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This is a dangerously naive view. The US lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, committed mkultra against its own citizens, and infinitely more. It's

This is a dangerously naive view. The US lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, committed mkultra against its own citizens, and infinitely more. It's not a trustworthy place, just has higher production standards for their propaganda vs your home country.

yummypaint 4y ago
Im a strong critic of US policy, but this kind of hyperbole is noise that hinders actual discussion. In the US there is free press, which is why everyone knows and speaks freely about these things. When Bush 2 was pushing his administration's lies about WMDs, a large chunk of the population saw through the deception immediately, and another large chunk also saw through the deception but decided to go to war anyway. We still have the ability to think about our own history in ways that would be inconceivable in many places. That ability is maintained by individuals exercising their rights. There is objectively no comparison between the state of things in the US and say Russia. These are not two different cases of the same model or two sides of the same coin, they are utterly different models and practices of governance. The US is also so culturally focused on rights and freedom that people don't understand the first amendment only protects citizens from action by the government, and people are able to hold onto this notion because of the extent to which they are generally left alone.
- norwalkbear 4y ago
  That's just not true. During WW2 Disney was occupied by the US military because Walt was anti-war. The federal government under Bush and Obama routinely spied on dissidents ( see the Michael Hastings report). Time and time again, just like every other country, people who disagree with the Rich and Powerful or the government get crushed. Again American propaganda is simply better than other countries and it comes from deliberate practice. For example the US military works very closely with Hollywood and videogames like the best selling Call of Duty series.
  - yummypaint 4y ago
    The US was doing much worse stuff during the WW2 era, this was during segregation after all. I don't actually disagree with any of your points. In fact another example is how torture is consistently portrayed in a positive light in hollywood movies (when it's the "good guys" doing it). My point is that the fact that we are freely having this discussion, and able to access reliable sources of information without government impediment, is in itself very significant in the context of human experience on earth in 2022. The US is still in a situation where we can self-correct. Crying wolf about the state of press freedom is counterproductive and harms the credibility of people working to actually improve things. For example, what the US is doing to Julian Assange is wrong. However, if Russia had been equally pissed at him they would have simply murdered him long ago. There is still a system within which to work in the US, and pretending it doesn't exist is self-defeating and draws attention away from possible solutions.

yummypaint 4y ago

Im a strong critic of US policy, but this kind of hyperbole is noise that hinders actual discussion. In the US there is free press, which is why everyone knows and speaks freely about these things. When Bush 2 was pushing his administration's lies about WMDs, a large chunk of the population saw through the deception immediately, and another large chunk also saw through the deception but decided to go to war anyway. We still have the ability to think about our own history in ways that would be inconceivable in many places. That ability is maintained by individuals exercising their rights. There is objectively no comparison between the state of things in the US and say Russia. These are not two different cases of the same model or two sides of the same coin, they are utterly different models and practices of governance. The US is also so culturally focused on rights and freedom that people don't understand the first amendment only protects citizens from action by the government, and people are able to hold onto this notion because of the extent to which they are generally left alone.

norwalkbear 4y ago
That's just not true. During WW2 Disney was occupied by the US military because Walt was anti-war. The federal government under Bush and Obama routinely spied on dissidents ( see the Michael Hastings report). Time and time again, just like every other country, people who disagree with the Rich and Powerful or the government get crushed. Again American propaganda is simply better than other countries and it comes from deliberate practice. For example the US military works very closely with Hollywood and videogames like the best selling Call of Duty series.
- yummypaint 4y ago
  The US was doing much worse stuff during the WW2 era, this was during segregation after all. I don't actually disagree with any of your points. In fact another example is how torture is consistently portrayed in a positive light in hollywood movies (when it's the "good guys" doing it). My point is that the fact that we are freely having this discussion, and able to access reliable sources of information without government impediment, is in itself very significant in the context of human experience on earth in 2022. The US is still in a situation where we can self-correct. Crying wolf about the state of press freedom is counterproductive and harms the credibility of people working to actually improve things. For example, what the US is doing to Julian Assange is wrong. However, if Russia had been equally pissed at him they would have simply murdered him long ago. There is still a system within which to work in the US, and pretending it doesn't exist is self-defeating and draws attention away from possible solutions.