And I have verified those statements (because some people want to pretend they were never said): This right-wing extremist israeli government is dedicated to expelling or killing all those civilians and taking their land.
Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, compelling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Egypt or the Gulf.
They are so openly and brazenly calling for war crimes and genocidal actions, like holy fuck. And unlike Hamas, they do have the means to achieve what they are calling for.
Burning a symbol to upset people is a shitty thing to do, but it should not be illegal.
Assaulting people, whether they burned a symbol you like or not, is a shitty thing to do that should remain illegal.
And yes, some people in my country have burned symbols that represent people like me recently. Nobody from my community assaulted the people who did it in response. Just the way it should be.
The burning of qurans is clearly meant to incite hate and violence though, and frankly people shouldn’t be burning anything in public anyways.
They’re still perfectly free to invite anyone to their backyard book burnings, don’t act like this is some authoritarian limit on freedom, this is an active intervention to PRESERVE freedom from the nazis who want to take it from us.
I do not approve of burning holy books, but I think it should be legal.
What people shouldn’t do and what should be banned are different things. I don’t want to live in a place where what is not mandatory is banned. There has to be some room for freedom of expression, even for people expressing ideas we dislike.
There has to be some room for freedom of expression, even for people expressing ideas we dislike.
And there still is plenty of room of public expression of opinions without burning a book representing a religious group. Seriously there are thousands of ways to do so.
But European countries did learn some lessons and that’s why some actions such as calling for religious or other minority groups to be killed or to intimindate such groups with displays of violence isn’t allowed in many of them. And burning a religious book in public is such an act of intimidation which serves absolutely no constructive purpose. That’s why many European countries don’t allow such behaviour.
You act like there would be less of a reaction if people ripped up, walked on, or in other ways desecrated the Quran. This isn’t about book burning, this is about a group of people not tolerating that on of their symbols is desecrated.
Imagine if we prosecuted people for burning flags or signs with slogans… but maybe you think that should be illegal as well?
that’s why some actions such as calling for religious or other minority groups to be killed or to intimindate such groups with displays of violence isn’t allowed in many of them
Then why are you giving groups who threaten violence an incentive to do that more often by giving in to their demands?
So we now should base our laws only on doing the opposite of what a few lunatics demand regardless on how it will affect a lot more people? I really don’t think so.
I do not approve of burning books, full stop. I couldn’t care less whose imaginary friend the book is or isn’t about.
But I completely agree that the government should categorically not be legislating which books you can and cannot burn. Burning a book is a form of free speech. It’s often offensive to many people, but it’s still important - if for no other reason than it lets the people doing the burning show their true colors.
Burning a book is a form of free speech. It’s often offensive to many people, but it’s still important - if for no other reason than it let’s the people doing the burning show their true colors.
Yes! That’s something I have also thought about. When some angry folks burned the rainbow flag this summer, I was unhappy that they did, but glad that they showed their intolerance publicly so that we can learn about who they are.
I think it should be allowed in any way anything else can be burned in public by an individual. If a group or organization is burning stuff I think its fine to put limits. That being said I don't think individuals should have a lot of rights to set things ablaze in public. If someone wants to sell a chimney sweep koran or toilet paper with suras it should be fine though but hey no reason it can't be bibles and verses or flags and pictures of politicians or whatever. Its crass and such but really the people being offended should just tit for tat it and make their own crass thing or whatever.
I think they’re saying that Muslims are subhuman, and any society that welcome them deserves any violence or death as a result of allowing such impurity. Doesn’t sound like a fucking Nazi at all…
Inb4 crazy vegan but id like to remind you all that the Animal Agriculture industry is one of the most environmentally destructive forces on the planet (cattle farming is the number one cause of deforestation)
The animal ag industry spends billions and billions lobbying for shit like this. Theyre just as evil as the oil companies. But they get a free pass because people like the product they make.
When people feel their needs aren’t being met by mainstream political parties, they seek answers in the fringes.
This is frightening and seems to be happening all over the Western world. Personally, I think people are struggling with the social disconnect brought by technology, with the smaller family sizes required by economic and climate conditions, with the simmering dread brought on by climate change, and an increasing rage as the struggling middle and lower classes are inundated with daily news of billionaires engaging in frivolity, waste, and/or crimes against the most vulnerable members of our society. People are becoming cynical and angry. They don’t see the future as bright.
