The way that things used to be for many invokes images of the “good ole days”; those times gone by of an era when things we simpler and of course better. Start a conversation with an older person about an issue and more often than not you’ll here a “in my day” or a “those were the days”. Not to go all Edith and Archie Bunker on you, but there was a time when the world was simpler. I don’t necessarily mean to imply that it was better that way, but much simpler. A simpler world before you learned about some things. Like that you can’t drive the same way you would in a heavy snowstorm that you would on a bright day with dry payment, if you don’t pay a parking ticket they will tow your car, and if you say something stupid on the internet you will be ridiculed.
The stupidity of that particular German politician and Europe in general about the Nazis at the expense of free speech and expression is just stupefying at the very least and profoundly disturbing at the worst. Perhaps it is just that I’m an American and I don’t have to deal with the cultural and political ramifications of Nazism. Wait I don’t think that’s it… Ever hear of Skinheads and the Aryan Brotherhood? Home-brewed right here in the United States. Sure the cultural consequences of not having any European Jews might have detrimental effects on the overall gestalt of any chance there would be a politically unified Europe, but to ignore the rise of Nazism and the other Fascist movements by suppressing the usage of symbols will only give them a mystique to generations present who are curious and will find out anyway.
The absurdity of the claim lies within the exceptions to the German anti-Facsist laws and anti-race crime laws namely those of education, documentation, and artistic expression. One would assume that the purpose of an encyclopedia would be self-evident, namely documentation (preservation for posterity) and education. Still Schubert pressed on claiming that Nazi symbols could be downloaded and modified by youth for “illegal purposes”. Link; careful it’s in German. The hardest part of the whole story to wrap one’s mind about is the fact that the display of Nazi symbols, as well of that of other Fascist organizations, as well as Holocaust denial is a criminal act. It totally blew my mind when I first found out about these laws and their subsequent criminality. One shouldn’t be surprised given my past feelings about the matter of free speech. It boggles my mind that people can, and apparently are, spending time in prison for making statements that could be very easily construed as political. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that someone waving a Nazi flag would be trying to make a political point.
This has always just added more fire to the fact that I don’t considered parliamentary governments legitimate in the same way that republican democracies are. It’s much easier for the minority parties, and often the fringe minority, to gain coalition power and enact changes in the system that are add on the burdens of the citizens. Not to say that the drafters of the anti-Nazi paraphernalia law didn’t have the best of intentions and clearly the period of de-Nazifacation that Germany underwent following the end of the second world war was a good, but the inclusion of democracy means hearing all of the voices. The power of the republican democracy is listening to the opinions of the factions that wield majority. The factioning in republican democracies works as a broad good in that in order for their voices to be heard, they must join a larger group which will moderate the extreme and bring the whole system into balance. The problem with the German laws is that they go against all of the principles of free speech that the American soldiers who died liberating and defeating that evil empire of Nazi Germany died to protect. The story deserves to be told and people need to know. There is a rather disheartening problem in reality in the way that the post-World War I period is handled by the German public and the educational system of that country. They gloss over the details and fail to explain the causes of problems that plagued their country, hoping desperately to avoid mentioning the subject of Nazis and the Holocaust with the desire that the next generation will not be enthralled by the ideals of a dead monster.
If there is one thing that the United States has learned about the suppression of ideas, is that the more forbidden, the more taboo, a subject the more those deprived crave that knowledge, if only for the reasons that we say that they can’t have it. This is precisely why the denial of these rights to German citizens is just so damn depressing. Think of the irony! The banning of Nazi propaganda, by a government that means to not repeat the mistakes of the past. Free speech is one of the best safety devices that people and citizens of free countries can have. It keeps governments honest, prevents the pushing of agendas, and allows for the creation of a commons that clearly and truly represents itself in rule.
That’s the best part about a global communications system that we have in the internet. A bevy of ideas can swirl about and it doesn’t take much to voice an opinion here. This is truly the public commons of the 21st century, which allows for the free dissemination of ideas to an audience that is willing and waiting for new ideas to hit the press. No matter how restrictive the government and even the Great Firewall of China can’t stop the signal.
