• CrazyDiamond
    +2

    I think countries that outlaw hate speech adopt the philosophy that hating groups of people is morally wrong all together, thus opinions about hating a group can be silenced. I think Germany outlaws hate speech. They are intimately familiar with the power of movements involved in the hatred of a group.

    • hallucigenia
      +2

      Yah. I understand why Germany does it, but I still think it's an over-reaction. Besides squelching speech, It also helps to give holocaust deniers credibility. "Hey, if I'm just a crazy conspiracy theorist, why is the government trying to silence me?" And people go, "Wow, he's got a point!"

      • l23r
        0

        There's still a bunch of Nazis in Germany (and the USA and all over the world) and unless they fly a Swastika flag or walk down the street doing a Hitler salute while yelling "Heil Hitler", the government doesn't really do much.

        The issue with Holocaust denial is that it's beyond stupid. It's like saying gravity doesn't exist.

        • hallucigenia
          +2

          The issue with Holocaust denial is that it's beyond stupid. It's like saying gravity doesn't exist.

          I don't get it. Is it illegal to say that gravity doesn't exist?

        • l23r (edited 8 years ago)
          +2
          @hallucigenia -

          No. It's that spreading obviously false information is harmful to impressionable children. Now religion is still legal in Germany, but that's another story, heh. Even East Germany didn't outright ban religion. They still thought that people had the right to think almost any crazy thought they wanted.