In a situation like that, people seek alternatives to the status quo. What could be more attractive than a political view based on returning to old times? They want the return of economic security, stronger family units, more disposable income for leisure, and all the other real or perceived benefits of times past. They think that getting there will require us to embrace the other things we are trying to leave behind - racism, sexism, perhaps even war and genocide in some of the more extreme fringes.
We can see it globally in the left wing too. This is where the terms conservative and progressive really shine as being good descriptors. Conservatives want to go back to the glory days. The more extreme they are, the more willing they are to embrace the worst parts of our past. Progressives/liberals want to move forward. The more extreme they are, the more they are willing to try radical new things that sound like fantasy or science fiction. Progressives are often willing to upend massive social and economic structures to try new things. I find myself in this camp, and sometimes I step outside myself and admit that I have some pretty extreme views. I once told my conservative uncle that I would absolutely be willing to eat my food in pill form, edit my genes so I could live forever, change my brain chemistry so I could be happy all the time. He was shocked and said those things were inhuman and evil.
I don’t believe that we can convert people back to the mainstream unless the mainstream starts to meet their needs. Nations with hungry, lonely, and unfulfilled people are probably good breeding grounds for revolution, in my opinion. Unfortunately, revolutions aren’t always good. Bad actors often take advantage of instability.
It encapsulates the notion that individuals, grappling with the complexities of our times, often turn to simplistic solutions.
While right-wing and fascist leaders may offer simplicity, the true cost lies in the erosion of freedom and a bleak future. They can’t revert reality to a simpler era.
Instead, they dismantle the very foundations that once helped navigate change.
Technology doesn’t bring disconnect. I’d argue liberalism does, and individualism.
Liberlism glorifies individualism: it is the individual who shall be responsible for itself, for its successes and failures. This makes people center on themselves.
But humans are social creatures, so when society tells you that can only rely on yourself, you simply ignore society and focus on your relatives, your family, and maybe your extended social group, which is far, far smaller than the whole society.
Liberalism is basically a doctrine that tells people that the state will abandon them and they shouldn’t rely on it. People will mechanically fall back on a fascist regime that tells them that they will be taken care of and granted the privileges they deserve.
Ergo, liberalism builds fascism.
Another way I see this is that fascism is the fail state of societies. A society always fall back to some sort of fascism. And there liberalism comes to tell you that the state, the organisation that structure the society, should disappear or do nothing.
The solution is dirty easy: the government needs to be a government and do something for the people. Fund the schools, the hospitals, public transports. Take the money where it is. Forbid the financiarisation of the housing market, so house can house people instead of being another kind of gold. Ensure people have enough money to eat and shelter. And there you go. People don’t need fascism when they’re being taken care of.
But the only things liberals do is pretending that there is no money for this shit. Of course, they’re hard at work so the state can get the least money possible.
Technology, such as social media and the platforms that easily provides instant access to them to large masses of people absolutely enables disconnect that is agnostic to liberalism, conservatism, etc. It had been in my observation that we are more disconnected to one another because “technology” has enabled individuals who are not of the “status quo” to find each other and empowers them for either good or for bad. We have all seen countless encounters with friends, families and strangers who rather duck into their smart phones than engage in a conversation.
To say liberalism causes fascism by way of individualism is like saying when you eat McDonald’s you’re going to get fat. You’re not totally wrong but there’s a little more to it than that.
Masha Gessen has great insights on fascism and has stated in the past that fascism is fueled by disenfranchised individuals looking for easy/simplistic answers. This why I believe Trump is so widely popular and accepted.
Masha has lived under fascism (USSR) so I tend to feel they have a strong qualified opinion on the subject. Those who truly understands society and what underpins it knows that it is very nuanced and generalizations simply aren’t enough to frame it let alone “fascism”.
I know this thesis of simplisme, but I don’t buy it. Or rather, there’s nothing around it. People are xenophobe or racist since the dawn of humanity. As you put it, the problem is disenfranchised people, but the solution is how to avoid to disenfranchised them.
Fascist leaders naturally arise when people are looking for solutions to their basic problems. These basic problems are housing, food, security, health,…
In some way we are indeed fighting some instinct of racism, an instinct that has us focus on a smaller group of people we care or understand. The bigger the problems, the smaller the group we focus on.
As for the technology, I firmly disagree still. The disconnect to me would be from the bullshit jobs (a lot of work doesn’t serve society but the holy growth). That is one disconnect. The feeling that the rich have the society work for them and the people have to work for that and then find what they need to live is another disconnect. The intensity of work that prevent socialisation in the name of productivity is a disconnect. The lies and advertising for things you don’t care much. The philosophy that every activity must cost something.
