That's kind of a straw man, I feel. At least, somewhat unfair.

I didn't imply descent into fascism. I implied a descent into norms where the internet is more like TV or radio were. Historically, the web has been a uniquely free medium.

There is also a commercial dynamic side to this. Regulations and restrictions favour larger, stabler, more normative companies.

Also, I don't think slippery slope arguments lend too well to analogies. Some slopes are slipperier than others. ..and the overthrow of the Nazi regime was not a democratic one. It was a violent one. All the methods were not part of normative politics. Banning Nazism was a part of that overthrow. What the shelling of Berlin a slippery slope?

That said, i think the ban should have been lifted by later generations, a symbolic nod to freedom of speech and association. If even Nazis in France get free speech, it's a sign that those freedoms are strong.

I don't think the internet has been a uniquely free medium, they all start out unregulated after all. It has been the most unregulated medium recently, this is true, but also a nearly vacuous statement since its the only really new medium for mass communication recently.

And anyway posted letters are still a very free medium, with better privacy assurances than email ever had.

Not yet, but if something doesn't change dramatically in the EU the countries you mentioned are on their way extremism (AfD, LePen)

The AfD has no real power in Germany. They may have swayed a few votes but in one or two legislation periods their voter base will have been quietly absorbed into the establishment (CDU and SPD) or the opposition (Greens, The Left) or the parties nobody likes (FDP).

Basically none of the other parties in the government want to even consider cooperating with them, it'll fizzle out soon enough.

Is becoming the third largest party in Germany after the 2017 federal election and getting 94 seats in the Bundestag suggestive of fizzling out? In the Netherlands, no one wants to cooperate with Wilders' Party either but in the recent election it became the second-largest party in the House of Representatives. 'Forget about it, they'll go away' is maybe the triumph of hope over experience.

I see them being this big as positive in that it forces the remaining parties to finally figure out how to properly cooperate, as the CDU/SPD is a very unlikely coalition considering the last legislation period.

The current Jamaika Coalition has basically put everyone in panic because for the first time in forever the major parties can't just vote what they want into parliament via coalition contracts.

The AfD will be reabsorbed, don't worry about that, that's how it has worked the last couple decades. And in the meanwhile they can exert some healthy pressure on the rest of the Bundestag to get a bit of fresh air in there.

It's cute how you classify the Greens as opposition, and how you describe a party that just got 10.75% of the national vote two months ago as being liked by nobody.

The greens always oppose anything sane, hence opposition.

I haven't yet anybody who likes the FDP, hence nobody likes them.

But I'm Bavarian so I might have a huge sampling bias thanks to us being 60%+ on the CSU.

I haven't met anybody who likes the FDP either, but I'm conscious of that resulting from my social circle (which is heavily left-leaning). The poll results beat a single person's anecdata everytime.

Before the Nazi Party came to power, it took part on several elections: 6.4% and 3% in 1924, 2.6% in 1928, 18% in 1930, and 37% and 33% in 1932 (came 1st) and 44% in 1933.

A party doesn't come out of nowhere. It takes time. In 2013 AfD missed the 5%, but not by much. In 2017 has 13% and is the third largest party in Germany. Saying that it'll fizzle out soon is naive at best.

Are you arguing that banning Nazi memorabilia is leading to the rise of far-right parties?

I think these two things are completely disconnected from each other. What we're talking about here is legislation, and legislation has not slipped towards censoring free speech more and more in the last seventy years (in France and Germany).

> Are you arguing that banning Nazi memorabilia is leading to the rise of far-right parties?

No I'm not. Your statement is so far off that I can't help myself but wonder how did you arrive to this conclusion?!

Because if those things are disconnected, then your own comment was apparently off-topic. You posted a comment about the rise of far-right parties as an answer to one about the slippery slope of censorship.