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I watched fellow skater Mark Normand‘s special on Netflix yesterday. Definitely worth a watch. Some killer, some filler. I like his old timey style. He seems like an autistic guy with Tourette’s.
His take on identity politics making him more racist was pretty bad: Just because it was real easy to pretend not to see race twenty years ago doesn’t mean there was less racism… his holocaust joke was pretty gnarly too (not very funny either IMO). I am German and if you made that joke in Germany you would get sued for sure. It is hard as hell to make a good holocaust joke. Kudos for trying.
My favorite part was the right wing weather report: “… Praise the lord! No back to you Sugartits“
I'm curious about these restrictions, are you not allowed to reference the holocaust whatsoever?
Free speech in Germany is much more limited by what is called "human dignity" than it is in the US. All these laws were put into place after Nazi German was defeated and the main objective of the Allies was to prevent another fascist dictatorship.
In Germany you can reference the holocaust, but you cannot deny it. In a way racist speech is also punishable by law.
There is a paragraph in the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) called "Volksverhetzung" (Incitement of masses), which limits free speech. Mark Normands joke where he compares the the burned corpses of holocaust victims to old black people with dry skin ("ashy"), could be ruled as "incitement of the masses", because it might be ruled that he "denies or downplays an act committed under the rule of National Socialism". I am shure if he was German and made that joke, he would definitely get cancelled and he would get get sued. If they'd actually be able to commit him of that crime, I don't know. There are similar cases where judges have ruled in favor of freedom of expression/freedom of art.
This is the whole section from the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch):
Section 130
Incitement of masses
(1) Whoever, in a manner suited to causing a disturbance of the public peace,
1. incites hatred against a national, racial, religious group or a group defined by their ethnic origin, against sections of the population or individuals on account of their belonging to one of the aforementioned groups or sections of the population, or calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them or
2. violates the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning or defaming one of the aforementioned groups, sections of the population or individuals on account of their belonging to one of the aforementioned groups or sections of the population
incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term of between three months and five years.
(2) Whoever
1. disseminates content (section 11 (3)) or makes it available to the public, or offers, supplies or makes available to a person under 18 years of age content (section 11 (3)) which
a) incites hatred against one of the groups referred to in subsection (1) no. 1, sections of the population or individuals on account of their belonging to one of the groups referred to in subsection (1) no. 1, or sections of the population,
b) calls for violent or arbitrary measures against one of the persons or bodies of persons referred to in letter (a) or
c) attacks the human dignity of one of the persons or bodies of persons referred to in letter (a) by insulting, maliciously maligning or defaming them, or
2. produces, purchases, supplies, stocks, offers, advertises or undertakes to import or export content (section 11 (3)) as referred to in no. 1 (a) to (c) in order to use it within the meaning of no. 1 or to facilitate such use by another
incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine.
(3) Whoever publicly or in a meeting approves of, denies or downplays an act committed under the rule of National Socialism of the kind indicated in section 6 (1) of the Code of Crimes against International Law in a manner suited to causing a disturbance of the public peace incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine.
(4) Whoever publicly or in a meeting disturbs the public peace in a manner which violates the dignity of the victims by approving of, glorifying or justifying National Socialist tyranny and arbitrary rule incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine.
(5) Subsection (2) also applies to content (section 11 (3)) as referred to in subsections (3) or (4).
(6) In the cases under subsection (2) no. 1, also in conjunction with subsection (5), the attempt is punishable.
(7) In the cases under subsection (2), also in conjunction with subsections (5) and (6), and in the cases under subsections (3) and (4), section 86 (4) applies accordingly.
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1368