Now, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants the world to know that she is not, as widely claimed, anti-free speech … so she is allegedly cracking down on free speech until people change their minds. It appears that, while the liberal Scholz government may be near collapse, irony is still thriving in Germany.
Faeser’s approach may seem like a variation on a Captain ordering that “the beatings will continue until morale improves.” However, in Germany’s anti-free speech politics, it makes perfect sense. Faeser recently tried and failed to shut down a right-wing publication.
Conservative journalist David Bendels, editor-in-chief of the AfD-aligned DeutschlandKurier, lampooned Faeser by showing a meme of her holding a sign reading, “I hate free speech.” Deutschland-Kurier is aligned with the opposition conservative AfD party.
As if to prove her point, Faeser allegedly unleashed her office on Bendels and threatened him with a criminal prosecution for lampooning her views. The court has already imposed a fine, but according to some reports, jail time is possible.
There is little coverage of the story beyond a few conservative websites. It is, therefore, hard to confirm some key facts given the absence of coverage in the mainstream media. If true, this would seem a major story in using criminal laws to police parodies. I waited for days in the hopes of learning more about this controversy. Yet, there remains virtually no coverage.
The controversy offers an interesting context to explore how we address the problem of fake images and photos on the Internet. There are indeed good-faith concerns on both sides of such parodies.
If the accounts are accurate, the question is how politicians should respond to photo “fakes.” I understand Faeser’s objection if the picture is not marked as a fake or parody image. Ironically, it would be unthinkable for other politicians to hold such a sign. Yet, given Faeser’s history, some could easily conclude she would hold up such a sign with pride. It is “believable” for some familiar with the anti-free speech history of the German left and Faeser in particular.
The minister has an interest in responding to such pictures. The key issue is whether the photo or context makes clear that it is a spoof or satire. That can be difficult with a meme. It is certainly true that, as a public official, she has the ability to use the “bully pulpit” to respond to such parodies in the media. Nevertheless, there must be a recourse for even public officials to address faked images that create a false or damaging impression.
Some are claiming that the “I hate free speech” spoof is being prosecuted ironically as hate speech. That would be a dangerous approach since parody and humor are key areas of political speech.
While the accounts suggest an excessive response, the controversy does show how difficult such questions can be in drawing a line that protects free speech while also allowing for redress for defamation or false light violations.
In the United States, such cases are routinely addressed as civil matters. However, in many other countries, defamation is both a criminal and civil matter. I have long opposed the criminalization of defamation in countries like Italy.
In Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s judgment for intentional infliction of emotional distress against Hustler for a parody of Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Moral Majority and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The magazine marked a faux Campari ad (from a series on “My First Time) as an “ad parody — not to be taken seriously.” It also listed the ad on the table of contents as “Fiction; Ad and Personality Parody.” Nevertheless, it was a deeply offensive ad that portrayed Falwell talking about his “first time” having sex with his mother in an outhouse.
While Falwell won on the infliction of emotional distress claim at trial, he notably lost on the defamation claim because the Hustler parody could not “reasonably be understood as describing actual facts about [Falwell] or actual events in which [he] participated.” The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed that verdict.
Writing for a unanimous Court, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist reversed and rejected the notion that the outrageous character of the depiction could be a basis for liability. He noted that
“‘[o]utrageousness’ in the area of political and social discourse has an inherent subjectiveness about it which would allow a jury to impose liability on the basis of the jurors’ tastes or views, or … their dislike of a particular expression. An ‘outrageousness’ standard thus runs afoul of our long-standing refusal to allow damages to be awarded because the speech in question may have an adverse emotional impact on the audience.”
The Court noted the importance of satire in political discourse.
Again, context was key in Falwell, and it is unclear what the context of the German photo was in conveying the photo as a satire or parody. A meme has less capacity for “context” or content disclaimers. However, if the reports of a criminal prosecution are accurate, the impact could be considerable on the diminishing residue of free speech in Germany.
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. The country fined YouTube in an effort to force the company to remove views that the government considers disinformation on COVID-19.
Germany has also targeted Elon Musk for threatened prosecution if he does not reestablish censorship systems at X.
None of this, mind you, has put a dent in the ranks of actual fascists and haters. Neo-Nazis are holding massive rallies by adopting new symbols and coded words, while Germany arrested a man on a train because he had a Hitler ringtone 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.
The United States has ample protections against defamation and false light without the dangerous addition of criminal penalties. Moreover, the involvement of the government in monitoring and censoring such speech is chilling and unnecessary.
