Laughing With “Nazis” and the War on Words

Chapter 4 is about moments of collective laughing, sometimes referred to as humor or jokes. Through two examples, the chapter evaluates how collective laughter can be a medium to convey democratic identity. The first example is a commentary by an AfD politician about gender language. The analysis builds on chapter 3 to consider how family, gender, and sexuality politics continue to reshape the political terrain. The second example analyzes a parliament session during which people laughed at an AfD politician’s speech. This example illuminates an attribute commonly associated with good democratic behavior, that to be a good democratic person, one participates in the joke, even when it is critical or hurtful. The chapter concludes by returning to the human dignity–speech rights issue that was raised in chapter 1 .