German prosecutors drop investigation against comedian who insulted Turkish president

ignoring @nimelennar’s near-Godwin he has still a point: In Germany the prosecution offices are not independent but bound by instructions, the highest authority is the minister of justice

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[obvious comment]Test run for life under Trump[/obvious comment]

And here, the system was in hindsight pretty clear-cut. Erdogan made a formal request under an almost forgotten law, and one of the things nobody wanted to do was put themself above the law.

If that sort of thing is acceptable, then I am out of here.

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the law states the prosecution is at the discretion of the government, ignoring a request would be totally legal

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I apologize for drawing an unfair parallel between the Germany of today and the Germany of the past. I should have been more aware of the emotional scars I would be poking with such a remark, and I will remove it if you wish me to. I truly did not mean to cause any harm, and I once again apologize for the pain I have inflicted.

However, I do believe that I was trying to raise a valid point: unyielding adherence to the law and to the decisions of the “higher-ups” only results in justice when the laws and decisions themselves are just.

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So you apologize for underestimating my sensitivity while being right? Oh, come on.

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I am apologizing for the language I used to raise a point, language is not just insensitive to you, but to an entire country who has done almost everything that could be asked of them, and more, to repent and atone for a national shame committed by people who are mostly long-dead at this point.

I am apologizing because what I said was offensive, not because you took offense.

I am not apologizing for the underlying point — that, to prevent injustice, unjust laws should be resisted, not followed — which was lost in the offensively hyperbolic statement that I used to make it.

And I am offering you the option to leave that statement up as a monument to my insensitivity, or remove it, to prevent further offense. I cannot unmake the statement, and I find myself thoroughly uncertain if I should wear that statement as the albatross around my neck, as a symbol of the wrong that I have done, or whether it would be better to erase the wrongness so that it cannot spread further. I do not trust my own judgement to make the decision, which is why I offer it to you.

Edit: And since you’re taking your time making that decision, I’ve adopted a middle ground in the interim.

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and another case resolved!

remember the lady solving a crossword puzzle $90k artwork? the prosecutor dropped the investigation without charges (minor guilt, no public interest in prosecution).

no idea if her lawyer still claims that she has now a copyright of her own.

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Ah, fuck it! I had written this lengthy private message to you about how I appreciate your apology but if this place doesn’t give a fuck and doesn’t even react to my complaints, then I am done with all this shit anyway.

But that wouldn’t have been fair to you and the BB people don’t care one way or the other.

I guess it is best to have a thick skin if you are of evil race.

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Yeah, that was where Merkel really screwed up. It was clear to everyone that she didn’t want to piss the Caudillo of Constantinople off, and so she did what she always does: she punted*.

*an analogy from American football, where if the offence cannot move the ball down the field enough, they punt the ball away. It is little more than a delaying tactic.

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What I would like to see would be the dropping of the charges on the grounds of the poem not being insulting.

After all, when you’re the corrupt head of a government with a mission to destroy secularism and democracy, are responsible for attacking journalists and ethnic minorities, giving support to ISIS and building yourself a gigantic palace to top it all off, then being called a goatfucker is actually a compliment.

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Maybe that’s the part of the charge the prosecutor couldn’t prove.

That’s how it is being reported, that the prosecutor decided it was not an insult but satire and thus protected as a work of art. Context was the key cited to tossing the case entirely.

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I don’t know about that… I think West Berlin youth during the Cold War beg to differ…

You know the phrase “the exception proves the rule”? In this case, it is valid, as they were referred to as an exception, meaning that there must be a rule they were an exception to.

Meh. Just not a fan of generalized stereotypes, I guess.

Good for you, recognizing what you did wrong and apologizing while keeping the original (rather than pretending you never said it) and asking if you should, in fact, erase it.

The one improvement I would suggest: never follow an apology with “however” or “but”. Later in the thread you can make your point a different way.

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Don’t worry. We’re used to it. The Anglosphere has a certain fixation with the topic. There can’t be a discussion involving germans or Germany without it.

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