While this may seem biased in favor of our common law system, the controversy over his meme shows why (in my view) such systems are better suited for resolving such controversies.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
There’s a lot about Germany the average person is just not aware. Conservative news or viewpoints do not leave Germany; likewise such are not permitted to enter Germany. But there have been several events over the past few decades that would give the average citizen cause to pause. Reunification, for example, was very costly. As was the decision to adopt the Euro; they were told they’d receive a fair exchange rate but ultimately that conversion applied only to salaries, the government took advantage of the conversion to increase, for example, utility bills. Agreements with Russia, which granted a free pass to Russian citizens who subsequently “invaded” only to take advantage of the welfare state. Which is to say, there’s more to this reliance on Russian gas than most realize. Unemployment had been extended to a year, much as it was here, during Covid, I believe? People take advantage. And this in a country with an already high tax rate. Simultaneously Germany began in the 1980s to admit foreign imports. Which ultimately placed pressurize on their own manufactures, on German employment, even labor rates, as their manufacturers themselves converted to multinationals with a need for increased competitivity. And then came ‘bama, who, it did appear, encouraged Angela to open her borders to Middle Easterners certain to refuse all assimilation. This in a country of what has been traditionally a “one-people” who vote issues good or bad, up or down, rather than laterally as countries such as ours with competing interests tend to do; where the populous, the culture in general, tends to be more deferential, again, for historic reasons. Just saying, Germany is considered an advanced western society but we should not assume they are just like we are, they are not. And yet you would not know that because that information, the “inside scoop,” does not leave Germany.
@betuadollar: that was a pretty thought provoking post concerning Germany’s recent history since reunification. I do remember watching all the jubilation following the collapse of the Berlin Wall that so many Germans died attempting to cross (despite “Walls Don’t Work. Everything was going to be peachy fine after that!)
It looks like a positive future for Germany is in the hands of AfD. No wonder the globalist shitweasels want to ban it.
Once all the Germans were war-like and mean
But that couldn’t happen again.
We taught them a lesson in 1918
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then.
-Tom Lehrer, MLF Lullaby
If you people love freedom so much, then why aren’t you more supportive of the Ukrainians who are fighting for theirs?
“If you people love freedom so much, then why aren’t you more supportive of the Ukrainians who are fighting for theirs?”
Vindman! Is that you?
When you oversimplify the situation to that extent it is hardly worth discussing.
Stop engaging that troll
They are not fighting for freedom. They are fighting and dying for a proxy war between the US and Russia. They had a chance for peace back in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, but Biden the butcher squashed it for war. The poor Ukrainians are stuck in the middle.
Fun fact, Zelensky is even less popular now, according to the UK The Times.
Ukrainians are also tired of war and want it to end, soon. So are the general populations of the EU with all this talk of WWIII and nuclear war. They want peace too.
The only ones who want war are the war mongers with no skin in the game. Like you.
Awwww! What is the matter? Anyone and everyone with a degree of common sense to include Ukrainians, Russians, EU countries, Americans dont want WWIII or a nuclear war and that is the best you can come up with? That is all you have?
I knew the Ukraine troll was Lawn Boy.
He can’t help outing himself.
They had a chance for peace back in Istanbul in the spring of 2022
Is there a rational reason for choosing to only tell one small slice of the story? Rather than the entire story?
Their first chance for peace was way back when America promised Ukraine we would serve as their military deterrent to aggression and defense if only they surrendered their nukes that we as a nuclear nation were so terrified of them having. UN Nuclear Proliferation, right? If Ukraine hadn’t trusted Americans to keep their word, they’d still have their nukes and Putin would have stayed home.
Their second chance for peace was when Putin was obviously gearing up for a Ukrainian invasion after some supposedly ethnic Russians in Crimea magically figured out how to use steel wool to knit Russian military weapons to begin fighting with. But they lost that chance for space when Obama gave Putin the space he promised him to invade. Silly corrupt Ukrainians… they did something to justify America reneging on that promise.
Their third chance for peace was when Putin was once again obviously gearing up for a Ukrainian invasion after four years of mostly behaving himself under the Trump presidency. But Biden told Putin that despite America’s promise to defend Ukraine after they surrendered their deterrent nukes, America would be good with yet another Putin invasion. As long as it was only a minor incursion, of course.
And the only skin America has in this game isn’t the world watching America repeatedly renege on commitments we made to foreign countries. There’s no second or third order negative affects for our national security in the future from events like allowing two invasions of Ukraine and abandoning Afghanistan (and enough weaponry to terrorists that could equip a small NATO nation). Just the same terror that had us lie to Ukraine to get them to surrender their nuclear weapons that no Russian including Putin would have chanced by invading Ukraine – terror of nuclear war.
The whole story is a lot more than just Istanbul in 2022. The whole story is pretty persuasive that America does indeed have skin in the game. Our equivalents of the opposite of the “war mongers”, our Chamberlain appeasers brought our skin into the game when we used American lies to disarm the Ukrainians of nukes.
If we don’t like being called feckless American liars, then we shouldn’t open that jar by accusing those who think there are long reaching consequences of abandoning our commitments to either Afghanistan or Ukraine “war mongers”.
We put skin in these foreign issues because we want any threats to our security from overseas fought if necessary over there on foreign soil. Not here, delivered by terrorist attacks, whether through hijacked aircraft or some hajji terrorist getting their hands on a small nuke to give to a suicidal terrorist.
When we don’t keep our word, our adversaries are watching. And they judge American deterrence accordingly. Trying to use Ukrainian corruption as our excuse isn’t going to fool them – especially when they see a lot of that corruption tied right back here to our federal government.
At this point after all these years of reneging on our commitments to Ukraine, I don’t see any good exit for us from Ukraine, much less our supposed allies in Ukraine. But that doesn’t mean this is all about “war mongers”.
You somehow left out the 2014 Orange Revolution regime change engineered by State Dept flack (and likely CIA operative) Victoria Nuland. anyone who has been paying attention might consider that example of (overt, although no doubt originally intended to be covert) interference in Ukrainian internal governance by the US to be sufficiently pertinent to the current situation to be worth mentioning.
Conflated two different revolts, “Orange” refers to what happened in 2004-4. That will teach me to wing such things from memory ;-/ However, that does not change the point I was attempting to make.
You somehow left out the 2014 Orange Revolution regime change engineered by State Dept flack (and likely CIA operative) Victoria Nuland.
What year again? I keep hearing that explanation just as much as I hear the ol’ “Not our war”. And those mentioning Nuland’s name never mention the Clinton’s ol’ friend Vlad had been very active in Ukraine long before Nuland arrived to take the blame.
I’m sure that’s 100% the whole story just as I’m equally sure those ethnic Russian steel workers in the Crimea managed to knit all those Russian weapons, light armored vehicles, etc they started fighting with out of steel wool.
I mean… it would be so weird if those weapons were already there, in place. There’s a big difference between hunting rifles and shotguns owned by a citizenry and RPGs, machine guns, mortars, light cannon, etc.
The Russian-Ukraine war is NOT our war to fight, and by supporting either side means we are more likely to enter into WWIII, and that is a war NO ONE wants to fight.
@ajeanneinthekitchen: “The Russian-Ukraine war is NOT our war to fight”
Even though we made a promise to Ukraine that we would serve as their military deterrent and defense if only they would surrender their nukes that scared us so much?
We just didn’t really mean that… and so this isn’t our war, even if we never fire a shot in anger to keep that commitment?
Seems like deliverate tunnel vision to me.
Or ignorance of the history of our involvement with Ukraine.
We CANNOT afford to keep supporting this war, that is NOT our war. We can’t afford it financially, we can’t afford to put our own country at risk because we DO NOT have the military equipment for our own military, and we really can’t afford it BECAUSE of the very high likelihood of starting WWIII, which will be a NUCLEAR WAR. So who has the tunnel vision and ignorance now?
“We CANNOT afford to keep supporting this war, that is NOT our war.”
That kind of sounds like “That WASN’T the deal we made”.
It’s OUR war because WE’RE the ones who were so terrified of Ukraine having nuclear weapons they could use as a deterrent that entered an agreement with Ukraine to make those nukes disappear. We promised them in exchange for them surrendering those nukes that were making our government wet the bed, we would serve as their deterrent and military muscle if menaced by a much larger country. One like Russia next door, for example.
In your special world none of that ever happened? Ukraine never had nukes they could use as a deterrent – that’s an urban legend? If they had them, what happened to them?
Ukraine just lost those nuclear weapons along the way? Somebody forgot what bunker they left them in? They voluntarily surrendered them in exchange for absolutely nothing?
Terror of Ukraine having nuclear weapons in their possession got us here. Terror of nuclear war is now driving the demand to give Ukraine to Putin.
And we are where we are now with no way out because our government had us acting as punks, as we reluctantly dribbled military aid than being forceful in our response. It would only be our reputation and further mistrust from allies. But actions like that have second and third order effects and beyond that.
