German justice declares that it's ok to laugh about trump's assassination attempt. How do you think this case would have been handled in Trumpland?

[Danzigdawson]

German satirist Sebastian Hotz a. k. a "El Hotzo" —who has nearly 740,000 followers— tweeted a joke on X around the time when trump survived an assassination attempt, a year ago.

"In a quickly deleted post under his alias “El Hotzo” on X in July last year, Sebastian Hotz drew a parallel between Trump and “the last bus” and wrote “unfortunately just missed.” In a follow-up post, he wrote: “I find it absolutely fantastic when fascists die.”

Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/german-court-acquits-satirist-over-social-media-post-following-trump-assassination-attempt/

Yesterday, Hotz has been acquitted of the charges of hate crime, however, he was sentenced to pay a fine of €6,000 for disturbing the peace.

What if it had been an American satirist, tweeting that joke to his/her several hundred thousands of followers on X, under trump's administration? What would have happened?

Updates

10 mo

If you post something then block me immediately so I won't be able to reply, your comment will be deleted. You have a right to tell me what an asshole you think I am, but I also have a right to destroy you and your lame insults in return. Free speech isn't a one-way street.

[DryGermanGuy]

My two or three cents, also as a German citizen:

I have no clue who this comedian/satirist is, I have never heard of him. I assume, he seizes such situations for clout, to use drastic humor to make a name for himself. Personally, I find this sort of extreme humor idiotic and unfunny, doesn't matter if it's targeted against a politician or anybody else.

In Germany free speech is protected and can go very far, especially against public figures, like politicians. People might remember the Turkish president trying to sue another comedian for insulting him, unsuccessfully. What you can not do here is threaten people (politicians or anybody else), or instruct others to threaten people, which should be hardly surprising.

There is no country with absolute free speech, certainly not the United States. Ask Rudy Giuliani, Alex Jones or the conspiracies peddling fools of FOX News. And as I mentioned before, I knew a guy in another American forum, who "jokingly" threatened the VP. Guess what, he got picked up by the Secret Service and brought in for an interview! Does anybody really think, if the guy had barricaded himself in his house that the agents just would have shrugged and gone away?

[Danzigdawson]

I'm not German but I'm pretty confident that free speech is in a much better shape in your country than it is in the US.

What the court determined is that it was not an incitation to violence against trump. Stating that you disapprove of someone so much that you wish he would have died in some sort of incident, right after said incident happened, is not inciting people to shoot at Cheeto Mussolini.

It may have been a bad or tasteless joke, but I honestly couldn't have less empathy for trump in particular, since he's shown time and again that he simply doesn't give a fuck about people's misery. He also doesn't give a fuck if people actually die, or have their lives ruined; or go to prison because of the things he says or do.

That being said, as I said before on this site, trump doesn't deserve to be a political martyr, and yes, political assassinations aren't something to celebrate. He shouldn't be placed in the same unfortunate hall of fame as John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. He should die of old age in prison or by having a heart attack. That's an appropriate fate for a shitstain like him.

[Bricealan]

@Danzigdawson Probably one of the most, if NOT the most ignorant, moronic posts on this site... Can't imagine anyone so stupid as to bring this forward to this site...

Get a life for Christ sake!

[Danzigdawson]

@Bricealan Is this the only post you've ever read on this site?

[Ez-Bri-Z_v2]

Nah, I dont think it's cool to laugh at anyone being killed or attempted to be killed.

That being said, Republicans love to make up conspiracy theories about assassinations or mass killings in our schools, places of worship, or entertainment spots. They falsely give thoughts and prayers rather than do anything about it when they have it in their power to. They also make jokes at democrats deaths (see Mike Lee when those democratic leaders were killed) or opine for democratic leaders to be killed.

I find this just as repugnant.

[Danzigdawson]

Only, in this specific case, he wasn't killed. He used the whole event for propaganda purposes. The GOP's christian shitheads declared him a martyr whose life was spared by divine intervention. He could have used his near-death experience to grow up and denounce the problem of political division in the country (of which he is the biggest contributingnfactor) but he decided to blame democrats for all the violence and hate instead.

