4 ms·

Melbourne here, its not that bad. The narrative is mostly being spun but the anti-lockdown parties in the USA trying to push their own agenda.

sershe 5y ago
Lives for most people under authoritarian regimes is "not that bad". That is from personal experience living in Russia, my life was pretty great, as far as I can tell from coworkers/visits to China it's similar there. And they (the governments, and many if not most citizens) will tell you that police coming to somebody's home after an online post about organizing a protest against government policies, and such, are for greater good and anyone who says otherwise is a foreign agent "spinning a narrative". Even Russia didn't prevent people from leaving, impose internal borders, or arrest people for going to a park, as far as I know :)
- yesenadam 5y ago
  What an absurd comment. Really, you are implying Australia has an "authoritarian regime"? > Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of a strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. Uh... 100% no, no, no, no and no. I'm not saying at all that I like our present government - our last few have been increasingly pathetic, from what I've heard, but...let's keep it slightly real, thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
  - sershe 5y ago
    It's a spectrum, not a boolean flag. There were many examples, my favorite was when someone wanted to organize a protest against lockdowns on Facebook, and cops came into their home. That is an action of an extremely authoritarian government. In the article I guess it falls under suppressing civil liberties and antiregime activities. Vaguely, the more of such actions a government can perform/ performs (or cannot/refrains from performing) the more (less) authoritarian it is... The fact that the majority agrees they are justified has no bearing on that whatsoever. Democracy and liberty only tend to correlate, they are not the same thing, especially recently.

sershe 5y ago

Lives for most people under authoritarian regimes is "not that bad". That is from personal experience living in Russia, my life was pretty great, as far as I can tell from coworkers/visits to China it's similar there. And they (the governments, and many if not most citizens) will tell you that police coming to somebody's home after an online post about organizing a protest against government policies, and such, are for greater good and anyone who says otherwise is a foreign agent "spinning a narrative". Even Russia didn't prevent people from leaving, impose internal borders, or arrest people for going to a park, as far as I know :)

yesenadam 5y ago
What an absurd comment. Really, you are implying Australia has an "authoritarian regime"? > Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of a strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. Uh... 100% no, no, no, no and no. I'm not saying at all that I like our present government - our last few have been increasingly pathetic, from what I've heard, but...let's keep it slightly real, thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
- sershe 5y ago
  It's a spectrum, not a boolean flag. There were many examples, my favorite was when someone wanted to organize a protest against lockdowns on Facebook, and cops came into their home. That is an action of an extremely authoritarian government. In the article I guess it falls under suppressing civil liberties and antiregime activities. Vaguely, the more of such actions a government can perform/ performs (or cannot/refrains from performing) the more (less) authoritarian it is... The fact that the majority agrees they are justified has no bearing on that whatsoever. Democracy and liberty only tend to correlate, they are not the same thing, especially recently.