Hadmut Danisch says:

...

I will note, however, that the U.S. has far better press freedoms than almost any other country on earth, and that Germany is pretty damn bad about freedom of the press. I can walk into any book store in America and buy a copy of Mein Kampf -- and although I hate Adolf Hitler's works, I am happy that I can read them if I so choose. I cannot do things like that in Germany.

I don't know at the moment whether it is allowed to sell "Mein Kampf", but what is the question: One says that in Germany nobody cares about the right-wing, the other says that you can't buy such books. What do you expect? Shall we care or not? We can't fight again right-wing people and sell such books!

Incorrect. Those who do not understand freedom think that by oppressing Nazis and preventing them from speaking you have somehow protected freedom. However, in doing so, you have used the methods of the Nazis. Becoming what you wish to stop is not an effective strategy. If only certain ideas are permitted to be expressed, you have reduced freedom, not increased it. You can fight Naziism by spreading information about the evils of Naziism. You can fight it by vigorously prosecuting those who commit acts of violence. You can fight it by keeping your legal system free, and not by doing things like giving in to the right wing by prohibiting immigration to Germany. You cannot fight it by emulating it, and censorship is one of the basic tools of Naziism.

I'm sure that american press freedom is not better than german ones.

Untrue. In the U.S., I can start a newspaper without any licenses from the Government, and I can print anything I wish in that newspaper without fear of government prosecution. (I might be sued by a private party for libel if I intentionally lie about someone, but thats quite different.) In Germany, I cannot just open a newspaper and print, say, Nazi editorials in it.

Seen from Germany, american presidents elections look like a mixture of a football game and a tv show.

Yes, but that is a statement that the press in the U.S. is bad, not that it is unfree. Freedom and quality are orthogonal.

In Germany I can get my Cryptosoftware from whereever I want,

Actually, you can do that here, too. We just cant send the software overseas. Perry

Hadmut Danisch writes:

I don't know at the moment whether it is allowed to sell "Mein Kampf", but what is the question: One says that in Germany nobody cares about the right-wing, the other says that you can't buy such books. What do you expect? Shall we care or not? We can't fight again right-wing people and sell such books!

Really? So your only defense against ideas you don't like is to make the dissemination of the ideas illegal? Clearly there are values you rate higher than press freedom. (That's not necessarily bad, though I personally don't like it.)

I'm sure that american press freedom is not better than german ones.

Sorry, but if you have to go to some office and ensure them you're following the "rules of newspapers" or whatever, then that statement is incorrect. I can this instant decide to print out thousands of copies of whatever I want, drive down to some public area, and start handing out my documents (or charging for them), all without a visit to a government office. That's not illegal. Only "pornographic" material is inherently illegal to distribute (and that irks me, I assure you) (though not because I'm interested in that line of work). (I'll leave it to Mr. Godwin to point out the various little laws I might break doing something like what I described above; the point stands nevertheless.)

Seen from Germany, american presidents elections look like a mixture of a football game and a tv show.

What does that have to do with press freedoms?

(I'm sure german elections don't look better for americans...)

Actually, we don't see much about German elections; there's not enough airtime between the football games and TV shows.

In Germany I can get my Cryptosoftware from whereever I want, I can give my software to whereever I want and I can write a PhotoCD decoder. [ ;-) ]

So can I in the US---today. The problems spring up when I try to export what I write. -- | GOOD TIME FOR MOVIE - GOING ||| Mike McNally <m5@tivoli.com> | | TAKE TWA TO CAIRO. ||| Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX: | | (actual fortune cookie) ||| "Like A Little Bit of Semi-Heaven" |