[Ez-Bri-Z_v2]

Oh I am aware of all of that and I definitely denounce it, but just saying in general, we shouldn't be celebrating anyone being killed like that.

[Danzigdawson]

True. I'm with you on this.

[dustybiker2]

"What if it had been an American satirist, tweeting that joke to his/her several hundred thousands of followers on X, under trump's administration? What would have happened?"

It is a told that is literally a prerequisite to getting a job in this current administration. A long trail on social media of "liberal" (as they refer to everyone bot red) hate and trump support. So flip that and you will find your just-as-extreme answer.

[exitseven]

In America we have the First Amendment. People can pretty much say whatever they want. Only Biden wanted to have a minister of Truth.

[Danzigdawson]

Hey dumbass,

Your country is banning books, rewriting history because the truth is "too woke", censoring academia for the same reasons, punishing judges for not being pro-trump, defunding anything that's seen as woke (PBS, NPR, the Kennedy Center), deporting or preventing entry of people who have expressed anti-trump opinions and banning journalists from the White House because they won't use the term 'Gulf of America'.

So how about you shut the fuck up about 'free speech'?

[exitseven]

Woke is the lie. America is great and white people are not evil. Academia has been a liberal indoctrination center for decades. I know this for a fact because I work in higher education. PBS and NPR are just democrat propaganda. All you have to do is watch it a couple of times and it is obvious to everyone but you. Deporting illegal aliens is a public service. The majority are in favor of deporting them all.
And the Gulf of America is it's official name. Pretending it is not is a waste of time.

[Danzigdawson]

Oh yeah... this reminds me of the time when DeSantis struggled to define what exactly is "woke" after your stupid (then) ex-president remarked that half people can't define it. His answer:

"The belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them".

Truly, it deserves to be censored and defeated, or there could be catastrophic consequences: you might feel bad about yourself.

If you're in higher education, in a faculty that has nothing to do with philosphy, political science, sociology. What the fuck do you even know about the evil "liberal indoctrination" you think is going on in colleges?

It might just be that truth doesn't suit you and what you believe in and that you're convinced that what you believe in is the ultimate truth even though evidence suggests otherwise. In other words, you're just another pigheaded, self-importance piece of shit, also known as a conservative.

[exitseven]

True story- After the 2024 election the college where I work sent out an email to all students and staff saying that they hired counselors in case anybody needs to talk to somebody about being upset about the election. This was not done in 2020 even though we all had something to be upset about.
I work at a college where they teach a lot of different things. I happen to teach Computer Science but there is Liberal Arts major, Physical Education, Foreign languages, Business, and a pretty popular Nursing program.
The definition of woke is "the opposite of common sense". .

[Danzigdawson]

Only gullible morons had something to be upset about back in 2020, for trump lost the election. That's what happened.

However, for women, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants (legal or not), transgender people and others, the return of trump in 2024 meant that their freedom and their way of life was, and still is threatened by trump and "white men victims of racism" cry-babies such as you (and by the way, I'm white, male, 40 and heterosexual).

As you are well aware, a college-level science degree makes you an expert of computer science, which is, I believe, mostly centered on extensive technical knowledge, problem solving and organizational skills. It doesn't make you an expert of anything else than that. That's why I have no trouble telling you that it's pretty clear that you don't know jack shit about politics and basic social skills.

You can't say "I teach Computer Science in college" and expect people to take it that it means that you know what you're talking about in anything else than the field you're an expert in.

[exitseven]

Half the country was upset because the election was stolen. Then they got upset agian when they saw the damage that Biden did that was totally unnecessary and will cost billions for fix..

[exitseven]

All these spcial groups all like to claim victimhood even though they get to skip to the front of the line for welfare benefits, employment , healthcare and many other benefits. If Trump is leveling the field it is not limiting their freedom or threatening their way of life. It is treating everyone equally.

[Danzigdawson]

The election was not stolen.

[Danzigdawson]

A victim of victimhood. Typical reactionary stupidity.

[jimmy2]

Miracle Dems tried to kill him