> The US seemed to be just fine with free speech as a tenant. I was actually referring to China in that sentence. Freedom of speech is taken for granted in the

> The US seemed to be just fine with free speech as a tenant. I was actually referring to China in that sentence. Freedom of speech is taken for granted in the US and rarely needs to be advocated for. > You've presented a silly false dichotomy between free speech and a stable nation when it's government censorship and oppression that eventually leads to a breaking point and genocides/revolutions. In my opinion it is neither silly nor a false dichotomy. As much as censorship and oppression has contributed to genocides/revolutions in history, so has factious and reckless speech leading to the rise of populist demagogues and cults of personality. Freedom of speech and the right to express all of one's most basest thoughts and impulses has never gone down well in nations where the populace is too ill educated to fully comprehend what is being said. The same goes for the infallible and shining doctrine of democracy -appropriate for an informed populace that actually knows what it is they are voting for. Inappropriate for places two decades removed from abject poverty and 3rd world status.