As for technology, people are saying what you’re saying at least since we invented books. Don quichotte is exactly about this.
Social disconnect brought by technology? Please explain. I feel like there has been quite the opposite- technology bringing a very uncomfortable social connection. Especially with social media allowing disturbed individuals to communicate with each other, instantly, globally, for the first time in human history.
As our online lives grow, our real-world connections shrink. I’m a teacher, a fairly young and tech-savvy one. I say that so you know I’m not coming at this like an old and out-of-touch boomer who hates technology.
Our kids do not know how to communicate as well as they used to. They don’t hang out in person, they don’t roam around town and make friends with the local kids in their neighborhood, they don’t play outside beyond highly-structured and competitive sports, and many have ZERO real-world friends.
I spend a lot of time online. Online friendships are great and can be super important for many people. That said, I don’t think it’s super healthy to only have online friends. I know many kids who literally do not interact with a single real-world friend ever. It’s all discord and video games.
I myself find that I only have one real-world friend when it comes down to it. Sure, I love my coworkers to pieces and I have my wife’s friends to some degree. But me alone? One friend. And yes, I do somewhat blame the degradation of real-world communities for that. Gone are the days when children were raised by “the whole village.”
I see what you are saying. And I appreciate your insight, but I think your post might be mostly anecdotal, and slightly myopic. And hell, mine too. But I have a 16yro and and an 8yro. Live in the suburban midwest. And while technology has impacted my kids’ lives (both positively and negatively), and covid did a number on them too, I’m happy to report that my experience vastly differs from yours.
My children, and the many kids is our neighborhood, regularly socialize and play outside. There are 7 kids playing outside my house currently, and my oldest went to his hs football game last night with his friends and then roamed around afterwards for a few hours. So while I certainly don’t disagree with your concerns and what you’ve witnessed, I don’t think every child, community, region can be lumped into that same bucket.
Where are you located if you don’t mind my asking? I am in the American East. I know this is a post in the European community, but my original comment seemed relevant since developed Western nations in North America and Europe seem to be facing a lot of the same issues.
It doesn't explain however how people who suffer from this still not end up clinging to political extremists. Especially in Germany we should be educated enough about this matter due to our own history. I'm dreading the future too, I'm at the point where I lost all hope, but I still can't understand why people go and vote for the AfD or similar parties in different countries. In fact, this just adds to my point of view that humanity is fucked.
“The trend of “autobesity” is forcing car park providers to think of new ways to accommodate larger cars, such as introducing wider bays.”
That’s the most disgusting part of this. They are adapting the infrastructure to accommodate the child killers when the sensible approach is #fuckBigCars.
It’s an exceptionally bad idea to get the state involved in picking which interpretations of a religion are going to be defended.
Cyprus pretty much has this kind of law, and the Chruch loves tormenting even dissenting Christian theologians or prominent people of faith who disagree with the Church with it, let alone critics who aren’t part of the religion at all.
Soooooo, did Danish government just announce that they will fold and accept any demand if enough people, not necessarily even living in Denmark, make threats of terrorism and murder? Because it kinda sounds like they did…
Woder if it would also work for, I don’t know, universal basic income, 3-day weekends or lower taxes?
They did it to curb carbon emissions… So many sacred books burned recently by people who can’t/won’t even read them. They could at least burn the thing AND plant a tree
I thought Idiocracy was a comedy, but meanwhile I believe it was a documentary. I mean, in the US adult men lose their shit and shoot with assault rifles and artillery at beer cans, because of …rainbows.
I don’t understand why y’all are so scared of my sisters and me, or why you believe we would be after your children (dafuq!?). All of this very confuses me, because, Americans say things like “The Land of the Free!”. So, why can’t you just let people be trans? …And now our European rightwing nuts are copying that… Where is this so called freedom, when I’m literally scared about leaving the house? For real, I only leave the house to throw away trash, at 11pm or something.
And, that’s what surprises me about America. People have combined more weapons at home than the military, and want to fight to protect the freedom, but all their actions result in revoking other peoples freedom. …How does this even make sense?
Grew up here thinking all this is normal. Trump opened my eyes to our crazy country. Now I’m a bit of a black sheep of the family. Enjoying all of your responses. Just bought my first European car recently. Hope to go back soon.
