZFIE9OTFkgQkVFTgogSEVSRSBBIEZFVyBNSU5VVEVTLgogV0hBVCdTIEdPSU5HIE9OPw==[/img]

(Not trying to belittle the issue, just surprised and curious)