Germany. Germany has an odd reality now. When visiting Germany, you get the sense that the country falls into that category of “Silent Generation” where a citizenry really doesn’t have any existence. They are there, but you don’t see a really proud people. If you ask them, you’ll hear they are, but its in hushed tones, and all of this is due to Hitler. Two generations [and the beginning of the third] later, and you still have this “don’t be too proud” mentality. No one is allowed to forget and move on.
How surprised I was when I heard about Germany going after various countries and companies for disclosing certain facts about a citizen, in this case, a convicted murderer who does not want to be named in a Wikipedia entry. Although I believe that a person who does the time for a crime should be accepted back into society, it is hard to accept a convicted murderer. Can a leopard change its spots that much? We have a hard enough time accepting a wife, husband, boyfriend, or girlfriend back into our lives when they cheat on us; imagine accepting a person who took a life. No one does it for former Nazi’s, nor are we accepting of child molesters back into the flock. So, should the simple historical context of a murderer, now free, be expunged from the record? It took place. We can’t bring back the victim. We can’t really heal those who are living with the pain that they’ve lost a loved one, but the murderer is now free, and apparently litigious. Like pouring salt in a wound, that is what it feels like.
So, the idea of Write Once, Read Anywhere is creeping into the lexicon by the EFF article found here. And I agree. That should be the mantra of all who are on the Internet. Every country who wants to take part in the discourse, capabilities, and growth afforded by the internet should abide by that rule.
“Write Once, Read Anywhere”
The history of the event can not be removed, and should not be removed if it is truthful. We can’t remove the historical context of Germany and Hitler’s impact on the world. We can’t rewrite history for China, although it seems that they are doing a bang up job when it comes to being the de facto manufacturing hub of the world, and we should not do it for someone who takes a life in cold blood. Giving them the ability to become a private citizen while someones loved one is in a grave.