We have been discussing how Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders have turned from private censorship to good old-fashioned state censorship. They have called upon their counterparts in England, France, and Germany to prevent the restoration of free speech protections with censorship laws — laws that would be unconstitutional in the United States. The British have already responded to such urgent calls and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently repeated this call for global censorship at the United Nations to the applause of diplomats and media alike. Now the German left has responded with the the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) calling for censorship before, to use Clinton’s words, “it is too late” and free speech is barred on Twitter.
According to a report by the business newspaper Handelsblatt, SPD members are concerned that Twitter will now allow too much free speech and curtail Twitter’s massive censorship system. Jens Zimmermann MP declared
“The Federal Office of Justice must therefore take Twitter under stricter supervision and act quickly and decisively in the event of violations.” The Germans are threatening not just the company but Musk himself if he does not censor viewpoints: If Twitter does not meet the requirements, there are penalties not only against the company, but also against the managers responsible.”
Clinton and other Democratic leaders are singing to the choir on censorship. Germany has long been one of the most hostile countries to free speech in the West.
Germany has proven the fallacy of changing minds through threatened prosecution. While I am certainly sympathetic to the Germans in seeking to end the scourge of fascism, I have long been a critic of the German laws prohibiting certain symbols and phrases. I view it as not just a violation of free speech but a futile effort to stamp out extremism by barring certain symbols. Instead, extremists have rallied around an underground culture and embraced symbols that closely resemble those banned by the government. I fail to see how arresting a man for a Hitler ringtone is achieving a meaningful level of deterrence, even if you ignore the free speech implications.
We discussed how Germany is extending its criminalization of speech to the Internet. Germany imposed a legal regime that would allow fining social networks such as Facebook up to 500,000 euros ($522,000) for each day the platform leaves a “fake news” story up without deleting it. YouTube was fined by the country in an effort to force the company to remove views that the government considers disinformation on Covid.
None of this, mind you, has put a dent in the ranks of actual fascists and haters. Neo-Nazis are holding huge rallies by adopting new symbols and coded words while Germany arrested a man on a train because he had a Hitler ring tone on his phone.
The impact of these laws was evident in a recent poll of German citizens. Only 18% of Germans feel free to express their opinions in public. 59% of Germans did not even feel free expressing themselves in private among friends. And just 17% felt free to express themselves on the Internet.
Always count on Germans AKA Good little NAZIs to do the Wrong thing it’s their Satanic DNA.
“Natural and God-given” rights exist in Germany whether the communists there, such as Angela Merkel, late of political position, a barren women with no raison d’etre other than the pursuit of personal power, and who was steeped in communism and dictatorship since birth, like it or not.
“Natural and God-given” rights existed before government was conceived; they cannot be given and they cannot be taken, they simply are.
Not every party in Germany dismisses the rights of the people.
Christine Anderson: A member of the European Parliament. She represents the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is labelled as a “populist political party” in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as the open border/immigration to Germany policies which the EU mandates.
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/pfizer-appears-to-have-corrupted#play
Musk should simply remove access to a Twitter account from any person in a country requiring censorship. Does anyone know what impact on revenue that would have?
Account holders should see, in lieu of each individual censored message, a notice that the tweet was blocked pursuant to the censorship policies of their respective governments. Does anyone know what impact that might have on politics in the regions subject to censorship?
It’s becoming pretty clear that Democrats want to suppress any speech that they disagree with.
This is one reason why they must be voted out! They have turned into Nazi’s!
Democrats use similar tactics against the 2nd Amendment by supporting treaties that purportedly oblige the U.S. to domestically enforce international gun controls that would be unconstitutional were they to be enacted as statutory law.
Why do Americans keep supporting two political parties that resent the Constitution as an obstacle to their respective agenda?
The Germans have a history of strong democratic institutions. Nothing to see here
No, the Germans like rhe US want Communism! People need to revolt!
They may. The US is a Constitutional Republic not a Democracy! That is a government our founding father’s talk about in the Constitution! They did not want a Democracy.
“The Federal Office of Justice must therefore take Twitter under stricter supervision and act quickly and decisively in the event of violations.” The Germans are threatening not just the company but Musk himself if he does not censor viewpoints: If Twitter does not meet the requirements, there are penalties not only against the company, but also against the managers responsible.”
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What? The Germans? Acting like fascists? Come on! Nothing changes. Will rectangular mustaches come back in style in Berlin, too? How about some big rallys and a derigible or two? Roman eagles still look cool and as for Elon: Zay have vays to make you not to talk, you know.
Elon is already banning parody accounts mocking him. How does that jive with his purported support for “free speech”?
Elon is already banning parody accounts mocking him
Such a lie. Musk has done no such thing.
@iwoan2 Guidance for the future but to call something a lie, it has to actually not be true.
https://time.com/6229960/twitter-bans-accounts-elon-musk-impersonators/
Listen if they are impersonating him. Then he should cancel them. Their are too many people that believe the fakers.
So the liars say! Without free speech we do not have a Constitutional Republic!! Elon Musk knows this!
Your name is not corroborated; are your facts?
Citations please?
The Gift of Free Speech.
Interesting!
Below there was back and forth between Safeside and Iowan regarding United Nations peace keeping and prevention of war,
Wars (as so described) currently ongoing, just a few:
Armenia
Central African Republic
Chad
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kurdistan
Libya
Mali
Myanmar
Niger
Nigeria
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Yemen
Ukraine
The great talking Society has no means to prevent or wage war; only the individual Nations or Warring parties have the means.
Lest we forget the UN peace forces behavior in Kosovo and Central Africa.
World War Spring series…
A quiet war in South Africa, where blacks assassinate blacks, and whites, too, a revisit of Mandela’s Xhosa conflict with Zulu and native people.
We cannot allow for citizens to speak their minds! We have to silence them! They are fascists!
(sarc off)
There is a rebirth of Fascism. It must be stopped!
Are the Germans seeking to end the scourge of fascism, or might they be inviting its rebirth as what Jonah Goldberg once described as “Liberal Fascism?”
Because the Third Reich worked out so well?