4 ms·

I'd agree if this were most other countries - but the man was British. The freedoms we get here, disregarding gun and drug law, are the same in my eyes. The onl

I'd agree if this were most other countries - but the man was British. The freedoms we get here, disregarding gun and drug law, are the same in my eyes. The only reasons I'd be able to think of moving there would be if I was keen on a big city life that doesn't == London, if I was looking to work for a FAANG company, or as in the case of the article, for a girlfriend. I feel much more free travelling and living in many other countries besides the US. Everyone seemed on a knifes edge while I was there. Don't get me wrong I loved it - everyone was wonderfully friendly and incredibly welcoming to guests - but there seemed to be this underlying unease and I was forever being told not to do this-or-that-or-else. I suppose I've always thought it was a bit ironic that the 'land of the free' has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world. Personally, my envy is directed at those in the Nordic and Oceanic countries. They seem to have it pretty good over there. EDIT: Just checking out some freedom index scores just to see whether my experience differs then that of the mean, but it seems to be about what I expected. The Freedom House report definitely covered it very well I think. Reference material below. [0]https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/united-states https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/united-st... [1]https://freedomhouse.org/report/countries-world-freedom-2019?order=field_fiw_aggregate_score&sort=desc https://freedomhouse.org/report/countries-world-freedom-2019... [2]https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking [3]https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/human-freedom-index-2018 https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/human-freedom-index-... [4]https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table

burfog 7y ago
In your country, a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler. You literally can't take a joke. Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested. Rude comments made on the internet, not even involving actionable threats, can get you arrested. Orwell was British, but "Freedom is slavery" was supposed to be fiction. It was not written as an instruction manual. You've also gone past guns, now starting to confiscate dull butter knives. More importantly, it's not the nature of the weapon, but the right to use it. You are generally not permitted to defend yourself. This does vary in the USA, with places like Maryland being rather British, but in large areas here we are permitted to fight back.
- DanBC 7y ago
  > Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested. No, interfering with trials will get you arrested. > a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler. It wasn't the Nazi salutes that caused the trouble, it was broadcasting the repeated use of the phrase "gas the jews". He tried to use the "it was just a prank bro" defence in court, and they rejected it because i) to show it to his girlfriend he didn't need to put it on youtube, ii) there's no evidence she even saw it and iii) "gas the Jews" isn't funny. Also, you can own a gun legally in the UK.
  - burfog 7y ago
    The point is that the US has more freedom. His "it was just a prank bro" defense wouldn't even be needed. Because the US has freedom, people can make videos like that all they want. It doesn't matter if there is a girlfriend to show. It doesn't matter if you happen to think "gas the Jews" is or isn't funny. Well, you'd best never have a thought that offends anybody ever in your rapidly-changing culture. Someday that could be you going to prison for your 2019-era wrongthink.
    - Aromasin 7y ago
      He got fined for it. He was stupid - in my eyes, the judgement was stupid too I agree - but that's it. Equating this to some Orwellian novel though confuses me though. That's some Fox News/Daily Mail level of pulling at straws. We're not living in the 1400s where speaking bad of the king could get you locked up or beheaded, or the early 1900s where that kind of joking was not only allowed but encouraged. It's not quite true classical liberalism, but it's also nowhere near Oceania Thought Police. It's certainly much closer to the former than the later. What I'm struggling to understand is why we're trying to compare fining a person for a joke, versus the systematic imprisonment of four times as many people per capita as that in the UK, and exponentially more if you compare the US to the rest of Europe[1]. 46% of the population is in for non-violent crime. Hell, according to cut50, just under 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars, up 500% in 30 years. [2] More flag waving and anthem chanting doesn't change that, as much as that may upset the patriotic sensibilities of so many. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera... [2] https://www.cut50.org/ https://www.cut50.org/

burfog 7y ago

In your country, a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler. You literally can't take a joke. Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested. Rude comments made on the internet, not even involving actionable threats, can get you arrested. Orwell was British, but "Freedom is slavery" was supposed to be fiction. It was not written as an instruction manual. You've also gone past guns, now starting to confiscate dull butter knives. More importantly, it's not the nature of the weapon, but the right to use it. You are generally not permitted to defend yourself. This does vary in the USA, with places like Maryland being rather British, but in large areas here we are permitted to fight back.

DanBC 7y ago
> Reporting on court proceedings can get you arrested. No, interfering with trials will get you arrested. > a guy got in trouble with the law for making a comedy video with a little dog saluting Hitler. It wasn't the Nazi salutes that caused the trouble, it was broadcasting the repeated use of the phrase "gas the jews". He tried to use the "it was just a prank bro" defence in court, and they rejected it because i) to show it to his girlfriend he didn't need to put it on youtube, ii) there's no evidence she even saw it and iii) "gas the Jews" isn't funny. Also, you can own a gun legally in the UK.
- burfog 7y ago
  The point is that the US has more freedom. His "it was just a prank bro" defense wouldn't even be needed. Because the US has freedom, people can make videos like that all they want. It doesn't matter if there is a girlfriend to show. It doesn't matter if you happen to think "gas the Jews" is or isn't funny. Well, you'd best never have a thought that offends anybody ever in your rapidly-changing culture. Someday that could be you going to prison for your 2019-era wrongthink.
  - Aromasin 7y ago
    He got fined for it. He was stupid - in my eyes, the judgement was stupid too I agree - but that's it. Equating this to some Orwellian novel though confuses me though. That's some Fox News/Daily Mail level of pulling at straws. We're not living in the 1400s where speaking bad of the king could get you locked up or beheaded, or the early 1900s where that kind of joking was not only allowed but encouraged. It's not quite true classical liberalism, but it's also nowhere near Oceania Thought Police. It's certainly much closer to the former than the later. What I'm struggling to understand is why we're trying to compare fining a person for a joke, versus the systematic imprisonment of four times as many people per capita as that in the UK, and exponentially more if you compare the US to the rest of Europe[1]. 46% of the population is in for non-violent crime. Hell, according to cut50, just under 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars, up 500% in 30 years. [2] More flag waving and anthem chanting doesn't change that, as much as that may upset the patriotic sensibilities of so many. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera... [2] https://www.cut50.org/ https://www.cut50.org/