this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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As an American this is difficult to comprehend. I'm feeling culture shock. Maybe the first xenophobia I've experienced in years.
France doesn't have the First Amendment. I mean, I don't much think that this is a good idea either, but different country, different system of government.
For what it's worth, As a German I don' t particularly like the right to free speech as it exists in the US. It allows way too much, including harmful things. E.g. in Germany it is not allowed to glorify the Holocaust. I'm pretty sure such a thing would be allowed as free speech in the US.
I’m an American living in Germany. It’s not honestly much different in effect. In the US I could insult a police officer as much as I want (but you know… if I choose the wrong one they’ll fucking kill me), whereas it’s illegal in Germany. There’s a lot of things like that, where there’s technically the freedom to do something but it doesn’t really mean freedom
Yeah, you kinda privatized speech control. It*s interesting that in the US people can get easily fired over things they said on social media. In Germany that's harder. Not just because of legal protections (there are some, but they're not that strong) but also because there's an understanding that what can and cannot be said shouldn't be decided by people on Twitter/X but by the law.
Yup. There’s also a much stronger line between your work life and your private life. It’s wild to me (not bad, just very unexpected) that people with drug possession charges don’t lose their jobs here, even office workers or teachers
Especially those. For criminal things to become relevant they have to be connected to the job at hand. Hence drugs would be mainly an issue in areas where you operate heavy machinery.
Fun fact: You are allowed to lie about your criminal past in job interviews if it's those are not connected to the job. Hence any smart employer will only ask whether you were convicted of anything that is relevant to them. Otherwise firing you will be expensive. And of course it's also hard to employers to find out whether an employee has any criminal convictions. Afaik only a few select areas, e.g. the arms industry and kindergartens (the later look for sex and violence related crimes, not drugs), actually check criminal records and they do have to get permission from you or you'll even have to get the documents ("Führungszeugnis") yourself.
There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to people who film themselves screaming profanities at police officers in the US to get them to do something illegal.
This group of people calls themselves First Amendment Auditors.
A camera provides a lot of insurance in this case.
Never ever do something like that without having a camera or cellphone recording.