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My view is that when it comes to internet censorship, and human rights in general, Britain has problems but on the whole is ten times better than Putin's Russia
by woodandsteel 10y ago
My view is that when it comes to internet censorship, and human rights in general, Britain has problems but on the whole is ten times better than Putin's Russia.
dijit, what is you position on this?
- dijit 10y agoI agree on that point. But remembering that British people know what freedom is, I believe that british people would push back harder than russians. I believe the british government would try to get away with much more if it was in russias position. But that's my feeling and it's not founded in any facts.
- woodandsteel 10y agoI agree with you about the different expectations. Putin can get away with being a dictator because the Russians have never had the experience of a well-functioning democracy. But that is tied Russia's international history. When you need to be united against dangerous enemies, you need a strong-man ruler to suppress disagreement. And, going the other way, if domestic rule is having unpopular results like damaging the economy, then one way to get support is to tell the public the country is danger from abroad. So a paranoid view of the external world and an oppressive government are mutually reinforcing, and the Russian people, alas, have never known any other pattern.