4 ms·

Fortunate? Freedom of speech (et al.) is a birthright, NOT a privilege. If only the people of Japan stood up for their rights..

• scribu 11y ago
  > If only the people of Japan stood up for their rights.. As mentioned in the article, there already are massive protests around this issue. What more could they do? Try to take down the government by force? Even if they succeeded, I'm sure the U.S. would be happy to step in to "calm the waters" and impose martial law outright.
  • gozur88 11y ago
    They don't need to have a violent revolution. They can just vote for a different party in the next election cycle. If the votes aren't there, revolution wouldn't succeed anyway.
    • thanksgiving 11y ago
      Revolutions do not need a majority. I think our best guess is that fewer than a third of the then colonists (USA) supported the proclamation of independence. It is true though that with FPTP, you don't really need a majority to win elections either so it might be a wash.
    • rangibaby 11y ago
      "They can just vote for a different party in the next election cycle." The last time they tried that (2009), the different party was literally more of the same. The only thing worth mentioning about the following two elections was their extremely low turnout (the lowest ever in Japan's modern history in the latter).
• hasenj 11y ago
  The difference between a right and a privilege seems to be a matter of definition ..