this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2024
922 points (98.7% liked)

World News

39165 readers
2294 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Australian lawmakers have banned the performance of the Nazi salute in public and outlawed the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika in landmark legislation that went into effect in the country Monday. The new laws also make the act of glorifying OR praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.

The crime of publicly performing the Nazi salute or displaying the Nazi swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in prison, according to the Reuters news agency.

Mark Dreyfus, Australia's Attorney-General, said in a press release Monday that the laws — the first of their kind in the country — sent "a clear message: there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

What implications does this have on media using the swastika? I know that for games like Wolfenstein the swastika is everywhere and while it doesn't really retract from the experience by being absent, it would be really strange for that to suddenly not be OK, especially in the context of Wolfenstein where you're tearing the Nazis a new one

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (3 children)

German and Austrian versions of the new Wolfenstein games have swastikas and such removed/replaced.

I remember being pissed off the version sold on Steam to Switzerland was the censored version for no reason other than Switzerland is often stuffed with German and Austrian markets. When I blast sci-fi Nazis to bits, I prefer they look authentic.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Since the last Wolfenstein game was released, the law has been changed in Germany lifting the total ban on Swastikas in video games.

I don't recall any more recent WWII games where I've seen a swastika though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I recall that even after the ban was lifted, most companies preferred to continue self-censoring.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I find it even more irritating that it is banned in the German version of Bollywood movies. It looks different and more importantly has a different meaning.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

That's so silly. Not that censoring a game based entirely on brutalizing Nazis makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

German laws allow swastikas in media under freedom of art and/or education. So depending on the context, it is legal in games. Foreign video game companies just don't want to take any risk and have their game blocked because of nazi symbolism so they rather just remove it than hope the courts see their game for the form if art it may be.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

The actual law bans using the swastika to "glorify or profit from Nazi idiology".

Wolfenstein would not be impacted by the ban because at the core of the gameplay, the Nazis are the bad guys. It does not glorify the Nazis or celebrate them.

Sure Bathesda is profiting from the game, but they aren't profiting from the glorification of Nazi idiology, they're profiting from people's desire to shoot zombie Nazis in the face.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

It should becovered by freedom of art.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I can't imagine any offensive way of publicly displaying or glorifying an instance of it in a game

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago

Nah, it's easy to imagine that. Multiplayer. The Nazi team wins. Swastikas everywhere. Pretty sure it's why cod no longer has swastikas in multiplayer anymore (and if I'm remembering rightly, they kept it in the single player as they felt it wasn't offensive as it is given with a hell of a lot of context that multiplayer rounds simply don't have).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Does it require the public display be offensive, or just that it be a public display? If the latter, then playing Wolfenstein on your laptop anywhere but a private residence is punishable by up to a year in prison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago