Why is this law even on German books? It’s like the Despot litmus test. Is there a law on the books that allows you to arrest someone for making fun of a leader? Yup that’s a despotic regime. Every time. Except now in Germany.
Sorry, but that’s a fairly provincial Anglo perspective. That may not be the way it is done in the common-law world, but various forms of criminal defamation laws are pretty common elsewhere.
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Based on a law dating back to the Prussian Empire. Given how many complete upheavals of government and system Germany has had in the last 200 years, Its akin to using laws for the Massachusetts Bay Colony to prosecute someone for witchcraft.
Although true, they also have a chilling effect on notions of free speech. Creating penalties and burdens on alleged defamers in a way that can be used browbeat those without resources. Slander/Libel laws, and free speech in general is one of a few things the US does better than Continental Europe. I would also include freedom of religion and immigration on that list as well.
And yet here I am with nothing but nearly 60 years of US perspective. The whole point of the Freedom of Speech portion of the 1st Amendment of the US constitution. No it does not count for the rest of the world but that little bit of law is makes me rather proud to be an American. And I find any law that restricts or could imprison someone for speech is reprehensible.
Well, yes. So what? You are awfully quick to elevate American idiosyncrasies to a universal standard.
No it does not count for the rest of the world but that little bit of law is makes me rather proud to be an American.
That’s nice for you, I guess.
And I find any law that restricts or could imprison someone for speech is reprehensible.
I don’t particularly like those laws myself, but this chauvinist mock outrage at people elsewhere failing to be sufficiently American gets old very fast. I get it. We have laws that you wouldn’t like. God knows you have enough laws I wouldn’t like.
If you try to turn following your example into the global yardstick for moral acceptability, then some people will disagree.
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Americans (and, I think to a large extent the rest of the English-speaking world) have somehow convinced themselves (ourselves) that freedom of speech is the most important thing, and that it is absolutely necessary to stop tyranny. In reality, America is closer to being a despotic plutocracy than Germany is. Not despite their strong stance on free speech laws, but because of it.
I’m sick of free speech which is only ever raised to defend racists (and, in America, somehow huge corporations) but that the average person has no access to because they can’t afford lawyers. I’m sick of presumption of innocence that seems to only come up when a famous man is accused of sexual assault and that does nothing for the vast swath of those accused who feel they have no choice but to plead guilty because the system as a matter of fact presumes them guilty.
Anglo values are stupid values. We’re stupid. Thanks for the reminder that there are ways to be less stupid.
Damn. Why can’t people at least be good at pretense?
Turkey actually “updated” its laws to European norms.
And after it did so, the prosecutions began in earnest.
From a non-US perspective, most of the US Bill of Rights is an example of “for every complex problem, there is an answer that is simple, obvious and wrong”.
Absolutist rules that ignore context nearly always lead to harmful consequences in at least some cases.
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Many laws were simply “imported” from the previous governments. This particular one is an anachronism left over from when Germany was a monarchy itself and most European nations had laws like this. The last time it was invoked was 1967*, and since then most Germans had forgotten that it even existed.
*it was the Shah of Iran, and the case was dropped.
Not true. It is invoked from time to time, just not very often and rarely in high-profile cases.
For example in 2007 a Swiss citizen living in Germany accepted a fine of 50 daily incomes for insulting the Swiss head of state.
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