111–120 of 134 posts
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> I think the concept of "freedom of speech" is highly subjective. What utter nonsense.
Thanks for the opinion, care to expand on it to help educate?
During the American revolutionary war, France was a tremendous ally and instrumental to the colonies’ secession from Britain. The Marquis de Lafayette came over to fight for us, without pay, in his early 20s, forgoing his family’s desires and aristocratic opportunities. His family was so opposed to him going to the colonies, that local governments were involved in finding and preventing him from boarding ships. He ev…
While I have full respect for you to preach what you believe in, I'd like to urge the consideration for a detachment of promotion for democracy with regards to morality. Whichever mode of governance is simple a practice of value proposition that a particular regime sees as fit for their particular regional control/political reign. While democracy has its ostensible upsides, is such a protest at length really what's o…
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If you see no more than "slogans" in that, that's on you. > People want to group up and go out to "fight for glory" against the hated enemy. No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. Would you want to be put into a concentration camp just for the sadistic fanc…
> No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. I've been on the other side of this sloganeering. I'd say I'm a relatively patriotic American. I recently went to Europe and talked with a lot of very liberal Europeans, and they asked me precisely the same questions…
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It’s probably mentioning Trump that gets you downvoted. He definitely leans authoritarian on many issues, but so do most of the democrats he’s running against in 2020. Where these two flavors of authoritarian differ is the issues they are authoritarian on. Whether or not someone downvotes you probably has most to do with which issues they are most concerned about with respect to the authoritarian we get. If someone i…
This is just not true. Authoritarian governments are kept in check by free speech and openness of government. Sanders and Warren are clearly if favor of citizens being in charge of the government.
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Can you come with some concrete examples of what would have not been allowed? The US is still a very free country with robust freedom of speech and mostly fair and open court cases.
I remember when Black Lives Matter protesters were blocking highways, and they were all arrested. I can’t imagine what would happen if they tried to riot at an airport or destroy subway stations.
No arrests, nobody got hurt. There is more than one way to operate.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/19/486581466...
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_578cf018e4b0fa896c3f4a0a
https://www.kwch.com/content/news/National-Black-Lives-Matte...
https://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-protester...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you see no more than "slogans" in that, that's on you. > People want to group up and go out to "fight for glory" against the hated enemy. No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. Would you want to be put into a concentration camp just for the sadistic fanc…
> No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. I've been on the other side of this sloganeering. I'd say I'm a relatively patriotic American. I recently went to Europe and talked with a lot of very liberal Europeans, and they asked me precisely the same questions…
I think what you describe is a very interesting experience.
I'm not an American, but I lived there for many years as a young adult, and I now live in Australia.
One thing both our countries have in common is that we both lock children in cages - refugee children - and we pay private contractors to do it in out of the way places - and extraordinary lengths are taken to avoid public oversight.
Terrible things happen in both countries, and overseas on behalf of both countries.
Currently a prominent former Australian solider appears to be under investigation for kicking civilians of a cliff (to their death) in Afghanistan because it was inconvenient to keep them prisoner. I say _appears_ because there is a lot of secrecy around the case.
Being challenged on the the ugliest truths about our nation or group is difficult, and it is rarely done in a way that is an example of elevated standard of generous and noble behaviour the speaker suggests we should be held to - If there is a European country that is an example unbroken principled dignified conduct I would be delighted to learn of it's existence.
That said, the anger at the hypocrisy of the person challenging us, is probably best separated from the shame we feel at the truth about the darkest sides of our nations.
Everything that is good and true about the United States and Australia as immigrant nations that allowed people fleeing poverty and war a new and better life, is not invalidated by, nor does it invalidate the reality that both nations were built on a genocide of the original inhabitants, that slavery and oppression were used to build the foundation of the wealth we now enjoy.
I think we are a better kind of patriot, when we see the horrors of our own countries and do no look away or excuse them, and we are even better when we work to fix the parts of our nations that are broken.
I've always felt the phrase 'my country, right or wrong', is a more noble statement if is taken to mean I take responsibility 'right or wrong' rather than the double speak interpretation of "right even when it's wrong". If you are anything like me, then probably both of us are guilty of not being patriotic enough, of enjoying the privileges and wealth our nations provide and taking too little responsibility for helping steer its course.
During the American revolutionary war, France was a tremendous ally and instrumental to the colonies’ secession from Britain. The Marquis de Lafayette came over to fight for us, without pay, in his early 20s, forgoing his family’s desires and aristocratic opportunities. His family was so opposed to him going to the colonies, that local governments were involved in finding and preventing him from boarding ships. He ev…
Interesting idea. I would def donate a lot of money to a non-profit fund that financed independent armies with pro-democratic aims. To me, democracy and individual rights have been essential to my livelihood and happiness. I want everyone to have what I have.
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If you see no more than "slogans" in that, that's on you. > People want to group up and go out to "fight for glory" against the hated enemy. No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. Would you want to be put into a concentration camp just for the sadistic fanc…
> No. Speak for yourself. You simply and repeatedly omit the part about the moral dimension, and fighting against injustice, a person or nation becoming the enemy just because of what they did to others. I've been on the other side of this sloganeering. I'd say I'm a relatively patriotic American. I recently went to Europe and talked with a lot of very liberal Europeans, and they asked me precisely the same questions…
> That's why so many people enthusiastically signed up for the Nazi party so many decades ago.
Is it also the reason people condemn them? Does some people you know not being aware of anything good about the US change the fact that the Iraq war was a war of aggression, for example? You seem to think no atrocities or crimes are real.
> If the narratives you hear are so one-sided that you can't ascribe any motivations to your enemies besides pure hatred
Keyword being "if". And if that's not the case at all, but claimed, then that's you talking about a straw man, and who you met, completely ignoring what I said and asked. For all I know, you treated those people the same way, so until I talk with them, I won't take your word for what their positions are, either. I asked you to speak for yourself, you did anything but that.
> your emotions were decided for you by editorial slant.
No, they aren't, and more importantly, you don't get to tell me they just because it would fit your narrative.
During the American revolutionary war, France was a tremendous ally and instrumental to the colonies’ secession from Britain. The Marquis de Lafayette came over to fight for us, without pay, in his early 20s, forgoing his family’s desires and aristocratic opportunities. His family was so opposed to him going to the colonies, that local governments were involved in finding and preventing him from boarding ships. He ev…
You can buy physical gold, silver or Bitcoin (I prefer the 3rd option, though I know that it's the most controversial).
Will this have any practical effect on the protests? Haven't the authorities already declared that protesters are engaged in illegal activity, so what's one more act of civil disobedience? Also, aren't the "masks" worn by many of the protesters the kind of thing that's often worn in Asia for hygiene and pollution reasons, so this would ban even innocent behavior?