5 ms·
It is meant to intimidate others. They can't possibly jail everyone, but they can scare them by arresting several thousands.
by therusskiy 5y ago
It is meant to intimidate others.
They can't possibly jail everyone, but they can scare them by arresting several thousands.
- gregoriol 5y agoThey already did something like "jail everyone" in the last century, it's not impossible for them to play by the same book again...
- ruined 5y ago
- Teever 5y agoThere has to be some sort of law of the internet that on a long enough timeline the political conversation will converge on modern American politics. As a non-American that's probably my biggest irritation with the internet. Beyond the inane Facebook arguments, beyond the cesspool of comments on modern news websites, hell even beyond the Youtubers hawking stupid services, I have to say the single most irritating thing about the internet is that someone somewhere is waiting with bated breath to turn the conversation into some diatribe on the state of modern American society and the historical context in which it arose. The article is about Moscow, not America. If you don't anything to say about Moscow don't feel nervous and start talking about America the one thing you can talk about. Don't sweat it, just sit this one out and let other people talk about the subject at hand. Listen and think about what people are saying about Russia and then the next time there's a conversation about Russia you will have something relevant to say about it.
- mechanical_bear 5y agoThis tactic is used by trolls to distract from the real issue. It puts people on the defensive rather than discussing the actual topic. “Whataboutism” at its best.
- sofixa 5y agoSometimes it's not even a troll distracting, sometimes it's a stupid American who can't not talk about his unique experience - you see this often on Reddit, someone from a country will complain about something specific there, and an American will show up to say "that's nothing, here at Whatever, TX, it's even worse/better/bigger/cooler/etc."
- gafferongames 5y agoBut usually it's trolls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- User23 5y agoThe term “whataboutism” is a tell for intellectual laziness at best. Considering multiple particular cases to draw general conclusions is basic ratiocination. You might as well just call the person you’re talking to a “chud” instead and be done with it.
- gafferongames 5y agoIf you cannot defend a subject without resorting to whataboutism, I would say this instead is intellectual laziness.
- User23 5y agoI wouldn’t call Socrates intellectually lazy.
- gafferongames 5y agoBut what about Socrates?
- smcl 5y agoMore often than not when I've seen "whataboutism" used here it means "You can't say that (about me), I said it (about you) first!" which is in my opinion, intellectually lazy. There are times when a bad faith whatabout-ist argument is made as a diversionary tactic and they are frustrating, but the original comment[0] we are discussing does not feel like that to me. In fact the comment they were replying to is making the lazy and intellectually lacking argument. [0] = https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30579098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30579098
- ashwagary 5y agoIt's fair to point out that the 4th amendment doesnt exist for the 2/3rds of Americans that live near an international border. We banned many Muslims and checked phones during peacetime, imagine what would happen if we were at war with a country near one of our borders.
- vanviegen 5y agoThis does seem to happen a lot, but one might also read it as putting international developments into a local perspective. That's a sensible thing to do, wouldn't you agree?
- fivea 5y ago> There has to be some sort of law of the internet that on a long enough timeline the political conversation will converge on modern American politics. The Soviet Union already invented that strategy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes
- fortran77 5y agoAnd Russia still uses this technique to stir up both ends of the political spectrum on American social media. And it works.
- mitchdoogle 5y agoYou are missing the point of the comment entirely. They are trying to bring the statement "everyone being in prison" to a realistic context to better understand what it actually means and what it feels like to live in a place where "everyone is in prison". They are assuming the commenter is American or at least has an idea of what America is like, which is not a bad assumption to make on an English-language website run by an American company.
- t_mann 5y agoNobody's saying the present US justice system is perfect, but if you seriously think it compares to Stalin's Gulags, or the psychological effects they've had even on people who weren't directly affected, you're unhinged. Whether Putin can or will create anything comparable is open, but the historical precedent is there. And he has expressed his affection for the Soviet system on many occasions, calling its demise one of the 'greatest tragedies of the 20th century'.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- stirfish 5y agoI think the point they were making is, the effects policing (even in a police state) aren't felt uniformly by everyone. A society could throw "almost everyone in jail" and you might not feel it at all.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoWhataboutism is whataboutism. We aren't talking about the USA here. I've never been stopped by a cop and asked to look through my phone. I have no fear of that happening.
- quiet_cool 5y agoBut I'm pretty sure we treat out prisoners better here in America. I seem to remember hearing about how they are actually commuting a lot of sentences to combat prison overcrowding. A land of laws requires some some sort of punishment for criminals.
- fivea 5y ago> They already did something like "jail everyone" in the last century, it's not impossible for them to play by the same book again... Let's rephrase it then: Putin can't jail everyone and still expect to have any semblance of support.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoI think we're past the "support" department. He doesn't care any longer and he will probably start cutting off all western influences soon and go back to old Soviet techniques to scare the populace into compliance. He sees the west as "destroying" the superior Russian culture and he's trying to get back to that. You are going to start seeing a lot more people being disappeared in the Soviet Union in the coming months as the West's universal shutting off Russia from the world economy.
- smcl 5y ago> in the Soviet Union Sorry, where?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- speed_spread 5y agoIt's just a cheaper way to jail everyone. Nation-wide house arrest, virtual panopticon. Poof, you've all jailed yourself.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoYeah it seems more like a fear/Stasi technique than they're actually reading the messages.