Comment Re:Lost Freedom (Score 1) 213
Well, I would say that anything approaching a fanatical belief in anything could be construed to be a mental disorder. Home schooling is permitted in Germany, but not under any/all circumstances. I will most certainly take the position based on personal experience (I have three daughters who were born and raised here) that Germany takes child welfare VERY seriously, and there is nothing wrong with that.
As for being tolerant, while countries like the UK and France are spending so much time passing and enforcing no head scarf laws, in Germany women are allowed to do so and are not persecuted for it for the most part. There are a lot of Muslims in Germany that live among Christian (and atheist) Germans with little friction. I have one daughter attending school in a class that is almost 50% Muslim and there are no problems. So what is the lesson here? Avoid cultural, ethnic and racial policies and laws that promulgate polarization and instead promote and foster tolerance and integration. I think that the US, the UK, France and Australia can learn something from this if they want to. The problem is that they know this already, but in fact want social polarization and alienation in order to "divide and conquer".
But of course all is not rosy (it never is). There are a number of German politicians that see all the "fun" that those in the aforementioned countries are having, and want to play too. The German Interior Minister is one of those, but fortunately he has so far been kept on a leash. All this terrorism fear mongering to support power agenda is something that all who value personal freedom must be ever vigilant against. I remind those who are either old enough to remember or have done a little reading of history that back during the RAF days in Germany (I lived here during all of that), when bombs were going off all over the place, and assassinations and kidnappings were common occurrences, no German politician would have dared even think of trying to push something like our USAPATRIOT Act through or attempt to turn Germany into a surveillance state such as the UK is and the US is rapidly becoming. And this in spite of what the PTB hoped would happen through the execution of programs like Gladio.
I and most other people living in Germany (both German and foreign) hope that it is never forgotten what can happen when a Government becomes too powerful, efficient, and controlling. And religion must ALWAYS be completely separated from the State.
As for being tolerant, while countries like the UK and France are spending so much time passing and enforcing no head scarf laws, in Germany women are allowed to do so and are not persecuted for it for the most part. There are a lot of Muslims in Germany that live among Christian (and atheist) Germans with little friction. I have one daughter attending school in a class that is almost 50% Muslim and there are no problems. So what is the lesson here? Avoid cultural, ethnic and racial policies and laws that promulgate polarization and instead promote and foster tolerance and integration. I think that the US, the UK, France and Australia can learn something from this if they want to. The problem is that they know this already, but in fact want social polarization and alienation in order to "divide and conquer".
But of course all is not rosy (it never is). There are a number of German politicians that see all the "fun" that those in the aforementioned countries are having, and want to play too. The German Interior Minister is one of those, but fortunately he has so far been kept on a leash. All this terrorism fear mongering to support power agenda is something that all who value personal freedom must be ever vigilant against. I remind those who are either old enough to remember or have done a little reading of history that back during the RAF days in Germany (I lived here during all of that), when bombs were going off all over the place, and assassinations and kidnappings were common occurrences, no German politician would have dared even think of trying to push something like our USAPATRIOT Act through or attempt to turn Germany into a surveillance state such as the UK is and the US is rapidly becoming. And this in spite of what the PTB hoped would happen through the execution of programs like Gladio.
I and most other people living in Germany (both German and foreign) hope that it is never forgotten what can happen when a Government becomes too powerful, efficient, and controlling. And religion must ALWAYS be completely separated from the State.