Any idea of what the response will be when the ChiComs head into Taiwan to seize it and threaten nuclear war if we intervene?
Another case of “NOT OUR WAR”?
The ONLY reason we are supporting Ukraine is because they hold a lot of Biden’s secrets and are laundering money.
From back in 2022, when Russia first went into Ukraine, Biden had argued against sending offensive weaponry and US troops to fight on Ukraine’s behalf. “Make no mistake,” he said in March of that year, “that’s called World War III.” Something about losing the popular and electoral vote has led Biden’s people to disregard the threat of WWIII and give the green light for attacks with US missiles deep into Russian territory. Why is this so different than providing tanks or bullets? These missile systems are highly complex and classified and can only be operated by US or NATO personnel. That means that American military officers are shooting American missiles into Russia – something unimaginable even in the depths of the Cold War! The American people did not vote for an expansion of war, either in eastern Europe or the Middle East. A recent CBE News/YouGov poll has shown that a majority of Americans favor an end to all US military aid to Ukraine. NO ONE wants WWIII, and especially NOT a NUCLEAR WAR. By sending weapons like these to Ukraine, Biden has picked sides, and has knowingly entered the US and the rest of the world into this deadly war.
Consistent with all other Woke Left government officials, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s lack of self-awareness is absolutely astounding. I think that she’d feel right at home back in 1933. Maybe she should change her title to Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda ??? Just a thought…….
So would many on the right, appeasing Putin.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is displaying she wishes she had the power of Putin and other dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mao. They have a lot in common by their actions.
“So would many on the right, appeasing Putin.”
Why would Anonymous commies hope anyone would forget Bolshevik Barack promised Putin he would appease him by giving him “space” to invade Ukraine? And then did that.
Followed by Bribery Biden being Obama’s Third Term, again appeasing Putin by once again abandoning Ukraine by allowing Putin to invade a second time.
Commies keep forgetting the Internet and it’s records are real. Just like commies think THEIR version of history and truth can fly outside of the Blueskies Borg.
We might surmise that there is a connection between the welfare state and censorship. When a government appoints itself the protector of the health and happiness of its captive citizens, it seems natural that it begins to concern itself with what people think and say in private.
Is this parody, or reality:
NOT MY BODY – NOT MY CHOICE
And here are some bonus scientific facts that prove it’s not just an organ or part of the mother.
During its early stages of development, the placenta of the unborn child secretes neurokinin B-containing phosphocoline molecules, which protects the child from detection by its mother’s immune system, because it can be interpreted as a foreign body and is subject to attack. This is because the fetus is of non-identical genetic material to the mother due to their different DNA.
Also present in the unborn child are lymphocytic suppressor cells which stop interleukin 2 (IL2) cells from signalling cytotoxic T cells to kill the child. The purpose of IL2 cells is to distinguish between self and non-self (parts of the mother and foreign parts). The lymphocytic cells would not need to inhibit the response of the cytotoxic T cells if the IL2 did not signal the feuts as a foreign body. This would not occur if it was one of her own organs because the response would not be initiated.
An organ does not have its own organs. The fetal heartbeat begins at around 22 days after fertilisation as I said earlier, and brain waves are detected at about six weeks, which means the unborn child has a heart and a brain. At seven weeks, all other organs are present, although not fully developed, which would mean not only did the mother have an organ with different DNA to her, but this organ also has its own organ systems, and so the mother has an extra heart, brain, stomach, liver, etc.
OTOH, much of the Democrat Left in America has become parody-proof, and no matter how extreme the parody, it can not keep pace with the actual behavior. When you read a Babylon Bee article, without knowing where it came from, you have to double-check the source, because you are not sure whether you are reading a parody or an actual article.
Time will tell how mad as hell…
The beatings will continue until the morale improves.
Subtlety went out of German Politics with the death of Bismarck in 1890. Although he built the modern German State and believed in and fostered a strong military, he was also quite capable of out maneuvering the progressives of the day by building a National Health System in 1883 and a Social Security net soon after. This was also used to foster the various German states into joining Prussia. He routinely made France look foolish and out thought and out maneuvered Austria Hungary pretty much all the time and built bridges to the UK. His Kaiser Wilhelm 11 was too stupid to keep up led Germany into a WW 1, which likely Bismarck would have prevented, if he had still been alive.
It has been down hill for Germany since then except for a short time post WW 2 when Germany had some superior leaders. Merkel and her immediate predecessors laid the foundation for the economic disaster of Germany now by losing all common sense by dealing so stupidly with Russia by using their natural gas and closing all the Nuke plants and Germany is now the “sick man of Europe”. They are buckling under high energy costs and Chinese competition and the natives are restless.
