2 ms·

The Weimar Republic was a free society. How'd that work out? It was destroyed by outright lies, racism, etc.

• zozbot234 7y ago
  Far from it. It's well known that the Nazis exploited Weimar-era censorship laws to their own ends after seizing power.
  • waterhouse 7y ago
    And even before seizing power. “Contrary to what most people think, Weimar Germany did have hate-speech laws, and they were applied quite frequently. The assertion that Nazi propaganda played a significant role in mobilising anti-Jewish sentiment is, of course, irrefutable. But to claim that the Holocaust could have been prevented if only anti-Semitic speech and Nazi propaganda had been banned has little basis in reality. Leading Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels, Theodor Fritsch and Julius Streicher were all prosecuted for anti-Semitic speech. “Pre-Hitler Germany had laws very much like the anti-hate laws of today, and they were enforced with some vigour.” [1] "In the decade from 1923 to 1933, the Nazi propaganda magazine Der Stürmer — of which Streicher was the executive publisher — was confiscated or had its editors taken to court no fewer than 36 times. The more charges Streicher faced, the more the admiration of his supporters grew. In fact, the courts became an important platform for Streicher’s campaign against the Jews." [2] [1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422017748821 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03064220177488... [2] https://www.cato.org/policy-report/mayjune-2015/war-free-expression https://www.cato.org/policy-report/mayjune-2015/war-free-exp...