AIBU to advise anyone who is ever rude to stay out of Germany?

There may be all sorts of laws.

None of which has been cited or linked here.

This thread may as well be about the Surrey Puma. Or Bigfoot.

There may be all sorts of laws.

None of which has been cited or linked here.

This thread may as well be about the Surrey Puma. Or Bigfoot.

There is certainly a law against abuse of public servants but in reality Germans swear and call each other names and stick their middle fingers up at others just as much as the British do and nobody gets arrested or charged for it. I have certainly heard police officers being called Arschloch or Nazi (always popular) and they didn't arrest that person unless they were also violent (mostly during the Wackersdorf protests). Yes, there is scope for abuse of this but that's no different in the UK and its hate crime law, like the woman who got arrested for putting GC stickers up or that couple who had the police visit over some posts in a school WA group.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am still waiting for some indication this law exists.

Or is it liberal elite not to trust "bloke says" these days ? If so consider me a liberal elitist on avocado toast. (Smashed, naturually)

So everyone walks around with their rage bottled up because they can’t even stick the finger up at someone who is being a twat? Fuck that!

Outside of discrimination etc why are people’s words being policed like that? I don’t want to live in a world that has shit like this going on.

I just checked with my sister who has been in admin of a German prison for over 30 years and according to her there has never been anyone in her prison because they insulted someone, ever. I have the impression she thought I had gone a bit mental for even asking this question. According to her you have to do something seriously bad involving physical harm to end up in prison and that there isn't enough prison spaces without putting people into prison for something like that.
This thread really brought out every prejudice about Germany that there is, was that your plan?

Why is it bollocks? I certainly don't want to live in a country where I have to watch every word I say and every hand gesture I make, even in moments of great stress. If my friend does something infuriating and I call them a twat, they can stop being my friend. Problem solved. If I call my boss a loser in front of the team, he can give me a warning or potentially sack me. No need for the strong arm of the law to police every interaction.
And inevitably people use these kinds of laws maliciously. If you have a grudge against someone, you can either get together with a mate and make up a story about the person you've got it in for being rude to you, or you can provoke a situation. This kind of law is very open to abuse.

Why is it bollocks? I certainly don't want to live in a country where I have to watch every word I say and every hand gesture I make, even in moments of great stress. If my friend does something infuriating and I call them a twat, they can stop being my friend. Problem solved. If I call my boss a loser in front of the team, he can give me a warning or potentially sack me. No need for the strong arm of the law to police every interaction.
And inevitably people use these kinds of laws maliciously. If you have a grudge against someone, you can either get together with a mate and make up a story about the person you've got it in for being rude to you, or you can provoke a situation. This kind of law is very open to abuse.

I've just come across a German law which says that if you insult someone and they report you you'll be prosecuted. Punishment is up to one year in prison, or up to two years if you insulted the person in public or in a group setting. Or a fine.
In case people think that this only applies to really serious insults, here's some advice from a German law firm:

Examples of criminal insults:

VERBAL INSULTS:
Calling someone an ‘arsehole’, ‘idiot’, ‘slut’ or ‘scumbag’.
A member of the public calls a police officer on duty a ‘cop scum’.
An employee calls their line manager a ‘loser’ during a meeting.

GESTURES AND ACTIONS:
Giving the middle finger whilst driving.
Making an obscene gesture during an altercation.
Spitting at someone’s feet.

INSULTS ONLINE:
Defamatory comments on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Sharing defamatory memes or caricatures.
Insults in WhatsApp groups.

Why is it bollocks? I certainly don't want to live in a country where I have to watch every word I say and every hand gesture I make, even in moments of great stress. If my friend does something infuriating and I call them a twat, they can stop being my friend. Problem solved. If I call my boss a loser in front of the team, he can give me a warning or potentially sack me. No need for the strong arm of the law to police every interaction.
And inevitably people use these kinds of laws maliciously. If you have a grudge against someone, you can either get together with a mate and make up a story about the person you've got it in for being rude to you, or you can provoke a situation. This kind of law is very open to abuse.

Why is it bollocks? I certainly don't want to live in a country where I have to watch every word I say and every hand gesture I make, even in moments of great stress. If my friend does something infuriating and I call them a twat, they can stop being my friend. Problem solved. If I call my boss a loser in front of the team, he can give me a warning or potentially sack me. No need for the strong arm of the law to police every interaction.
And inevitably people use these kinds of laws maliciously. If you have a grudge against someone, you can either get together with a mate and make up a story about the person you've got it in for being rude to you, or you can provoke a situation. This kind of law is very open to abuse.

Agreeing with @Anarchy99 but I think their reply got a bit mixed up.

You can call a black/disabled/old/trans/female/gay person stupid. That's a comment on their lack of sense.

You can't (legally) insult someone based on their protected characteristic, insulting the characteristic itself. As you rightly say, this applies even if you don't know they have that characteristic - or if they haven't, but you thought they had.

So if you need to call a disabled person stupid, do that. No need to call anyone a stupid cripple.

Germans are very rule conscious, which makes it a nice place to live as people are very respectful of public space and communal norms.

i used to spend quite a lot of time there. I once got absolutely bollocked by a random woman for jay walking in my devil-may-care British way.

i had never heard of this law though.

In my opinion, rudeness shouldn't be deal with via criminal proceedings and punishments. That's an enormous restriction of free speech.

So everyone walks around with their rage bottled up because they can’t even stick the finger up at someone who is being a twat? Fuck that!

Outside of discrimination etc why are people’s words being policed like that? I don’t want to live in a world that has shit like this going on.