You’re talking about a stereotype of a very small subset of Americans. You’re basing your fears on the extremist online postings that aren’t really indicative of Americans in real life in the majority of the country. If you have legitimate reasons to be afraid to leave your house, then I strongly urge you to move. I can’t imagine you’d have much tying you to the area if you never even go outside.
I dunno, did you hear about… Trump? Or DeSantis? Who said he wants to “eradicate transgenderism”? Or that since the start of 2023 there have been close to 600 new anti-trans bills? …I have no idea in what world you live, but in mine, transphobia, or at this point it isn’t even “phobia” but just “hate” (I mean, who even came up with the “They want your kids!!” thing??) is sadly a very real thing. We are that what have been some decades ago the gays, before that the women, before that the Jews, before that black people, et cetera. Humans are a very stupid race that’s always doing the same bad things, while just replacing the target group… not learning anything from it at all. By the way, did you know that if you eat meat, you support pigs getting put into GAS CHAMBERS? Where did I hear that before… huh…
Also, sure. Help me move. I would do that. In a heartbeat. But I assume more than big words I don’t have to expect from you? And uhh… where do I move to? Also, I live in a country where the far-right wing party has 30%. Please forgive me for being scared, to know, that minimum 30% of my country are still nazis, I guess.
I think that depends greatly on where you live. In Berkeley, California? Definitely a small minority. In Harrison, Arkansas? Definitely not a minority.
It's been incredible watching one of the great world powers essentially commit economic suicide. The UK had such a sweet deal as one of the founding members of the EU.
“For the EU on average, the exit of the UK from the European Union on Free Trade Agreement terms is estimated to generate an output loss of around 0.5% of GDP by the end of 2022, and some 2.25% point for the UK,” the Commission said.
Musk has previously called the Swedish strike “insane”. His company has stood by its policy of not agreeing to collective bargaining and said that its employees in Sweden already have similar terms to what their union has called for.
He still doesn’t get it, does he?
Having a union agreement is not about the compensation. It’s about the right to negotiate the working terms.
His employees everywhere, do not have the right to negotiate anything.
They do not have similar terms, even if he pays more and makes pizza parties. It’s not about that at all.
It’s not about money. He has enough of that. The Swedish employees have enough of that. It doesn’t matter what the compensation is. It’s all about the rights to have a say in your own employment. He won’t give that away, because he wants to rule like a dictator.
I hope that some day he will understand it. But I will not be disappointed if he decides to fuck off out of Europe altogether, because he’s not at all fit to run a company here.
If I remember correctly, the whole thing started because Tesla mechanics don’t have a legally binding health and safety code. In Sweden, there is no national health and safety legislation, and it must be negotiated with a union to be legally binding.
It is possible for an employer to have an occupational insurance without a collective agreement. It’s also possible to have a occupational safety representative without a collective agreement. It’s actually legally required on all workplaces that employ 5 or more people, which is how it often starts.
Doing it right without a collective agreement… not so easy.
Also, Sweden has sector codes for different types of business. These main sector agreements determine the minimum terms, even for companies that do not have an agreement.
It only makes sense for Tesla as well as any other employer to participate in this, because without an agreement, they’ll always be behind the sector and dependent on what other companies negotiate.
All in all, it’s better for the company to play along the local conventions. It’s a recipe for disaster to attempt to go by minimum legislation. It’ll always be uphill and the costs of lawsuits will be more than doing things right in the first place and the costs of not being to attract qualified personal are unfathomable. The key is to let people do what they do best. Work. By pretending to be the all knowing mastermind Musk is doing the company a disfavor. He is not acting in the best interest of the company at all.
In the context of this article, being Danish and having funds in pensions, I know that the pension fund has only one thing in mind: Money. They don’t care about workers or the environment or anything else. F.i. These pension funds are still investing in fossil fuels because they believe they have an option to change those for the better.
He’s acting against the interest of the company. The shareholders ought to fire him, but they can’t because he has a magic majority rule in the company that allows him to control it with a minority of the shares. They tried in 2016. They should try again.
Maybe so. I think it’s more a matter of company owners having to educate themselves instead of playing God towards their employees.
It’s becomes very evident when you look into psychological interactions in companies. It seems soo unnecessary - until you look at the results. Companies that actively work to prevent demotivating behaviour also produce better results at the bottom of their financial statements.
Just similar to how violent behaviour resulted in people not working due to broken arms, demotivating behaviour stops employees from doing the job well. You can see it in the contemporary term “Silent quitting” which is a result of poor management. People do minimum work because they are only motivated to as they’re told and don’t get a say in how they do it.
