Saturday, June 20, 2009

200 Euro for "Flagging" a Toilet

So, a guy (a 23 year old official of the SPD) was charged 200 Euro for a silly stunt, putting a German flag in a toilet and photographing it, and THEN putting the picture up on the internet.

Here's the story, which I can only find in German. The last line of the story says it all. My (crude) translation would be: "In a "mood of beer", he and a friend had come on the idea to publish this picture."

The picture? I can't find a copy on the interwebs. Anybody got one? DON'T publish it, just send me the link. I don't want to be charged with the crime.

The crime? "Verunglimpfung von Staatssymbolen," or disparaging symbols of the State.

How about if I disparage the State ITSELF? Then what?

Let's see. "Hey, State! Your breath smells bad, and your Oma had a mustache."

Or, maybe just linking this product, here. Notice that I do not advocate buying the product, and I certainly do not link a picture. (I looked for the American flag equivalent, and all I found was a bunch of sites that had been taken down, pictures removed. A little scary, actually. Will just searching for "American flag toilet paper" put me on a watch list? This was RESEARCH, mind you. I don't want to buy any....)

If this is my last post, you will all know what happened. 'viedersehn!

UPDATE: A link. Not terribly offensive, but then I am not very protective of symbols of the state. (a nod to TC, for the link)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mailed M a link. Search the applicable phrase in German if you're interested...

Jeff said...

Interestingly, the guy claims he was took the picture to protest against the outbreak of German nationalism/patriotism that has accompanied big soccer competitions in recent years.