> this reflects an aspect of American culture that you can’t just erase.

Yeah, and that’s the problem. A whole country full of people belligerent enough to say “fuck you” to anyone who tells them “hey you probably shouldn’t blow your hand off”. What a wonderful place.

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chopin 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

But this is none of your business. I live in Germany, where everything is regulated by well meaning people. Going so far to regulate what you ought to say or to watch.

It is hellish. I don't recognize the country any more in which I was born and raised.

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nearlyepic 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> But this is none of your business.

The culture described extends far into things that are my business, like being able to walk around without being shot.

	▲	chopin an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I was referring to"hey you probably shouldn’t blow your hand off”. I am not against regulations per se, I am German after all. But a sane discussion should be had how far this should go. Regulating things which are dangerous to the person taking a risk knowingly is over the top in my book.

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sdoering an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> Going so far to regulate what you ought to say or to watch.

Native born German. Calling BS on that crap.

I recommend reading up on "freedom from" vs. "freedom to". Explains quite a lot of differences between the European tradition of ensuring people are "free from" an potentially oppressive state vs. the US tradition of "freedom to".

In each "freedom of speech" index I know, Germany fares better than the US, or Britain, or Australia. Or quite a lot of different countries tbh.

RSF World Press (lower is better): - Germany 14/180 - Britain 18/180 - Australia 33/180 - USA 64/180

Freedom House (higher is better): - Germany 95/100 - Britain 92/100 - Australia 95/100 - USA 84/100

Edit: Typo

	▲	inigyou 39 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In Germany you will get arrested if you publicly talk about Gaza and Israel
	▲	tick_tock_tick an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		No one actually believes their BS and I doubt you actually do either. They use so many bullshit and mental gymnastics to "score" Germany well despite their appalling "free speech" laws. I think it's very fair to say anyone appealing to either of these index's isn't even attempting to argue in good faith.

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helterskelter 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm fine with idiots blowing their own hands off, I just worry about wildfires.

	▲	fweimer an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's still bad for emergency services if everyone does it on the same day.
	▲	igleria 40 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		that is until you can't have a hospital bed due to those idiots.

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kypro 16 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's funny because I read the parent comment and thought that was actually kinda cool.

Lots of things we do are really stupid from a purely productivity, health or safety perspective.

American's were probably wrong to oppose alcohol prohibition. They probably should ban motorbikes. Fireworks should be largely banned to members of the public. Pizza should be illegal. Etc..

Part of what makes a country a place you'd want to live is the fact they don't create an excess of rules and regulations to optimise for what's best on paper, but allow people to do stupid things and allow them to live the life they want to live and take the risks they want to take where risks are not too excessive.

Commercial fireworks are dangerous, but not that dangerous. It's inadvisable that someone would use them without proper safety training, and it probably makes sense to have some rules around selling them to try to limit use, but in reality this just isn't a big problem.

Obviously people who live on flight paths should be more careful.

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jimmaswell 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Beats the pants off "please sir, may I have some more" as seen in many other places

	▲	nearlyepic 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Nah, I’d rather beg for money than be run over by some dipshit driving a truck on swampers that’s 3 times as big as they’ll ever need. Oh, wait, in other countries you don’t have to beg and plead to receive healthcare.

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warumdarum 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It is, yes it is. You should leave immediately if you dislike what you found.