Firmly no. To your last sentence. Unions don’t just exist to push the price of labour. Unions exist because one man alone can easily be replaced with another poor shit worker.
Unions exist because serious workers actually like doing their job well.
Firmly no. To your last sentence. Unions don’t just exist to push the price of labour. Unions exist because one man alone can easily be replaced with another poor shit worker.
Nah. There’s a cut off point somewhere between “making a profit” and “making a large scale company”. The personally owned and personally controlled companies that are happy with turning a profit using whatever means they think are necessary will never be able to buy out the companies that are controlled by an elected board who knows that it is necessary to invest in their staff. Quite the contrary. The professional businesses buy out the smaller ones.
Despite Musk being extremely wealthy, he’s still acting like he’s running a family business in the most unprofessional manner. Tesla had a good run disrupting the industry being first with long range batteries, but the larger car manufacturers have caught up and they have the infrastructure to back it up and staff that will do their job. Unlike Tesla currently.
In Euro scale so it is. The family businesses are the ones that steal from the tip jar, while the big companies are generally more lawful and democratic.
This is because of unions. It’s easy to cheat one guy on a payslip. It’s impossible to cheat on 100 payslips of which 80 of them are in a union. When caught it’s easy to pay off one guy whatever is owed. It’s a stupid bet to try and cheat 100 guys who have a union to pay for their lawyers even if it’s just a minor mistake. Big companies in Europe need to play by the rules for their own sake and not create risky situations like Musk is doing now. Musk might be smarter than a car mechanic but he can’t “outsmart” an entire sector of mechanics.
Of course, big companies might be bad for other reasons, like for smaller entrepreneurs, just the same as everywhere, but they’re generally better for the employees.
There are no class differences! You’re not workers, you’re the same as me, the billionaire emerald mine kid. Why would you make yourself feel less by being in some kind of lords-and-peasants union? Wow I’m so smart!!
Fuck I hate this piece as shit and I hope he just dies soon.
It’s just easier if government stay out of religion. Don’t promote any of them. No Christmas trees, no menorah’s. Let people celebrate how ever they want.
Actually I think that it would be now a good time to decriminalize the PKK in Germany and Europe since they are freedom fighters for the Kurdish people that are being oppressed by Erdogan after all.
I mean we can do that in America too. We’ll just get oppressed and murdered by our government and their sponsored thugs. I just hope within my lifetime the masses here will become fed up enough that those threats aren’t enough to keep us subservient anymore.
I’m not wondering that, I’m cheering you on. I’m wondering why we don’t do his ourselves. Safety in numbers, use the collective empathy to motivate that which has no empathy. I love it.
We don’t do this ourselves because, even at fairly high income levels, we’re all living a lot closer to paycheck-to-paycheck than we’d all like, and our ability to get healthcare and afford food and housing is tied quite directly to our jobs, and we have nearly no real social safety nets or real worker protections to speak of compared to Europe.
It’s illegal for you to sympathy strike and you don’t have sector bargaining. The fact that I’ve never talked to an American who knows this and that a hundred year old law is what’s stopping most of your progress is always sad to me. :/
"Even the mention of the word “Palestine” in Germany risks getting you accused of antisemitism. Any attempt at providing context and sharing facts on the historical background to the conflict is seen as crude justification of Hamas’s terror. Not only have pro-Palestinian rallies been stopped or broken up by police..."
And yet there are thousands on the streets protesting with free-palestine banners. And then another few thousands who shouldn't be because they mix the same message with anti-semitism.
Sometimes I feel really bad living in a country so rotten that it can at the very same have massive pro-palestinian protests (international voices gloating about those idiot Germans not doing anything against those obvious (and suspiciously German looking) muslim immigrants destroying their country included...) while also suppressing every pro-palestinian voice soemhow... and then I realize that I live in reality and not in that fantasy Germany everyone uses to make stories about to express how Germans are always wrong and stupid.
"Well-meaning people have advised me that voicing this opinion could lead to being disinvited from literary events and festivals, and that my career in Germany – the source of my livelihood for the last two years – might be over."
That's okay... you just need to tell your story about those idiot Germans loud enough and you will get a lot of new work opportunities in most of Europe as there is always demand for the latest episode of "Give us this day our daily 'Germany-bad'".
I consider her sentiment deeply bizarre as well, since I agree with Düzen Tekkal (a German Human Rights Activist) that it is rather the space for Jewish/Israeli voices that is lacking in Germany.
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