(November 27, 2024 at 6:33 pm)Pat Mustard Wrote:(November 27, 2024 at 3:05 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I think that even hate speech should be allowed, for the simple fact that countering it is punching at air if it's stifled. Drive it underground, no one takes it seriously, and now we have AfD in Germany.
I like knowing who are the bigots, and think taking them on is useful.
The AfD came about because the Soviets wove the Nazis into the East German state, largely through membership of the Stasi. That left the far-right ample space to fester in the eastern parts of Germany, as long as they paid as much lip service to communism as the Politburo did.
There is a reason why the AfD are an exclusively East German phenomenon. There was no real reckoning over the Nazi period in the East.
@Deesse23, I'd like to hear your opinion here.