Just like here they have preached forever that the AFD are NAZI’S and it terrifies them that AFD may win power. But the present powers in Germany have only themselves to blame and the crackdown on free speech is simply to vilify AFD and prevent their ascent to power. Sounds somewhat familiar.
Recent Germany shows how you can take an economic powerhouse, forget or ignore the marketplace and just about destroy it all. Also sounds like Bidenomics.
Interesting .. sounds like California! Can California survive Gavin on energy and will Germany survive its own leaders?
Humor and satire are some of the best tools in our political toolkit when our opponents are stepping in a big pile of poo.
That said, with AI deep fake technology, the line between good-hearted mockery and deceptive infowarfare can be completely dissolved — it requires understanding the intent of the person authoring the content. Are they authentic critics using humor?….or are they conniving, militant infowarriors intending to manipulate from behind a curtain of deception?
These issues are not going away anytime soon. And, it bodes poorly for our future if we cannot come up with an effective means of discouraging inauthenticity (untrustworthy speech) in the public square. Already, way too many Americans are privately saying “I don’t know what to believe anymore”.
“discouraging inauthenticity (untrustworthy speech) in the public square.”
Are you Napoleon or Squealer?
It’s not about me, it’s about ideas. You can only invite serious meritocratic debate, you can’t force it. But I sense the country has grown tired of ad-hominem attack as a form of public discourse. It’s not enlightened in the least.
“Already, way too many Americans are privately saying “I don’t know what to believe anymore”.
How can Americans know what is true if Biden and his administration and Democrats continually lied along with the MSM, NYT, WaPo, Hollywood, and many others from the left?
“. . . unleashed her office [of jackbooted thugs] on Bendels and threatened him with a criminal prosecution for lampooning her views.” (JT)
Posted on X, here is the publisher’s response:
“Nancy Faeser wants to put our editor David Bendels in prison for spreading this meme.
“But we insist on our right to free speech.
“So we have decided to post it AGAIN in English for the entire world to see.”
Good for them. They have a backbone.
Shades of 1932.
Of course leave it up to the germans to continue their brand of social democary (SPD = NSDAP) into the 21st century.
In 1932 it was the Jews, gypsies, infirm, homosexuals etc. , today the SPD/Greens target white Germans of no political or social value to them.
And lets keep an eye on Nancy Fraser (innenministrium) for the press crackdown (Compact magzine) and targeting the political party, the AfD.
The camps are coming back. The SPD/Greens jackboots are gearing up to cleanse Germany – again.
I have a cousin in Germany who used to be a judge. He constantly tells us that Donald Trump is dangerous but never talks about HIS country’s dangerous politicians.
The German government should be restricted from doing everything. On most subjects, they are still about 2 degrees of separation away from becoming full-blown fascists again.
Germany current leadership has little [public support. New elections and the current leadership and the other European Gov’ts and Biden Admin are very worried that the current Gov’t/Party will be thrown out and the rise of AFD party will take control and then they will eliminate many of the current Gov’t rules/laws/wokeness. anti free Speach etc. As well as leave the EU and will cut ties with Ukraine drain.
The current leadership is in lock step with the EU leadership, anti-free speech, anti-freedoms etc.
The current leadership reminds me of the dark dictator anti press anti freedom history of the 20th century.
Social Mood has turned very negative in Europe and Gov’ts are facing elections that will clean house of current leaderships. UK is going to new elections and the people are fed up with the restrictions. anti free speech etc. Europe will follow US and throw the anti freedom woke Gov’t out and all their anti policies.
Heil Scholz
Heil Schultz! (Lucy Shuts up Charlie Brown)
https://natedsanders.com/ItemImages/000058/58068a_lg.jpeg
One could make a strong case this anti-free speech movements throughout Europe stems from the various and arbitrary COVID mandates, where the people demonstrated convincingly they are “highly obedient”. That is they obey new rules, regardless of justification. The more liberal governments, most of EU and UK, took note, and now there are anti-free speech laws everywhere. Expect more repressive laws to come. Note, the USA was far more resistive to mandates, much to the disappointment of Progressives.
define liberal? Globalists are obviously fascists…they compel order and adherence to their RULE of government and large businesses! They are the opposite of liberals.
Magically their leaders always become wealthy….while having no obvious source of income.
The boy who pointed out that the king was naked spent the rest of his life in jail.
* The alternate ending…interesting.
Unfortunately the original story isn’t extant. It was too white.