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

[Zebrasarecooler]

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.

As an analogy, in places like Iran and Saudi Arabia you can have your hand chopped off for stealing.
I'm sure shoplifting is much less of a problem in those countries, but is that the way we want to go?
And looking at that, it's clear that the chopping off hand penalty isn't used in a fair, even-handed way:
"the frequency with which judicial amputations are carried out varies. Enforcement can depend on the political climate, public attitude, and judges‘ discretion."

I don't want to lose my freedom to tell a friend (or someone I mistakenly thought was a friend) he's an idiot. Or to give another driver a V sign when he's just failed to hit my car. I don't think this level of control over society is a good thing. I don't want to be constantly checking what I say and who I say it to, looking over my shoulder all the time, worrying about how something may be used against me, never having a drink in case I slip up and say something mildly insulting to someone.

An Iranian once told me that although things appeared quiet and peaceful in Iran, underneath that everyone was deeply unhappy.

Thing is, stealing is almost universally a crime of some description.

Using non-discriminatory hurty words shouldn’t be

Most people in Germany are respectful towards other people and even if this law is real ive never heard of anyone being arrested for calling someone an arsehole in an argument.
Germany is a great place to visit 😀

No, I'm not German. And I'm not advocating that there should be no come-back against extreme cases. We have a real problem here of people sending death and rape threats to politicians they disagree with, for instance. The law already exists to deal with that, but it probably isn't made use of enough. I absolutely don't agree with the criminal law being used against people who complain about things in shops. If someone is rude to someone on the till, the shop is fully within its rights to ban that person from that shop, or from all its branches. It shouldn't be a matter for criminal action except in an extreme situation (eg violence or threats of violence).
Of course this kind of law has a worse impact on people who are poor and under stress because of that, on disabled people, etc.

I see, you are a lawyer or perhaps a law buff. Nice hobby. I'd love to know more about international law. Do you know of any other cool or amusing examples of differences in the law between countries?

I read that as "service dessert" initially, I was like ooooh is that where they give you a hard stare Paddington-style if you are a bad customer

I also have a face that has subtitles 🤣

i think even strangers can understand what it says

I think people tend to be far more polite in Germany, I wouldn’t necessarily call them open and friendly but they are certainly polite and respectful

they are also very upfront so there is no need to get annoyed as we do when something isn’t right, we huff and puff away moan to others and get worked up there they just plainly say this isn’t right please correct it

I at first found my German friend’s straightforward talking rude 😀 it took her a few years of living here to understand so much of our way of communicating is indirect and we often prioritise politeness or avoidance of getting into a disagreement over being honest

Well no because running a red light is a crime.

German police are not people i would want to be on the wrong side of....they seem to have less restrictions on when to use force,probably accounts for a lot of nice public behaviour.

She’s never been to Germany, you can tell.

This law is neither cool nor amusing, unfortunately.
I'm not a law buff, particularly. I was listening to a German podcast to improve my German, and this came up.
I've also heard (on a different German podcast) that it's a criminal offence to use "du" when speaking to a policeman. You know that the Germans use "du" ("you") for friends and family and "Sie" (the more formal version of "you") for other people.

And they aren’t. I don’t know why everyone is believing this nonsense

It's a German law, as has been explained, with a direct quote from a German law firm, explaining the law. See the start of this thread.

Actually I was in Stuttgart 2 weeks ago. One of quite a few visits.