:roll:
I’ll drop by the mosque located down the street from my house to see what they think.
Umm, you do know that we have mosques, etc., here in the U.S., right? Islam is not banned, obviously. As a matter of fact, a church that I have been attending recently, is getting together with one of the local Episcopal churches in the area each Weds., evening during Lent, to study various aspects of Islam. The guest speakers are Islamic. I guess next week I’ll tell them they can’t speak any longer. 
All the Best, Tom
I was not talking about islam as religion, I was talking about that Djihad-ideology.
Now that I think about it, didn’t Germany also ban Scientology at one point?
Mabey I’m a spoiled American, but a government banning books and religions makes me cringe.
Well, ok, yeah, if some folk are running around blowing up our buildings and shooting us, we stop them.
That goes for the Confederate flag as well. The whole thing reeks of trying to rewrite history.
The truth is our freedoms of speech are being eroded daily here in the US and it’s not just the fault of the government.
No, it’s irrational fear!
Tom
Where do you get this? Can you tell me please how “Germany’s law in particular has been enforced”? What difficulty in examining the history and historical artifacts?
And if some folks adopt an ideology that has been responsible for the Holocaust and WWII, we would like to stop them before they can do it again.
No. Scientology isn’t banned in Germany. Some courts refused to recognized them as a “religion” so that they did not qualify for a tax exemption on their considerable commercial activities. There is some unease in German society about “sects” and Scientology is commonly regarded as one of them. This fear is stoked by the established (Christian) churches. There were public calls to boycot Chick Corea concerts at some point I recall, because it was felt that he publicly advocated Scientology (you know sort of like boycots of “The Last Temptation of Christ” or that movie about McKinsey). The result was very vocal Germany-bashing by famous Hollywood Scientologists.
So, Scientology was never banned in Germany and you can stop cringing.
(edited to fix the name of the musician I meant: Chick Corea)
…long before the nazis got a hold of the swastika and turned it into a symbol of dread, it was a symbol of good luck. It is still thought of that way in many asian countries. Recently, a shipment of candy or toy bears made it into canada with the swastika embellishing the base…every one was appalled, but the importer explained that not all people feel the same about that symbol…the shipment was returned, and non offending bears brought in…I don’t know where I’m going with this, I guess my point is not all things mean the same thing to all people…
The German ban doesn’t apply to works of art or scholarship.
Sure, but I was talking about as folks are running around blowing things up, not just because they have an anti-U.S. stance. Hell, my wife and I have an anti-Bush bumper sticker on one of our cars- if we go down the wrong road, couldn’t that be considered anti-government, so illegal?
Of course you want and have the right to stop them from taking action, but I wouldn’t want us in the U.S., to go shutting down everyone how talks about how bad our government is, or our society is. The question is- where do you draw the line before their talk/thought becomes action? For me, here, I’m not ready to outlaw groups who say that our government is no good, or who are members of the KKK, or other such groups, hateful as some of them may be.
All the Best, Tom
I like the previous poster’s suggestion of “Zero tolerance”.
The answer, clearly, is to BAN EVERYTHING.
It’s a little known fact that “Members of the Communist Party” are explicitely excepted from the US Civil Rights Act of 1964. Meaning, you can discriminate against Communists in this country. You can’t fire someone from their job because they’re black or a woman, unless their Communists. In that case, everything goes: you can fire them because they are Communists, because they are black (and Communist), because they are a woman (and Communist), etc.
This is from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, dealing with employment discrimination (“unlawful employment practices”):
(f) As used in this subchapter, the phrase ``unlawful employment
practice’’ shall not be deemed to include any action or measure taken by
an employer, labor organization, joint labormanagement committee, or
employment agency with respect to an individual who is a member of the
Communist Party of the United States or of any other organization required to register as a Communistaction or Communistfront
organization by final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board
pursuant to the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 [50 U.S.C.
781 et seq.].
You think you’re funny? I do believe that we have to defend the rules of democracy by fighting fascism and racism by all legal means.
It is a shame that organizations like the KKK are protected by the US law. Would your tolerance also apply to a black group who kills white folks?
I don’t think it’s fair to say the KKK is “protected” by US law. Freedom of speech and freedom association are. Your question doesn’t strike me as fair; and the answer would be yes (that would be the Black Panthers, wouldn’t it?).
Quite right. We don’t protect the group,per se, and we do prosecute those who act against the law.
Tom
In theory at least, we tolerate the Black Panthers’ speech and ideas. We do not, however, tolerate their murder.
Did you never watch Allo Allo?
I presume, under the legislation the Germans proposed, every series, video and DVD would have been made illegal.
And prince harry? At a party in full WWII nazi regalia. Of course the British govenment wouldn’t want it illegal, they’d have to throw harry in jail.
Also, the swastika is not a nazi emblem. It was around long before WWII and is still used in other cultures. Just because Germany abused the symbol does not give them the right to tell other countries to make it illegal.