2 ms·

Thank you for stating this. As much as I worry about US ( and my adopted home ), it is a ridiculous exaggeration to call it outright authoritarian ( or closed

Thank you for stating this. As much as I worry about US ( and my adopted home ), it is a ridiculous exaggeration to call it outright authoritarian ( or closed for that matter ). It does not mean that there are no attempts at making it so, but I think we are still somewhat far from it for now. Sometimes I wonder if the exaggeration is just the way we communicate today ( everything is a crisis / sky is falling / we are all gonna die / find out which commonly used household item is deadly ) as that is what the population was taught about the world by interacting with ads online.

toss1 4y ago
Yes, while there is a heavy dose of hyperbole in the media and internet spheres, I think the effect is actually to obscure the level of the present danger. Kind of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" problem — e.g., while people yelled "Nazi!" at GW Bush and D Cheney, many of the new crop in that party have already literally tried to steal an election and will implement authoritarian policies if they get power - so much so that even Cheney's daughter is an outcast for merely trying to adhere to democratic principles. The difference is whether the voters choose their leaders or the leaders choose their voters. So, while we are most definitely not there yet, democracy is literally teetering on the brink, and if too many people fail to vote, everyone will get to see up close what a real autocracy looks like. Seriously, the only thing on the ballot this year is democracy, and people must show up and vote for small-d democratic candidates down to dogcatcher. Get you and every friend you know to show up.