German Court Insults Free Speech, Bans Comedian From Mocking Turkish President
from the oh-come-on dept
The weird saga of the insanely thin-skinned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues. As you'll recall, he's on a legal crusade against a German comedian who recited a purposely ridiculous insulting poem about Erdogan on TV (as a response to the stories about Erdogan's thin skin). Erdogan's lawyers found a little used (and little known) "lese majeste" law on the German legal books that makes it a crime to insult representatives of foreign nations. The comedian, Jan Bohmermann, admits that the poem in question was over the top, but that was the point. When you hear about a foreign leader spending so much effort on trying to sue anyone who insulted him, no matter how slight, it's actually pretty tempting to add to the pile of insults.For ridiculous geopolitical reasons, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has allowed the case to move forward, and now a Hamburg court has told Bohmermann that he has to stop repeating at least some of the poem so as not to offend the sensitive ears of Erdogan:
In Tuesday's ruling the court found that "Erdogan does not have to put up with the expression of certain passages in view of their outrageous content attacking (his) honour."Why not? While it may sound flip, it's a serious question. He's the leader of a country of almost 80 million people. Shouldn't we be at least a little concerned that he apparently turns into a cowering puddle of emotions the second people make fun of him? Most people put up with other people insulting them just fine, and we aren't leaders of a major nation state. Why is a German court so willing to toss out any basic free speech rights around satire just to please a foreign leader who can't take a joke?
The court didn't ban the entire poem, but even just picking what can and can't be said seems like a ridiculous thing for a court to be involved with at all:
The court ruled that only six lines of the 24-line poem by German comedian Jan Boehmermann could be recited, offering the Turkish leader a partial legal victory.What a shameful ruling for Germany.
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Filed Under: free speech, germany, insults, jan bohmermann, poem, recep tayyip erdogan
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http://justiz.hamburg.de/contentblob/6103298/6b1b7ae264e23809630af9d7716ef2fd/data/schmaehgedic ht-jan-boehmermann-pdfanhang.pdf
The legal parts (well, legal according to the Hamburg court, which is kinda notorius):
- "dumb as a bag" ("Sod-dumb" seems to be what most translators agreed on)
- craven
- prude
- beating girls while wearing rubber masks
- Repressing minorities
- kicking Kurds
- hitting Christians
Illegal among others is the line "that is Recep Erdogan, the Turkish president". Which I agree is extremely insulting to the poor people of Turkey.
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Well in honor of the differences between the US and Germany...
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So, he's still allowed to insult him, but only a little?
This is both an affront to free speech AND not much of a victory for Erdogen.
With this 3/4 of a silencing, does Erdogen now consider his diginity 3/4 restored? Is he only 1/4 of a thin-skinned prick now?
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As for Erdogan it is all kinds of a pyrrhic win when it comes to the publication of the poem. I hope the judge is laughing at the irony of the judgement too!
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Sunshine
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Re: Sunshine
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Re: Sunshine
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But it is the LAW!
The real problem is the existence of that law.
The judge is constrained to follow the law, no matter how stupid it is.
The solution is to change the law.
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Re: But it is the LAW!
It is the primary duty of every US judge to determine if a law is in compliance with the constitution. This was deliberately set up as a check and balance to prevent a simple majority from becoming tyrannical.
From things like this it certainly looks like German judges don't have that ability.
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The chancellor has to agree to the prosecution. Which almost never happens. But right now Germany really needs Turkish help with the refugee crisis.
This is basically the court (and the government) saying "yes, we have to prosecute you because of politics. Here is the lightest possible wrist slap, and some free publicity for your trouble."
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Ok, I see your point...
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Is this the poem?
Sod-dumb, cowardly and hesitant/ Is Erdogan the President/ His boner smells like Döner/ Even a pig's fart smells finer/ He's the man who punches girls/ while wearing a bloody rubber mask/ Things he loves the most/ is shagging goats/ and oppressing minorities This kind of criticism would be illegal! Kicking Kurds, beating up Christians/ while watching child porn/ And in the evening instead of a nap/ Fellatio with a hundred sheep/ Erdogan is all things considered/ a President with a tiny wang/ I repeat this is an example of what would be illegal!
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Errr...
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The actual poem
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Re: The actual poem
Sod-dumb, cowardly and hesitant/ Is Erdogan the President/ His boner smells like Döner/ Even a pig's fart smells finer/ He's the man who punches girls/ while wearing a bloody rubber mask/ Things he loves the most/ is shagging goats/ and oppressing minorities This kind of criticism would be illegal! Kicking Kurds, beating up Christians/ while watching child porn/ And in the evening instead of a nap/ Fellatio with a hundred sheep/ Erdogan is all things considered/ a President with a tiny wang/ I repeat this is an example of what would be illegal!
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Re: The actual poem
Jan Böhmermann - Schmähgedicht / Schmähkritik - Original - HD
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x452lof
German original. The actual satire starts at about 2:40 with "that is something you can't do in Germany". If it gets deleted search for the name without the "-", "/" and "HD".
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Re: Re: The actual poem
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4552je
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Inanity like this just makes me want to hack the system
Tayyip Erdogan is most definitely not a weak-minded, emotional tyrant who cannot effectively manage his own, pathetic life let alone an entire nation. And he isn't one of those twisted sexual deviants who gets off on suck sweaty goat balls.
Or how about the "don't shoot the messenger" technique?
I overheard other people saying Tayyip Erdogan is a immature, cantankerous, poopy face who has no tolerance for criticism. I don't necessarily agree with them, but to each his own I suppose
censorship is damage to the system. route around it.
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Well, if THAT peom is banned...
And if the court bans this new poem (partially or otherwise), there's always songs, skits, plays, various types of spoken word performances, etc...
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Re: Well, if THAT peom is banned...
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Objection!
You can't harm something that doesn't exist, and as such it's impossible for any poem, words or action to attack or harm Erdogan's 'honor'.
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It isn't always quite that simple ...
This is not a judgement I would make but I can see it as not totally unreasonable. As Americans you idolise free speech. That is your right but many others around the World think of Americans as totally weird and stupidly childish for parts of your law and constitution. The glory of this World is that we are all different and there is no right answer, merely millions of differently wrong ones.
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Re: It isn't always quite that simple ...
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Re: It isn't always quite that simple ...
This is exactly why we formed our own country all those years ago. And then dominated long established countries.
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Re: It isn't always quite that simple ...
And that's why we have free speech, moron.
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Limerick contest!
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Re: Limerick contest!
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See, here's my problem...
And yet, this story is BEGGING for me to make a remark about Germans having no sense of humor.
*sigh*
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Re: See, here's my problem...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4552je
For every German without a sense of humor, there's another one making jokes at his expense. Cruel, but necessary.
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Well, this was ruled by the Hamburg court who's built a reputation for truly outlandish and outright nutty rulings over the years. So this was to be expected.
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Competition
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/send-us-your-entries-for-our-president-erdogan-insulting -poetry-competition/
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screw the German Court
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWXp5xj0PA
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But yeah, German law has so many paragraphs, some dating back 120 years afaik. So the legislation needs to speed up in updating from 19th -> 21st century.
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since he cant say anything i will.
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