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The migrant crisis is the biggest one going on at the moment. The public discussion is seriously skewed and lacking the moderate against side. At both extremes
by zmb_ 9y ago
The migrant crisis is the biggest one going on at the moment. The public discussion is seriously skewed and lacking the moderate against side. At both extremes there are very vocal advocates, and the official moderate positions are firmly towards the accepting side for migration. Very few want to touch the moderate argument for limiting migration, because you risk being interpreted as being an extremist, at which point these hate speech laws could apply -- many moderates don't want to take that risk and rather stay silent.
It is important to understand that this is, for now, a matter of a chilling effect. I don't claim that I would be put in jail or fined for my opinions, but I definitely do feel a risk of some authority possibly investigating me. And that is enough to make me not take part in the debate. And I do not see my positions being openly discussed in public, even though I know from private conversations that many, many people hold the same views. This is something that moderates on the other side seem not to understand or believe, because they do not face it.
This has lead to a number of poor outcomes for the societies in Europe. Most importantly there are possible approaches to solving the situation that have not been seriously explored and evaluated (e.g., Australia style migrant centres outside the EU). As a result the European response has been uncontrolled, inefficient and hugely expensive. I believe many more people in real need could have been helped, and many lives saved, by an approach that was not based on accepting unlimited numbers of migrants into Europe.
The second important problem is that it drives the disenfranchised moderates towards the extreme. If you feel like your voice is not heard in the debate, it becomes more likely that you will demonstrate with a protest vote for an extremist.
Personally I am absolutely against this law. Even if you accept the idea of hate speech laws, surely they should be enforced by the courts, not by Facebook?
- tmalsburg2 9y ago> The public discussion is seriously skewed and lacking the moderate against side. There is no law in Germany preventing you from voicing your opinion against immigration. We're talking about legally enforced censorship not about media bias. Having said that, I do agree with many things you say, I just think they are not directly relevant to the discussion.
- zmb_ 9y ago> There is no law in Germany preventing you from voicing your opinion against immigration. Could you please read my second paragraph. I'm aware the is no law against voicing my opinion on immigration (I'm not against immigration, I'm an immigrant myself). However, I am absolutely not going to publicly voice my opinions because I do not want to risk someone interpreting some part of my point out of context and investigating me for hate speech.
- tmalsburg2 9y agoI don't see your point. Are you saying that such a law would necessarily be abused by the government to harass you? That seems like a strong assumption and a poor reason again introducing a law which, if interpreted sincerely, is reasonable. Your argument could also be used again a lot of other laws and when taken to the extreme the only solution would be anarchy.