I hope you're just drawing flame here, cause if you're not, you gotta get your head examined.
First of all, try to learn a bit of history before making claims about it. Because it is in fact not true that
the nazi "only gradually" imposed restriction. Shortly after poland was anexed, jews were being executed by taking
them into the forest and shooting them. The more industrialized approached was chosen because this method was deemed
too slow and too demoralizing for the ss-officers that did the shooting. So a slipery slope argument really doesn't
hold here, but that's really besides the point.
The fact of the matter is, that germans are still very keenly aware of the past of their country and that for the most
part, they do a good job at preventing the government from gaining unreasonable authority. A very good example of this,
is the recent decision by the equivalent of the supreme court, that the airforce can under no circumstance shoot down
a civilian aircraft, even if this might ultimately crash into a building and kill lots of people. This was based on two
arguments. The first being that the government does not have the right to decide over life and death of its citizens, even
if killing a few means saving many. The second being that the german military can under no circumstance be deployed against
its own population.
One might agree or disagree with these arguments, but one cannot claim that there is a significant resemblance the the current
german culture and the nazi regime. The fact that as a rule they are rather law abiding, does not change that.
In Germany, coffee cups don't have that "caution, hot contents", and people do know when the floor is wet. Defendants don't pay legal fees if they are not guilty.
That is in fact a false statement. Most cups do state that. One might argue that this is because the places supplying you with your hot beverage are American (subways, starbucks, etc.). Germans are very scared of being sued by eachother. They post signs along a paths stating that no one is responsible for throwing salt on that path in the winter, so that if it's slippery and that causes you to fall, it's your own fault. So it's not just: "Caution, hot" no, it's: "Caution, hot, and if you burn yourself, we warned you so you cannot sue us".
I don't actually know about the legal fees, but I guess you're right there.
That is not completely fair. First off all, it's simply not true that one cannot make cd's without being a member.
One can always have duplicates printed, it's just not very smart, because if a radio station picks it up and you're
not a member of BUMA, the radio station will pay to BUMA for your music, but the money will never arrive in your pocket
Second, a membership of BUMA/STEMRA costs you about 50 euros a year, which
I do not consider as being an awful lot. If you then compose or play a bit of music (a song, a commercial, a leader
for a tv show, whatever) and register that at buma, you get money per second that it's aired. For a commercial on
national television, this is upto 50 cents a second. For commercial on a local tv station, this is 10 cents a second.
As a commercial in the netherlands usually lasts something like thirty second, that means that even on local tv, you
get 3 euros per time the commercial is aired. with those numbers, the 50 euros a year is very well spent.
one can ofcourse critisise BUMA/STEMRA. For instance, it is very bad that they have such a huge overhead. The fact that
they are not very open about what their overhead is, shows you how large it is. 8 bmw's infront of the office suggests
that people are earning a lot of money their, while composers and musicians are struggling to get by.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope you're just drawing flame here, cause if you're not, you gotta get your head examined. First of all, try to learn a bit of history before making claims about it. Because it is in fact not true that the nazi "only gradually" imposed restriction. Shortly after poland was anexed, jews were being executed by taking them into the forest and shooting them. The more industrialized approached was chosen because this method was deemed too slow and too demoralizing for the ss-officers that did the shooting. So a slipery slope argument really doesn't hold here, but that's really besides the point. The fact of the matter is, that germans are still very keenly aware of the past of their country and that for the most part, they do a good job at preventing the government from gaining unreasonable authority. A very good example of this, is the recent decision by the equivalent of the supreme court, that the airforce can under no circumstance shoot down a civilian aircraft, even if this might ultimately crash into a building and kill lots of people. This was based on two arguments. The first being that the government does not have the right to decide over life and death of its citizens, even if killing a few means saving many. The second being that the german military can under no circumstance be deployed against its own population. One might agree or disagree with these arguments, but one cannot claim that there is a significant resemblance the the current german culture and the nazi regime. The fact that as a rule they are rather law abiding, does not change that.
In Germany, coffee cups don't have that "caution, hot contents", and people do know when the floor is wet. Defendants don't pay legal fees if they are not guilty. That is in fact a false statement. Most cups do state that. One might argue that this is because the places supplying you with your hot beverage are American (subways, starbucks, etc.). Germans are very scared of being sued by eachother. They post signs along a paths stating that no one is responsible for throwing salt on that path in the winter, so that if it's slippery and that causes you to fall, it's your own fault. So it's not just: "Caution, hot" no, it's: "Caution, hot, and if you burn yourself, we warned you so you cannot sue us". I don't actually know about the legal fees, but I guess you're right there.
That is not completely fair. First off all, it's simply not true that one cannot make cd's without being a member. One can always have duplicates printed, it's just not very smart, because if a radio station picks it up and you're not a member of BUMA, the radio station will pay to BUMA for your music, but the money will never arrive in your pocket Second, a membership of BUMA/STEMRA costs you about 50 euros a year, which I do not consider as being an awful lot. If you then compose or play a bit of music (a song, a commercial, a leader for a tv show, whatever) and register that at buma, you get money per second that it's aired. For a commercial on national television, this is upto 50 cents a second. For commercial on a local tv station, this is 10 cents a second. As a commercial in the netherlands usually lasts something like thirty second, that means that even on local tv, you get 3 euros per time the commercial is aired. with those numbers, the 50 euros a year is very well spent. one can ofcourse critisise BUMA/STEMRA. For instance, it is very bad that they have such a huge overhead. The fact that they are not very open about what their overhead is, shows you how large it is. 8 bmw's infront of the office suggests that people are earning a lot of money their, while composers and musicians are struggling to get by.