AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Yeah, they're essentially just parked there but they are more or less 100% under US control. We have a couple bases there are its essentially the front lines with ISIS as well as being a holdover from the Cold War, Turkey being our Cuba.

Germany conducted raids on people because of hate speech. Flat-out raiding people's homes because they posted vile things on Facebook. I understand that Germany's hate speech laws are strict, but if they want to combat hatred then raiding people's houses isn't the right way to go about it. Obtain evidence from suspects peacefully rather than ransacking apartments for cameras and laptops.

Wow, that's heavy handed. Now you have the risk of those who would actually do something other than just talking, giving all kinds of signs that they should be watched, now giving fewer signs, and being a bit more careful to avoid being caught.

I'm all for it. I'm sick of people running their fucking mouths online with zero consequences.

While I agree that people who say toxic shit on the internet need their comeuppance, police raids is not the correct consequence. Disabling accounts, deleting posts, IP bans, sure. Also, what constitutes hate speech? Whats the limit? Already you have people on twitter who subscribe to blockbots who will block any user who follows certain people or says a certain phrase, labeling those people as hateful or hurtful. Hate speech means different things to different people. This should be matter of increased moderation on website and not forced seizures and raids. That is FAR too slippery of a road to follow and is a trending ideal in more dictatorial countries (see: Turkey, Saudi Arabia). Its trying to push in a thumbtack with a sledgehammer. Not to mention a lot of internet "hate" is just people being assholes and can be solved by just ignoring and blocking the perpetrators as they feed on the negative feedback and publicity.

No, fuck that, I'm sick to death of bans and blacklisting and what-the-fuck-ever, I want some Old Testament shit! I've had it up to here with people running their fucking mouths with shit they dont even get and then act like smug little shits when caleld on it. Maybe a night in jail will teach them to keep their daisies mouths shut for once. I want my enemies to SUFFER.

The issue is that what constitutes as hate speech is pretty subjective, especially if the subject matter is a couple of tweets that the offender could have meant in jest. I think some of the stuff you post is hateful and toxic, that doesn't mean you should be locked up for it.


No offense meant though, I like your posts for the most part.

To the best of my knowledge I have never threatened to murder or rape someone because they didnt like a video game. If anyone does that in real life, you better belive they'd end up in jail, but its apparently fine to do it online.

Not everyone has the same definitions as you for hate speech. Already there are countries who arrest people over just criticizing the government. Its one thing to raid a hate group with these powers, but its something that can and is being abused elsewhere in the world. Also, no it has never nor ever will be fine to send death/rape threats online, its just easier for people make fake/dummy accounts, say something shitty and the account is essentially disposable. Meanwhile in real life, you don't have the luxury of creating a fake persona and walking up to someone and screaming in their face and the consequences of doing that are usually a lot more direct and immediate then. Of course, that then leads into the issue of a persons right to privacy on the internet. Should a bunch of children and assholes who could just be blocked or muted destroy online privacy for everyone else, because one apple spoils the bunch?

Why not? That is how it works in bodaciously EVERY OTHER GODDAMN ASPECT OF LIFE! Why should the Internet be any different? You either police your own ranks or eventually the goverment is going to step in and do it for you when the actions of a few becomes impossible to tolerate any further.

Actually if someone tells you to go kill yourself in real life they don't immediately get arrested either, the police don't have time for that. Only when they believe it's a serious threat will they take action. Usually it's continued harassment that causes the cops to take action.

One thing that people seems to be missing is that the ones raided by German police weren't random assholes, they were all involved in the same hidden neonazi facebook group, which makes me think the authorities were less interested in policing online communities than in investigating an organized hate group.

In theory, if an organized hate group is pushing it's members into doing something dangerous, having the police step in could prevent a potential hate crime.

It makes sense to me that if you have enough people saying "_____s don't deserve to live", eventually some crazy person will want to go through with it. And we've seen plenty of times that people will do horrible things, attack others, and upon investigation its found that the attacker was an active member of some hate group or was spewing hate speech online.

But at what point is that line crossed? When is it harmless and when is it an indication of something bigger?

I didn't know about the neo-Nazi group. But then, those folks have some violence in the past. I have a copy of Führer-Ex, which us the memoirs of Ingo Hasselbach. He had been a key figure in the group, but left it back in the '90s, after Oklahoma City bombing, and is currently in hiding because the neo-Nazis want to kill him.

In a way, and not a small way, at that, they're a terrorist group. If this had just been a few random people talking shit, yeah, then it'd be an issue.