EU Can Do

What does it matter that the EU can’t even control its own borders, create a common defense, organise vaccines, agree on a data protection law, control money laundering, unite properly over practically all major issues, agree on one location to seat its government, sanction its own misbehaving members, actually get rid of daylight savings time after having announced it got rid of daylight savings time many years ago… And so very, very much more?

Its bureaucrats, technocrats, kleptocrats and all the other crats mean well and have their hearts in the right place. So, sure, who could be better qualified to place Twitter under direct supervision? Other than Big Brother himself. I mean herself. You know what I mean. Whatever kind of self Big Brother might have these days.

EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official – A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.

“The power of the big platforms over public discourse needs necessary safeguards so that fundamental rights are effectively protected.”

What Country Is More Obsessed With Personal Data Privacy Than Germany?

I know of none.

Yet, oddly, officials at the German Foreign Office are apparently very upset that the Twitter accounts of journalists who openly disregarded Twitter’s personal data privacy guidelines (no doxing) were suspended. I’m sure this was some mistake and they’ll be coming out with an explanation for this puzzling contradiction soon.

Germany on Twitter suspensions: ‘We have a problem, @Twitter’ – The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, warning the platform that the ministry had a problem with moves that jeapordised press freedom.

Free Speech Is A Frightening Prospect

For the German government. Look, if we allow people to say and to think anything they want, well, they just might.

And if we can no longer ensure that German citizens think the correct thoughts, they might just refuse to do what we tell them to do. And who knows where that could lead to?

Germany watching developments at Twitter with growing concern – The German government is watching developments at Twitter with growing concern, a government spokesperson said on Friday.

“Of course, we are observing this with great interest and growing concern … but at the moment there is no new (government) position,” the spokesperson told a regular government news conference.

Fantasy Book From 1875 Not Up To Today’s Strict Moral Standards

The Virtue signaling industry is high gear again. And morally intoxicanted, as usual.

It’s a dangerous combination but we’re used to it, right? Cowardly search for and find something that might offend somebody somewhere, remove it from its historical context and then call yourself brave as you loudly apply a current attitude to the long-dead past.

German publisher pulls Winnetou books amid racial stereotyping row – Ravensburger Verlag reacts as debate rages over depiction of Native American character in children’s books.

A German publisher has announced it is withdrawing two new books paying tribute to a highly popular character in children’s fiction after facing accusations of racism and cultural appropriation.

At least this is a first. As far as I know, Germans have never banned books in the past. Or burned them or anything.

German Of The Day: Fremdschämen

That means being embarrassed – for someone else.

And this particular embarrassment has less to do with a stupid song and its stupid song lyrics than it does with the fact that authorities feel the need to censor it.

Schlager louts? Row erupts over ‘sexist’ pop hit in Germany – Town festival authorities refuse to play chart-topping Layla by DJ Robin & Schürze, prompting complaints of censorship.

“People are being prescribed how they should talk, how to write, and now how to party. This prudish nannying of the politically correct bregade must stop. We are heading for an anti-fun society.”

And here you thought Germany was an anti-fun society already.

German Of The Day: Ausladung

That means disinvitation.

German Academic Freedom Is Now Decided in Beijing – German universities are bowing to China on censorship.

The two German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges were disinvited from giving public talks at the German Confucius Institute about their new biography of China’s president, Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World. The disinvitation came at the behest of the Chinese consul general in Düsseldorf. Aust told the German newspaper Die Welt that an institute staffer informed the journalists that “you cannot talk about Xi Jinping as a normal person, he is supposed to be untouchable and unmentionable now.”

German Collusion

I mean, Russian collusion. YouTube collusion? I dunno. There must be some kind of collusion in there somewhere, right?

Russia threatens to block YouTube after suspension of German RT channels – Moscow warns of retaliation against video-sharing platform after RT channels blocked over Covid disinformation…

YouTube on Tuesday told German media that it had issued a warning to RT for violating its coronavirus disinformation guidelines and then shuttered two channels for breaching user terms.

On Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry accused YouTube of an “unprecedented act of media aggression” which it said was likely aided by German authorities – a claim Berlin denied.

The Russian ministry said the adoption of retaliatory measures against German media “seems not only appropriate but also necessary.”

German Of The Day: Verbot

That means ban.

You know, as in Berlin court bans anti-lockdown protests?

These Querdenker (people who think outside the box) keep thinking outside the box so it’s time to box them up and move them out.

Judges in the German capital have moved to ban a number of weekend demonstrations amid fears they will lead to a rise in coronavirus infections. Police expect protesters to travel to Berlin nonetheless…

The upper court said the Querdenker movement was characterized throughout Germany “by the fact that the participants used them to violate legal norms created to contain the risk of infection in a way that attracted public attention, in particular by disregarding the social distance requirement and the mask requirement.”

First They Came For The Hate Speech

And I did not speak out because I was not a hate speaker.

Then they came for the impolite speech, and I did not speak out because I was not an impolite speaker.

Then they came for the mildly dislike and disapprove of speech (and I mildly dislike and disapprove of practically everybody and everything), and there was no one left to speak out for me.

End all unpleasant speech and everything I don’t agree with speech now! Or something.

German lawmaker confronts online hate speech, death threats – From abuse on the web to attacks on the SPD office in Wuppertal, threats of death and mutilation are a regular experience for the parliamentarian and anti-racism campaigner Helge Lindh. But giving up is not an option.

He’s Not A Racist

And everybody here knows it. His problem is that he’s not a Green. He says reasonable, grown-up, real-world things all day long.

That’s why he is “controversial.” That’s why the Greens have to kick him out. It’s like the SPD all over again with their heretic, Thilo Sarrazin. If you don’t follow the party line you’re history. Die Partei hat immer recht. The party is always right, especially when it’s left.

Germany: Greens to oust Tübingen mayor over racist comments – Members of the environmentalist Greens party have overwhelmingly voted to remove Boris Palmer from their ranks. The mayor had used a racial slur against soccer player Dennis Aogo.