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> It works really well. The Weimar Republic did have hate speech laws, that were vigorously enforced and similar in spirit to modern-day Germany's laws.[1] Not

> It works really well. The Weimar Republic did have hate speech laws, that were vigorously enforced and similar in spirit to modern-day Germany's laws.[1] Not only did that fail to stop the rise of the Nazi party, but the legal machinery was actively co-opted post-1933 to censor anti-Nazi groups. In contrast, in the 1930s the most ardent pro-free-speech countries were the America and Britain. (Contemporary British hate speech laws not being created until well after the war.) Yet unlike almost all of continental Europe, any nascent fascist movements in the US or UK remained extreme fringe groups that never gained any political traction. The historical record is pretty clear. At best hate speech laws, do nothing to disarm extremist groups. America's 250 year history of free speech absolutism, with virtually no extremist groups gaining widespread traction is evidence of this. At worse hate speech laws are a dangerous single-point of failure for liberal democracy. [1] https://www.cato.org/policy-report/mayjune-2015/war-free-expression https://www.cato.org/policy-report/mayjune-2015/war-free-exp...

watwut 6y ago
They did not censored racial hate speech, only religious one. Lucky for nazi, their ideology was based on race. The few censored nazi journals issues crossed the line to religious hate. Overwhelming majority of them was hateful against race and thus allowed. So no, their censorship did not even attempted any meaningful limitation of nazi. Also, in 1933 Hitler gained complete power, was also supported by veterans who worked in civil service and talking about "co-opting" censorship is almost absurd. At that point, first concentration camp was created and political opponents were put in. The censorship machine was not that much important at that point, violence was. Also, German censorship was quicker against communists then right wing groups, because right wing groups were seen as patriotic.
ephimetheus 6y ago
Large parts of the constitution are explicitly designed to stop a repeat of what happened in the Weimar Republic. It’s not perfect, but so far it’s doing it’s job.
zapnuk 6y ago
> America's 250 year history of free speech absolutism, with virtually no extremist groups gaining widespread traction is evidence of this. Ku Klux Klan?!? QAnon? There are plenty of extremists groups with varying number of members and activities.[1] The US has also plenty of domestic terrorism [2] the majority was committed by right-wing or religious (christian + muslim) extremism. Most 'modern' terrorists are also self organized+radicalized. Social media and access to more and more extremist content plays a crucial role in their radicalization process. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States#Terrorist_organizations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Unit... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States#2020%E2%80%93present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States...

watwut 6y ago

They did not censored racial hate speech, only religious one. Lucky for nazi, their ideology was based on race. The few censored nazi journals issues crossed the line to religious hate. Overwhelming majority of them was hateful against race and thus allowed. So no, their censorship did not even attempted any meaningful limitation of nazi. Also, in 1933 Hitler gained complete power, was also supported by veterans who worked in civil service and talking about "co-opting" censorship is almost absurd. At that point, first concentration camp was created and political opponents were put in. The censorship machine was not that much important at that point, violence was. Also, German censorship was quicker against communists then right wing groups, because right wing groups were seen as patriotic.

ephimetheus 6y ago

Large parts of the constitution are explicitly designed to stop a repeat of what happened in the Weimar Republic. It’s not perfect, but so far it’s doing it’s job.

zapnuk 6y ago

> America's 250 year history of free speech absolutism, with virtually no extremist groups gaining widespread traction is evidence of this. Ku Klux Klan?!? QAnon? There are plenty of extremists groups with varying number of members and activities.[1] The US has also plenty of domestic terrorism [2] the majority was committed by right-wing or religious (christian + muslim) extremism. Most 'modern' terrorists are also self organized+radicalized. Social media and access to more and more extremist content plays a crucial role in their radicalization process. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States#Terrorist_organizations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Unit... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States#2020%E2%80%93present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States...