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In reply to the discussion: France arrests 54 in hate speech crackdown [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)25. Generally true, however, when I looked into this issue about 15 or so years ago, Germans'
rights to free speech in their workplaces was greater than that. Here, most employees work on an at-will basis. If they hold an opinion their boss disapproves of, there is no law protecting them from being dismissed. But, at least in the late 1990s in Germany, the right to free speech which is more limited in other ways there than here, was enforceable not just against the government, but against private parties meaning that, for example, someone expressing a negative opinion about the use of nuclear energy could not be fired by a boss who disagreed with his stance.
So free speech is defined differently in different countries.
The French have a long history of satirizing religious leaders.
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France has long and tragic experience with hate speech. Their country, their country, their laws.
Fred Sanders
Jan 2015
#2
And..in other news... Charlie Hebdo Attack Committed By "Magical Shape Shifting Jews"
Rhinodawg
Jan 2015
#3
Thanks. There has to be a crime in order to have a hate crime. Speech may be associated
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#23
Generally true, however, when I looked into this issue about 15 or so years ago, Germans'
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#25
I believe that the American Bill of Rights restrains the government, while the German rights
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#27
Granted, I oversimplified, but in the US, the Constitutional protections of our rights apply to
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#29
Thanks. The article explains the difference and also explains how German law limits speech rights.
JDPriestly
Jan 2015
#33
The ACLU and many decades of hard fought liberal and progressive legal victories
branford
Jan 2015
#14