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eva01beserk said:
vivster said:

Imams who preach hate are charged the same way as neonazis that preach their hate if that's what you mean.

But as an extremely left country there are of course some "injustices". A certain religion is basically untouchable while other religions also have to be treated very delicately. There are a number of touchy subjects.

In the end it comes down to the fact that Germany is an actual democracy, which means the government is actually governed by the people. It's the German people that are historically extremely left leaning, at least since WW2 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The government isn't doing anything the majority of the people disagrees on. So the laws that are passed are accepted. I don't think tolerance in this country is perfectly balanced but what I can say for certain is that in this country we value freedom of speech. To actually get into trouble you would have to do a really stupid thing. No one will get jailed or even charged for minor disagreements, even in very sensitive topics.

Again, it's all about context and intent.

https://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2017/08/don-t-mention-war 

Two Chinese tourists are arrested for making a Hitler salute in Germany

 context and intent? obvious they wanted to start a jew hunt.  

This falls exactly what I call "doing something really stupid". Nazism is an extremely touchy subject and there are actual laws against this. I don't necessarily agree with those laws but I don't think they restrict my freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is not freedom of being an asshole. Doing the Hitler salute in Germany is never anything other than provocation. So in this case the intent was provocation. That's why I don't travel to Japan to fart their Emperor in the face.

Given that they were actually charged means that they must have done it in an especially blatant and provocative manner. No one goes to jail for lifting their hand the wrong way.



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