We've now wandered way too far off from the original topic.
The simple truth is, if you go visit a country, you do a bit of preparation before you go. That includes any local laws and customs that may differ from those in your home country, in order to avoid trouble.
You wouldn't try to bring a pocket knife on a flight, would you? Like me, you probably disagree with the security theater that has been put in place, but that does not mean you get to plead innocence because of ignorance, or because you disagree with the rules.
Once again: ignorance does not confer immunity from the law, no matter how unjust the law is.
I'm not saying ignorance is an excuse for breaking the law. If you find yourself repeating a claim, you're probably not understanding the other person. I'm saying the law in Germany is unjust. I have sympathy for the person who was locked up for 3 months for making a friendly joke. I would also have sympathy for the mother of a tree cutter who was killed because he didn't prepare two escape routes like he should have according to best practice. I wouldn't tell her "your son was stupid, it's no wonder he's dead when he's so disrespectful of the rules." That's something you might try to scare somebody with before he does something dangerous, but not mock them for after they suffer the consequences.
> I used to have a nazi symbol on my car just to rile people up
You can't then complain that people get riled up. It was your intention to provoke them; they were provoked; and now you suffer the consequences for provoking them.
If you don't wish to suffer those consequences you have the freedom to not behave like a fucking idiot.
That doesn't matter in this context. When you visit a country, you respect their laws, no matter how unjust they may be.
However, you will find very few people who would agree with you that it is unjust for someone to face consequences for directly and provocatively insulting a policeman with his country's greatest shame in recorded history.
>"locked up for 3 months for making a friendly joke"
Shouting "heil Hitler!" at a German -- especially if it's an authority figure -- is not "a friendly joke". It's a grave insult. If you do not understand why that is, I would suggest you spend a little time researching 20th century history.
Your example with the tree cutter is false equivalence. In his case, it would be a tragedy, which could have been prevented through the use of specialized knowledge. Maybe he didn't know, maybe he was forgetful, maybe he was simply negligent.
If you wanted to make the cases more equivalent, a better example would if he climbed to the top of a very tall tree, and then sawed over the branch he was sitting on. Clearly stupid and with absolutely no common sense.
The simple truth is, if you go visit a country, you do a bit of preparation before you go. That includes any local laws and customs that may differ from those in your home country, in order to avoid trouble.
You wouldn't try to bring a pocket knife on a flight, would you? Like me, you probably disagree with the security theater that has been put in place, but that does not mean you get to plead innocence because of ignorance, or because you disagree with the rules.
Once again: ignorance does not confer immunity from the law, no matter how unjust the law is.