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> It's like how political prisoners are the easiest sign a place is a dictatorship. That’s an easy sign right up until you have to define “political prisoner”.

> It's like how political prisoners are the easiest sign a place is a dictatorship. That’s an easy sign right up until you have to define “political prisoner”. According to some, people convicted of crimes committed during the January 6th insanity are “political prisoners”.

Volundr 4y ago
It'd also not be unreasonable to look at many of the people imprisoned for the US's "war on drugs" that way. Many of those laws were written targeting "undesirable" voters.
pessimizer 4y ago
Political prisoners are people imprisoned for their speech and influence. A Jan 6 person could very well be a political prisoner, and since I'm not a Democrat I can't be sure of their collective guilt without actually reading about their cases.
- seadan83 4y ago
  > Political prisoners are people imprisoned for their speech and influence. If so, that is the clearest violation of the 1st amendment. A common misunderstanding is that there is no unfettered right to free speech anywhere, anytime, free of any consequence. The 1st amendment only guarantees that the government shall not impose consequences based on speech alone (with the exception of the crowded movie theater example or incitements to imminent violence). That is very different from a movie theater asking someone to leave because they are talking (which the movie theater is perfectly in their right to deny service to anyone) AFAIK, all Jan 6 convictions have been for trespass, obstruction of government, assault, etc.. If you know of any examples that do not fall into similar categories, that would be extremely interesting.
- bandyaboot 4y ago
  Can you honestly tell yourself that you offer the same charity to people arrested during George Floyd riots? That some of those people may very well be political prisoners? I think not.
0x445442 4y ago
I would define those convicted of January 6th “insanities” as political prisoners when those responsible for the Summer 2020 violence were not convicted of crimes and when people like Ray Epps were not prosecuted for their role on January 6th.
- bandyaboot 4y ago
  > when those responsible for the Summer 2020 violence were not convicted of crimes First of all, Citation needed. Second of all, you realize that the people responsible for making prosecutorial decisions regarding Jan 6th crimes are not going to be the same people making those decisions for crimes committed during George Floyd protests and riots, right? You think they’re political prisoners because of perceived inconsistencies among decisions made by the DOJ on one hand and various people in local jurisdictions on the other? Just more of the same insanity that led to Jan 6th.
  - 0x445442 4y ago
    As I understand it there was plenty of federal property destroyed during the summer of 2020. Are you really saying the DOJ doesn’t prosecute people outside of DC? The insanity is turning a blind eye to the obvious hypocrisies and double standards that exist with the two examples.
    - bandyaboot 4y ago
      Your feelings are telling you it’s hypocrisy, not your brain.

Volundr 4y ago

It'd also not be unreasonable to look at many of the people imprisoned for the US's "war on drugs" that way. Many of those laws were written targeting "undesirable" voters.

pessimizer 4y ago

Political prisoners are people imprisoned for their speech and influence. A Jan 6 person could very well be a political prisoner, and since I'm not a Democrat I can't be sure of their collective guilt without actually reading about their cases.

seadan83 4y ago
> Political prisoners are people imprisoned for their speech and influence. If so, that is the clearest violation of the 1st amendment. A common misunderstanding is that there is no unfettered right to free speech anywhere, anytime, free of any consequence. The 1st amendment only guarantees that the government shall not impose consequences based on speech alone (with the exception of the crowded movie theater example or incitements to imminent violence). That is very different from a movie theater asking someone to leave because they are talking (which the movie theater is perfectly in their right to deny service to anyone) AFAIK, all Jan 6 convictions have been for trespass, obstruction of government, assault, etc.. If you know of any examples that do not fall into similar categories, that would be extremely interesting.
bandyaboot 4y ago
Can you honestly tell yourself that you offer the same charity to people arrested during George Floyd riots? That some of those people may very well be political prisoners? I think not.

0x445442 4y ago

I would define those convicted of January 6th “insanities” as political prisoners when those responsible for the Summer 2020 violence were not convicted of crimes and when people like Ray Epps were not prosecuted for their role on January 6th.

bandyaboot 4y ago
> when those responsible for the Summer 2020 violence were not convicted of crimes First of all, Citation needed. Second of all, you realize that the people responsible for making prosecutorial decisions regarding Jan 6th crimes are not going to be the same people making those decisions for crimes committed during George Floyd protests and riots, right? You think they’re political prisoners because of perceived inconsistencies among decisions made by the DOJ on one hand and various people in local jurisdictions on the other? Just more of the same insanity that led to Jan 6th.
- 0x445442 4y ago
  As I understand it there was plenty of federal property destroyed during the summer of 2020. Are you really saying the DOJ doesn’t prosecute people outside of DC? The insanity is turning a blind eye to the obvious hypocrisies and double standards that exist with the two examples.
  - bandyaboot 4y ago
    Your feelings are telling you it’s hypocrisy, not your brain.