Summary

A civilized high culture of techniques, rules and institutions developed over decades enables the world’s highest combination of freedom and safety in road traffic in Germany. Nowhere else can you drive at 200 km/h on the highway with almost no risk. In public communication, however, especially in social networks, anarchy, chaos and the law of the jungle prevail. Lies, hatred and hate speech are not only uncivilized, they also erode social cohesion and threaten our democracy. We have tried to show that a civilized culture of communication is possible, which raises truth, freedom of expression and the safety of people speaking to each other to a high level. To this end, we explain the diverse institutions of German road traffic and pose the question of what would be an analogue in the world of civilized communication. We then outline a model for freedom-preserving sanctioning of malicious mass communication behavior to reflect the importance of truthful and secure communication in our daily lives: #MakeLiarsPay.