Nonetheless it is not ok for you to cross into personal attack, either. You've also broken the site guidelines in a second way: by replying, instead of just flagging, you kept this flamewar going. It would be good to (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow those rules when posting here. I know it's hard when someone else is violating them, but it's necessary.
It wasn't clear to me where it veered off the tracks, I'm not a mind reader.
They're asking you to avoid poop-writing, not take up mind-reading.
They have to follow German law because they have German users, German customers (German companies buying ads), use German infrastructure, German marketing and German offices housing German employees. If they would like to turn their back to an 80 million people market, sure. However, if this becomes the EU standard, it jumps up to a market of almost 500 million people. Hard to turn that down.
If they have users, but transact everything in Dollars and only host out of the US, does Germany have claim to dictate terms? For example if Germans come to America and buy things, the German government has little control to exert power.
You're correct, but that's not the case. They host all across the EU (and have special agreements with the local governments about power supply for example), have employees all across the EU, accept Euros as payment and wouldn't want it any other way. If they didn't, it would be much harder for them to stay competitive in the EU. If they stop they would negatively impact the experience for their users and customers in Germany, meaning losses of revenue from that market and the risk of being overtaken.
"sometimes direct action is the only way to show fascists and other hatemongers the error of their ways" Unfortunately, the actual history shows that doesn't show them the error, but is more likely to increase the resentment and resistance.
Unfortunately, direct and sometimes violent action is the only language fascists seem to understand.
And again, are we to assume that it is you who will decide who is a fascist and who is not?
And why such a discrimination of communists, who are far more deadly and dangerous than any "fascist" (your Soviet terminology is showing; surely you mean nazis of different stripes, not comparatively vegetarian Italians).
There's quite a bit of rehabilitation of Stalin going on, and a lot of "and if somebody was executed, well they were the enemy and deserved it". Reading Russian forums can be quite "entertaining" in a way lately.
Well, it is traditional for tyrants and despots to rewrite history to suit their goals. And it does make sense to attempt a restoration of Stalin's public image. He was objectively the greatest leader in the history of their country/union, with a massively powerful cult of personality. To paraphrase from a popular series of books, "after all, [he] did great things – terrible, yes, but great."
Great -- as in slaughtering more of his own people than even Hitler did to them?
While the Russians might even, to some degree, like the idea, it does not make it right.
Unfortunately, direct and sometimes violent action is the only language fascists seem to understand.
And again, are we to assume that it is you who will decide who is a fascist and who is not? And why such a discrimination of communists, who are far more deadly and dangerous than any "fascist" (your Soviet terminology is showing; surely you mean nazis of different stripes, not comparatively vegetarian Italians).
Despite what my username may imply, I'm not Russian nor a supporter of the USSR.
Fascists are a very real problem today. Communists are not.
And again, are we to assume that it is you who will decide who is a fascist and who is not? And why such a discrimination of communists, who are far more deadly and dangerous than any "fascist" (your Soviet terminology is showing; surely you mean nazis of different stripes, not comparatively vegetarian Italians).
Despite what my username may imply, I'm not Russian nor a supporter of the USSR. Fascists are a very real problem today. Communists are not.
It is generally a Soviet trait to conflate followers of Mussolini with nazis.
Arguably, communists are a greater problem than fringe nazi groups exactly because while being a nazi is not acceptable in a decent company, being a communist unfortunately is despite all historical evidence of their dangerousness.
But you are still avoiding the key question -- are you taking it upon yourself to determine who is a "fascist" to suffer consequences, and who is not?
It's like going to the US and saying to the first black customs officer you see something along the lines of "So how's slavery treating ya?"/"Boy, get my luggage and find me a car!". This is universally known as insensitive behaviour and no amount of "muh free speech" is gonna save you from being charged with a hate crime. When you go to a country, at the very least make the effort not to offend officials with the wo…
Racist comments aren't hate crimes in the US. It's violence that is. You won't be charged with anything. You subscribe to the might-makes-right mindset by demanding respect for people who have the power to punish you. That's practical, but not morally very solid since it implies less politeness to weaker people. Some would argue the 30 years war was worse than the Nazis. It killed more people than the holocaust, and…
No, I subscribe to the concept of "basic decency", I would not even say that phrase to a dying beggar lying in the streets.
But still fuck you for comparing an instance of senseless mass-murder/genocide with a religious war spanning 30 years and involving most of central europe ~400 years ago, at a time where the slightest wound may have condemned one to die, notwithstanding the quite "good" chance to starve or die from plague as back then hygiene wasn't really that important to the people.